Mile Repeats to Lower Times at Meets

High School Running

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6 years ago 09/17/2017 7:31pm EDT

I'm a new XC coach this year and have done a lot of the things are recommended on here with my team, like tempo runs, fartleks, long runs, etc.

At the last three meets, my runners have made negligible improvements in their times-- around 5 seconds or 10 seconds. We're proud of that, but know we can do more. My top 5 runners average around 19 flat, with one runner at 17:50 and number 5 is around 20:15.

My main concern is that my male runners run the second mile about 30 seconds slower than the first, and are about 45 seconds slower in their third mile. What do you all think is the best way to remedy this?

I was thinking of doing mile repeats at their average mile pace or about 5 seconds faster. We did this last week and did 4 miles with about 3 minutes of rest in between each repeat.

I'm open to advice that would be helpful to help bring their times down! Thank you!

6 years ago 09/17/2017 7:45pm EDT

re: TexasXCCoach88

First of all, your runner are going out way too hard. Optimally their 1st mile should be 10 seconds faster than their second at most.

For workouts, I would recommend getting more strict on the tempos. Give them their paces and make sure they stick. Get them through that mental block that they have. Mix up faster tempos and longer tempos. Tempos are worthless if they run the first mile or two too hard and are wasted for the remainder of the workout. Run their tempos on a loop so you can watch closely.

For repeats, I would recommend starting with mile repeats at 5-10 seconds faster than tempo pace (basically Tinman's CV pace) with SHORT rest (one minute is sufficient. 3xMile at this pace/rest combo is what you want to start off with. Maybe finish the workout with some hard intervals with full rest.

If you can get your kids mentally tougher and smarter about pacing, you will see results.

If your kids CAN'T pace themselves well, or can't focus or push 10+ minutes into a race, you can expect to see the results you have been seeing.

6 years ago 09/17/2017 7:57pm EDT

re: TexasXCCoach88

Give them a conservative goal/position for the first mile so they will negative or even split.

Race pace familiarity typically comes from shorter repeats, just to make them comfortable. You could also do a fartlek where they begin at (real) race pace and speed up for successive shorter fast portions.

e.g., 5:00 at 5k race pace, 2:30 easy/medium, 4:00 faster than the 5:00 interval, 2:00 easy/medium, 3:00 faster than the 4:00 interval, etc. I doubt runners could complete this workout starting much quicker than their average 5k pace.

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