I'm not running winter or spring track due to some circumstances and I want to be in shape for when I'm allowed to join again (august this year). What do you think I should be doing from now till then in order to stay in shape for Cross country. I am currently a freshman in college and have run a 5:47 mile and 24:55 xc 6k.
I have been debating on weather or not I should do track workouts or just tempos steady states strides and strength training
Build volume.
Have fun you are young.....just run some local 5K's and 10K's. leave the track alone......try to fine some grassy hills, stadium stairs, and always work your core.
But leave the track alone save yourself. When August comes lay the smack on them :-).
If you truly want to be in shape for xc, you need a spring track season. That means using directathletics and other sites to find meets on your own to run unattached. You can substitute road races of up to half marathon if you'd prefer. If you can't do that you can still get in decent shape, but not as good of shape as you would have, had you been racing. 9 months is just too long to just base train. You'll get stale and stop improving, even if "you throw in an occasional workout or tempo". You need to periodize. What I would do in your situation is run a handful of spring track meets unattached, maybe a couple road 5ks and/or 10ks and peak for a half marathon in late april to late may.
You need to run very often. Without a team, you can lose the momentum to get out the door easily. This is copied from a post that has been echoing around on Letsrun for a while. This is training so that you will be ready to train come fall.
"If you're like me, you may find out that you prefer this type of training to your previous methods. I have been following the same basic schedule for three years now:
M-50 minutes with 6-7 miles @ aerobic threshold (10 sec slower than marathon pace)
T-50 easy plus striders
W-50 minutes with 3 x 1 mile at 12k pace (90 second rest)
R-50 minutes easy plus striders
F-50 minutes easy plus striders
St-2 hours medium with striders
Sn-50 minutes easy plus striders
Throw in one or two races per month and you've got a nice recipe.
On this training, I have run 15:12 5k, 31:30 10k, and a 2:28 marathon---not PRs, but within 2.5%. That is, I'm training at 50% of my former training mileage, but racing at 97.5% of my personal bests. I actually like running again too.
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