Can't afford cross country camp

100% easy running, slowly build your mileage up throw striders occasionally.

You are better off running alone. It will build your mentallity.

I had my sons run 30-35 minutes a day from about six weeks out prior to their first cross country seasons. It worked very well for them. If you start something like that now, even if you just start at 20-25 minutes, you'll have a big leg up on most of your teammates and competitors who won't run regularly. Consistency is the most important thing.

Brother, I feel you. I had the same exact issue in HS. Seriously. It angered me and I know how you feel. You want to do the best you can, but financial constraints seemingly give others an unfair advantage over you. USE THAT as extra motivation to train this summer.

If you are talented, coaches will be drawn to you like moths to a flame. Good coaches want to coach talented runners, even if for free.

I mostly trained on my own and with a very helpful mentor/USATF coach during the summers. It was extremely fulfilling when I ran a 1:50 800m, won my state finals, beat all the rich kids. I ended up with a near-full scholarship to run at Stanford. Most of the kids I beat ended up at the local state school or paid full price to go somewhere like Case Western.

Yeah, I know it sounds like a chip on my shoulder, but it was a massive motivation for me and it paid off.

Good luck man and keep your chin up. There are lots of good resources here for training tips. Get started.

p.s. Now that I think about it, I couldn't even afford to buy a Varsity jacket until the spring of my senior year, when my mom got it for me as a graduation gift :( My dad died when I was pretty young so we didn't have that much money to spend on stuff like that.

Another sad story - my mom was always working, so I didn't have any family ever come to any of my meets. My track team sucked balls and I think there were only like 4 of us in my school who qualified, and I think it was just my distance coach who was there cheering me on as I demolished the field.

formerD1 wrote:

If you are HARD-WORKING, coaches will be drawn to you like moths to a flame. Good coaches want to coach HARD-WORKING runners, even if for free.

FIXED.

Fixer of things wrote:

If you are HARD-WORKING, coaches will be drawn to you like moths to a flame. Good coaches want to coach HARD-WORKING runners, even if for free.

FIXED.[/quote]

I wish that were true bro. I really do. Maybe there are a few saints out there. But most professional full-time coaches, who already have their hands full coaching other athletes, won't really be that receptive to slow runners. Your local HS coach, sure, but don't forget HS coach isn't allowed to "coach" during the summertime.

p.s. I'm referring to the local USATF and other certified coaches out there that run track clubs and summer programs. If you're talented, you'll get a spot pretty much on the spot and have to pay a minor fee of something like $20/month since a lot of them qualify as charitable organizations. A lot of the elite HS students do this and run junior olympics in the summer and indoor track in the winter through the USATF. They'll probably take you if you're slow but the coach isn't going to tailor-make an "easier" program for you so it'll basically be a waste of your time.

aren't cross-country camps usually last couple weeks of the summer?

maybe you can learn stuff to apply during the season and/or in future summers, but i always thought of these camps as mostly being about fun and maybe one last good week of training after you've already put in a whole good summer

aii289 wrote:

aren't cross-country camps usually last couple weeks of the summer?

maybe you can learn stuff to apply during the season and/or in future summers, but i always thought of these camps as mostly being about fun and maybe one last good week of training after you've already put in a whole good summer

This. Camp might be fun, but they aren't doing some magical training that can't be done anywhere else. Just train hard all summer, and you'll be fine. It sucks that you'll miss out on a team bonding experience, but you can train just fine on your own.

formerD1 wrote:

I wish that were true bro. I really do. Maybe there are a few saints out there. But most professional full-time coaches, who already have their hands full coaching other PAYING athletes, won't really be that receptive to slow runners.

Fixed. And true. A professional coach isn't going to work for free.

Come up with a plan and do the work yourself. What's posted is good, just be sure you are pacing the workouts so you aren't practicing running slowly.

I'm a fan of time in the gym and developing a strong core at this time of year. The closer you get to your season, lay off the gym. If you can't afford a gym, that's fine. I've been there. Deadlift a couple of bags of rocks from the home improvement store. But, kettlebells are probably easy to acquire if you are working.

OP can do this. Make a plan and stick to it. LRC loves blue collar runners. Ask for help.

thanks so much! this gives me hope.

hstrackfrosh wrote:

How can I get myself ready for cross country in the fall on my own? I will be working a part-time but will have early evenings/late afternoons to work out. Would really like to run a 5K with a sub-19 (ran a 20-minute 5K in the fall, but I didn't train much last summer).

Going to camp is cool, but it really isn't necessary. Up until about 20 years ago, there were probably more star distance runners who didn't go to camp than who did. Even now, I now of several top high schoolers who didn't attend a camp and some of them by choice. Like I said camps are cool and if you can afford it, I would say go. The problem with camps are you are doing what they want you to do. There are some athletes like Ches and probably some others who camp held them back. If you are running 90 mpw and want to win the FLNC, there are a lot of camps that will benefit you. Also, if you are running 25mpw and struggling to break 20 minutes, most camps want benefit you. The long and short is, don't sweat it.

How is a one week camp that more likely than not overtrains you a major disadvantage to your training?

Are there really CC camps?

Option 1: Google summer of malmo, and do that, it will work great for a beginner. Don't include any of the workouts, but follow the number of miles prescribed per week, just be consistent. Run it all at a pace where you can hold a conversation with someone. And do some 100m strides 2 or 3 times per week on grass If you can, and maybe throw in some core work and pushups, it helps. Only follow this plan of you don't hear from your coach.

Option 2: If your XC team is serious, the captain should be hosting voluntary workouts where the whole team meets in the morning every day in the summer to run. The coach should give the plan for the whole summer to the captain/leaders of the team before summer training starts. Go on the school website and look for the coaches contact info, or you can contact the AD's office for that info. Contact the coach and get the captain's contact info, or just get the plan for the summer if you can't run with the team, and follow it on your own. If your coach doesn't have a plan, ask him/her what the best thing for you to do is for the summer, and do that.