Freshman Summer XC Training

5:01 as an 8th grader is a pretty darn good time. In all honesty don't take your summer training too seriously, just run. if you ran 35-40 last winter keep it there or up it to maybe 45. At 14 years old you don't need to be slogging out big mileage and structure. Do one longer run per week and then just run on the other days. Go play volleyball with friends, frisbee golf, go on the boat, etc. At that age just make sure you do some running, anything like 25-40min a day. Wait until your body is more mature to actually slay it with some real high mileage summer training.

Summer of Malmo

Anybody else?

might be fast wrote:

Anybody else?

Well you're a greedy entitled piece of crap. You have 2 people post and all you respond is "anyone else?"

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound entitled. I am thankful that two people took the time to respond to my post. For some reason, I thought that just saying "anybody else?" would sound less entitled than thanking them and then immediately disregarding their posts and saying "anybody else?". I was just looking to bump this thread up so that more people could see it. I guess I should have just said "bump".

Again, thank you to the people who responded. Now I have a more clear idea of how to train this summer.

I feel like an idiot for posting that, and hope that you were not too offended by that since your post actually helped me a lot. Now I can really see how I came across as greedy and entitled. Didn't mean to disregard your post and seem unappreciative.

might be fast wrote:

Anybody else?

Yeah okay. Run 30-60 minutes a day. Do some sprinting with full recovery once a week. And get a job.

You gotta build strength endurance if you want to be able to run at a good pace for XC distance, so build up your strength. Lots of kids say they want to do the work, but very few actually stick to it. Are you willing to do strengthening exercises? Run up long hills or incline treadmill?

freshman advisor wrote:

might be fast wrote:

Anybody else?

Yeah okay. Run 30-60 minutes a day. Do some sprinting with full recovery once a week. And get a job.

Look, I don't know if you read my later posts, but I honestly feel bad about saying that and do not want to come off as being arrogant and entitled.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to reply even if you weren't being serious. If you were being serious, how much sprinting should I do in that once/week session? Would it be something like 10 x 50m all-out with full recovery?

freshman advisor wrote:

might be fast wrote:

Anybody else?

Yeah okay. Run 30-60 minutes a day. Do some sprinting with full recovery once a week. And get a job.

Look, I don't know if you read my later posts, but I honestly feel bad about saying that and do not want to come off as being arrogant and entitled.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to reply even if you weren't being serious. If you were being serious, how much sprinting should I do in that once/week session? Would it be something like 10 x 50m all-out with full recovery?

for what it's worth wrote:

You gotta build strength endurance if you want to be able to run at a good pace for XC distance, so build up your strength. Lots of kids say they want to do the work, but very few actually stick to it. Are you willing to do strengthening exercises? Run up long hills or incline treadmill?

Yes, I am willing to do that work. I do not have any long hills where I live, but I do have a treadmill that goes up to a 12% grade. What are some examples of hill workouts or strengthening exercises that would help? Thanks

DaCloner wrote:

5:01 as an 8th grader is a pretty darn good time. In all honesty don't take your summer training too seriously, just run. if you ran 35-40 last winter keep it there or up it to maybe 45. At 14 years old you don't need to be slogging out big mileage and structure. Do one longer run per week and then just run on the other days. Go play volleyball with friends, frisbee golf, go on the boat, etc. At that age just make sure you do some running, anything like 25-40min a day. Wait until your body is more mature to actually slay it with some real high mileage summer training.

I would support what DaCloner said. In short, you are going to be good no matter what. Whether that means 4:30 as a senior or 4:15 or something even better than that, remains to be seen and just LET IT BE SEEN.

I would run no more than 40 mpw. If you consistently run that until Aug 15th you will have 10 weeks of base training better than most kids on your team or in your region really. I would run 5-6 times per week and just alternate 35 min with 45-60 min runs.

Something like this:

M: 35 min easy (7:00 pace) + 5-10 strides after on grass or SPRINT drills

or OFF to rest

T: 45 min easy

W: 35 min easy

Th: 45 min easy

F: OFF - have fun with your friends

Sa: 35 min easy + strides or sprint drills

Su: 60 min easy

This is 30-40 miles depending on pace and number of days running.

.1) Distance running at a high level is a grind and you will have to give up a lot once you get under 4:30 / 9:30. Also after age 16 you will likely have to get a job, so enjoy this time as much as you can.

.2) Have fun with your friends as often as you can and integrate training into your life in a way that it doesn't take over your life. Play Bball, tennis, swim, rollerblade, whatever you like to do. Those things will all help your running and should not be given up until you are really training seriously.

.3) Run first thing in the morning and do weights right after if you must, then you should be able to have the rest of the day for whatever after 9 or 10 AM.

1) try to train with some friends as much as you can. AND DO NOT RACE. This builds a bond with your teammates and will strengthen both of your abilities / performances for the next 4 years. If you have any teammates that are keen, the best fun you can have is to go for your run, do strides together, lift weights if you want (this all takes 60-90 minutes really) and then do something fun for the afternoon like ride your bikes to the lake or beach, play some 3 on 3, invite some girls to play mixed doubles, or whatever.

2) you can do your two "long" days at a harder pace or as fartleks or as hill fartleks (that is a good way to NOT get burnt out) but it is not necessary.

3) I ran 5:15 in 8th grade and 4:50 in 9th and I would say the best thing for a distance runner to do (especially a young distance runner) is to not run your base runs too fast.

4) if this volume seems too easy you can run 6 days or lengthen the 45s to 50 or even 60, but I would not push beyond that level. I did this kind of training when I was a 4:50 / 10:20 freshman and really I think had my best results that year (even though I went much faster when I was older). After that I was always pushing to be a 4:30 miler and then a 4:20 miler and I made all of the mistakes I am cautioning you about.

might be fast wrote:

freshman advisor wrote:

Yeah okay. Run 30-60 minutes a day. Do some sprinting with full recovery once a week. And get a job.

Look, I don't know if you read my later posts, but I honestly feel bad about saying that and do not want to come off as being arrogant and entitled.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to reply even if you weren't being serious. If you were being serious, how much sprinting should I do in that once/week session? Would it be something like 10 x 50m all-out with full recovery?

I was quite serious. Something like 10 x 50m, or 10 x 100m progressing to all out, with full recovery. It's a good workout when it's really hot. You can also do the same on hills; keep the repetitions to 10-20 seconds, fairly steep, and all out.

One day a week, run faster. You can do an interval workout a la Summer of Malmo, or you can run, and go progressively harder.

Most days, just run 30-60 minutes relaxed. On days you feel like it, work up to 60; on other days, you might just run 30. What really matters is that you do it consistently.

And I was serious about finding a job, if possible.

Holy crap, I was not expecting a reply this long and detailed. It must have taken you forever to write all of this. Sounds like a good plan until official practice starts.

8-10 minutes tops. Would always like to keep young guys from the trial-and-error that I had to go through. Good luck to you!! Like I said, you are going to be good.

Just for fun set your treadmill at 12% for 15 min. start at 3.5 mph for 2 1/2 min. slow jog (no walking) slow treadmill to 2.0 mph, flip around and run backwards for equal time. So a total of 3 x forward, 3 x backwards. Tell me what you think after you try this.

See if you can add 10-15mpw over the Summer, say peaking at 55-60mpw. I would not advise jumping to 75-80mpw. You can do that next year.

I disagree about 5:01 being a good time considering he was doing 35-40 miles a week. Hes already pretty deep into this talent pool.

billy is my hero wrote:

I disagree about 5:01 being a good time considering he was doing 35-40 miles a week. Hes already pretty deep into this talent pool.

How could you possibly come to this conclusion on the small amount of information given here? Maybe the kid has not even grown yet.

I've been coaching high school kids for a long time now. Boys tend to mature through high school where many girls (for a whole host of reasons) can be at their best in their Freshman year.

I've seen very few boys run their best before high school started. The exceptions have been drug / alcohol users and head cases.