MarKom wrote:
Here’s a quick recap of my season starting from January — I was out all of December with an injury.
Like I mentioned earlier, I’m European, so my season is structured a bit differently from the American setup.
January and February were all about XC. I was averaging around 85 km a week (what even is a mile?), mostly easy runs, a long run on the weekend, and 1–2 gym sessions. I also had two types of workouts:
On track: short fartleks hitting 5K pace (about 1:12 per 400m) — recoveries were steady, not jogs.
On trails: 12K runs at moderate effort, around 3:40/km (that’s roughly 5:54 per mile)
I raced just once — had the flu, otherwise I’d have done more. It was a 10K cross-country race. For context, Euro XC courses are way tougher than American ones. I averaged 3:20/km, which is around 5:22 per mile.
Since mid-March, I cut out the gym and replaced it with short hill reps (100–200m) at around 3K–5K intensity, jogging the recoveries. My moderate long runs were swapped for 1500m-specific workouts, and the track fartleks turned into intervals with standing rest. Each week, both the rest and the rep volume/intensity gradually increased.
Every now and then, I’d throw in a medium-long run or a quick gym session just to keep the aerobic base sharp. Weekly mileage dipped to around 75 km, but these last two weeks I’ve bumped volume back up — still keeping the quality high — and wrapped that block with the session I mentioned in my first post.
Just to clarify, I’m a pretty conservative guy when it comes to training — my teammates roast me all the time and call me paranoid. But these last few weeks I’ve been cranking things up, because I’m aiming to peak soon.
There’s more I could get into, but I think that gives you the picture.
Good stuff. I think you'll run 15:10-15:15 now and be sub-15 within 6 weeks. Don't rush your progression. Just do the work and let the gains manifest.