Someone on the team is burnt out already.

We're talking about high schoolers here. 400s at "threshold effort" will turn into 400s at mile pace every time. There's no reason to touch a track in July.

Certainly a welfare issue if any athlete is breaking down at any time of the year in training.

Got to look at the program, clearly the run leader for the session or coach for the schedule needs to shoulder the blame to putting at athlete welfare at risk.

it doesn’t matter what you think it’s the athlete and especially a girl going through puberty who is struggling.

you need to act now and help her recover, this no sessions and easy running as a comfortable conversation paces, you will probably find a few athletes are feeling this way,

Hahaha wow

The OP said nothing about the pace at which the repeats were run

There is no good reason to be running 400s in July for XC. I don’t blame her for being upset about that. But… lots of questions in general. Is she new to the team? If not what’s her race history with XC in the past? Does she run the distances otherwise with your team besides your ridiculous track workouts in July? (since she said she wants higher mileage). Maybe she’s frustrated she can’t keep up with your teammates?? Taking one week off and then going back to the same old training your coach is having you all do isn’t going to change anything for her. How long has this coach been at your school and how relatively successful is your team compared to others in your area?

400s at tempo down to 10k is a perfectly fine summer workout if done correctly. Some coaches sh!t their pants when they see any track work.

The problem is your wrong perception that the length of the repeats connotes a specific intensity.

You need to rethink things. Anything you do in the Summer will most likely provide a benefit for you. If you arent sure ...... then go a notch slower. Nothing really counts until October.

Doesn’t sound like that’s what’s going on here. Her crying and not being able to finish the repeats sounds like they’re more intense then just tempo. And like others said there is generally no good reason to have HS girls run repeats on the track in July. These aren’t D1 athletes

The term repeats in running terms is universal for a fast rep. Your coach is not going to say, "we're doing 400 repeats" when he wants you to run them at threshold pace. That's just dumb. I can guarantee you that the OP was prescribed 400s at probably mile race pace.

Your experience is much different than mine. I’ve had multiple coaches use the term 400 repeats when the intended effort was threshold pace. Sorry you only know moron coaches.

I take it you have a JV coach. Even Jack Daniels VDOT uses the term repetition for a high intensity rep.

do any HS do organized workouts for XC in early july? this is vacation. i don't even think many college teams are running right now.

my HS didn't start workouts until mid-august. not even sure if we were allowed much before that.

right, because i am sure he said do them long slow pace and then came on here and moaned about effort/quality.

If you would read, you would see that the coach did not come on here at all. It was another member of the team.

These workouts are usually organized and led by team captains or top athletes on the team.

Newer athletes don't usually stick to the prescribed efforts in these workouts either. They want to keep up with the faster runners, no one wants to finish way back on a rep.

The teams winning & competing for state titles are doing summer workouts. At least in Texas they are.

Plenty of teams all over the country are doing organized workouts right now.

But to blame the coach or plan if you aren't sticking with the coaches' plan is crazy. Only one person to blame for that and that would be themselves.

There are all kinds of reasons for someone to be having a breakdown of that type. Something as simple as not eating well or being dehydrated could do it. Not having fitness for the workout is a possibility. Being overdressed in the heat... Regardless (and this is my point) you don't want to shame the person, you want to have their back and motivate them. That's part of building up a team in the off-season.

Different angle: Another vote here for not doing track sessions in July. Get out and run. You can work some changes of speed in as the Summer progresses.

Your coach made the right call. I've made this call as a girls coach a handful of times.

Bears keeping an eye on, but there's this crazy thing high school girls go through every month or so that wreaks havoc on their hormones and endocrine system...hopefully it's as simple as that.

High school kids are like rubber balls. A week off at this point will not kill her, nor will backing down on frickin 400m repeats in July. Let her go for a run, drop the watch, and jump in the lake/a teammates pool halfway through- that's what summer running sometimes has to be about.