Mary543 wrote:
...We start our official fall training around September and then we train through December when we start competing (from December to May). However, I'm used to taking only a couple weeks off in the summer and then gradually building up some volume and doing longer workouts on the track. It's nothing crazy intense since the season is so long and far away at that point, but it gets me a good base for when I start fall workouts...
You seem to have a basic idea of training, competing for college, etc., and that you'd be starting your training in the fall (Sept-Dec), gradually building up "some volume". What you'd be doing then is to lay down the foundation to prepare your body for race-specific training as well as actual competitions. Particularly if the competition season is long, you'd want to build an even bigger foundation. Taking a week or two off after the competition season is a good recovery/relaxation time; but with 6 weeks in the summer, you can actually get a decent build-up, if not just a gradual start-up to lead into the good build-up period. Either way, with competition starting in December, going all the way through May, you'd want to spend good amount of September and October, laying down a good foundation. As you yourself had said, the competition is so far away and you don't want to be doing "crazy intense" workouts; but next craziest thing you can do is to jump in doing "crazy intense" training off no base: i.e. Prep-work. In most cases, those who think they need a longer break are the ones who jump in doing all those "crazy intense" training without much foundation. The more time you can spend building up this "base", the better you'll be and the longer you can handle the competitions.
Practically, you don't have to kill yourself doing all sorts of mileage during that period (while you're enjoying the life abroad) but it's actually quite enjoyable, getting up early in the morning (you'd be jet-lagged anyway!!), going for an easy half an hour jog around the strange city, if not every morning, a couple of times a week; with one long run a week. You do that and the other days could be a maintenance work. My daughter was in Italy for 6-weeks this past summer. She's no runner but she thoroughly enjoyed going for an easy jog through a strange town--one of the best ways to get to know the area. I was in Japan last December for 2 weeks and, sometimes I run even more regularly while away because it's so much easier to get yourself in the routine; get up early before "work" and just go for an easy run, time-based so no worry about minutes-per-mile pace, just enjoying totally strange places. I was in Fukuoka for 3 days and I ran through a part of Fukuoka Marathon course (Chidori Bridge, etc.) which was really cool. As someone else said, you are either getting ahead or slipping back….or you can maintain the current condition. Doing nothing and you'd slip backwards.
2000 Olympic marathon champion, Naoko Takahashi, loves the saying that goes: "In the dead of the winter when there'd be no fruit, no flower; that's the time to grow your roots deeper and wider…" In Japan, most major road races (including marathons) and road relay (Ekiden) are run in the winter. This sort of creates an issue but, most "teams" actually run a training camp in the heat of the summer. Most major college teams go altitude (not so much for altitude training because we don't have a lot of high mountains) but for cooler climate and pile up kilometers to get them ready for Hakone Ekiden on 1/2-3. In America, the issue is even more unique because of the popularity of indoor season. On the top of that, unlike in Japan, students are not supposed to get together and train together during the summer break. This creates a particular challenge to high school/college coaches.
Having come to the US when I was in college (and a year in Australia in high school) and now my daughter living in Italy for a month and a half, studying abroad is totally cool!! You'll learn so much and it will totally open your eyes. Having done that while I was still in high school/college, I was so hungry for any knowledge. Choosing a path to study abroad, you must have the same open-mind to different world. Enjoy it and soak up the experience to the fullest!! Good luck.