HS summer base plan for XC

You'll be in the base phase, don't prescribe a pace, and don't always follow a black and white schedule.

Your pace could be 8:30 one day and maybe the next you feel good and crank out 7:15s at the end of the run, the more you run the faster this will become after some time on your "feeling good" days

but yea it looks pretty solid

As long as you are increasing from last years milage this looks fine. But i would build your mileage up first before starting the tempos and 200/300s. Would recommend those 200/300s be hill repeats instead as well. Looks about 50mpw or so?

I would do a weekly cycle and alternate the tempo and reps. It’s tempting to do too many workouts in the summer. Also include a long run every weekend.

M- Hour + Strides or Hill Sprints

T- Hour

W- Tempo or Reps

T- Hour

F- Hour + Strides or Hill Sprints

S- Long Run

S- Off

No reps until August.

M - hour + strides/hills

T - hour

W - tempo/fartlek

R - hour

F - hour + strides/hills

S - Build long run to 13. Start easy 3 w/u, move to moderate and fast finish it around tempo.

Su - recovery 30m - 1hr - no pace very easy, if normal easy is 7:30 you can do this run at 9:00

I think by following that schedule you will be light years ahead of about 95% or the runners on your team and in your conference. You will also be in very good shape to handle whatever your coach has in mind for training the team.

search for Summer of Malmo...

NotPC wrote:

search for Summer of Malmo...

off the top of my head, Summer of Malmo is some thing like:

each week run either a tempo or fartlek AND

each week run something FAST between 100 and 300 or run something like paced 400s/600s

on top of that, build up to running everyday, and then work on adding doubles.

This is definitely good to look up. And I may be a bit off on the setup.

10-day cycle. Rest days are part of training.

I would probably adjust day 6 - skip the track. My personal preference for summer running would be a hilly road run where you can get some good distance, but really work the hills. It's best if you can find a route with a variety of steep, short, long hills.

I also would suggest getting your long run up a little 12+ miles/90 minutes.

Cut out the reps and it looks fine. Consider running based on heart rate/perceived exertion for your easy days. This will help to keep them easy. Long runs should be weekly, not every 10 days.

Take a look at Criss Cross's schedule. I would change it by making Wednesday a tempo, not reps. Sunday should be 30-60 minutes of easy running. Keep in mind the long run should be 60-90 minutes, any longer is not really that useful. If you can work in doubles, do that.

I don't know why so many people say to skip the track stuff. Doing some speed every 10 days is great, you can mix it up and do it on grass or other surfaces but trust yourself. Just keep building stuff up as the summer goes on and you'll be fine. No one here knows what your in-season training looks like so you must judge what will transition well for you!

Honestly, at your age you should just do easy runs and a weekly long run and a rest day. Maybe 1 month before xc add a 15-20 minute at 2 hour race pace in the middle of the week. Long run of 90 minutes, easy runs of 60 minutes. Do that and you'll build a good base.

DO the 200s/300s

Just DONT do them like you would at the end of track season.

Full recovery, run as fast as you feel like. If you feel like you are running them too hard, you 110% are.

The whole point of training is to run faster. Don't feel like you have to do them on the track. Grass, trails, hills, whatever. Get your legs moving, just stay within yourself.

Yea keep the 200s and 300s

You can use me as your personal example, going into XC I never did any fast neuromuscular work, I tried to pace a friend for a 1600m time trial and going through 73-74 felt tough all the sudden.

This winter I did strides, 10 sec hill sprints, and 5x200 relaxed which was around like 32-34 for me, not straining but just feeling fast

I felt so much better going into and running in my winter season compared to XC, so I think those kind of full recovery speed workouts are great

I'll get hate for this, but I don't recommend any structured work at all. Just get your mileage in.

1 hour runs M-F.

1.5 hour run long Saturday

Sunday off

Should have plenty of time once the season starts to progress well into october / november. Not being sharp in your August meets is OK.

yup. keep the 200/300s. your body will get stale without.

thanks for the input everyone.

Trying to figure out if I should stick to a 7 day weekly schedule like I have always done and will have to do during the season or try a 9 day cycle. Probably won't matter too much as long as I am consistent with the mileage.

Above all, you should try to

1) Stay healthy

2) Not burn out (physically & mentally)

If a weekly tempo or reps or w/e helps you enjoy the process and keeps you feeling fresh, go for it. Get in some runs with the homies and have fun with it.

high school xc coach wrote:

NotPC wrote:

search for Summer of Malmo...

off the top of my head, Summer of Malmo is some thing like:

each week run either a tempo or fartlek AND

each week run something FAST between 100 and 300 or run something like paced 400s/600s

on top of that, build up to running everyday, and then work on adding doubles.

This is definitely good to look up. And I may be a bit off on the setup.

Summer of Malmo is required reading for any HS or collegiate runner wanting to step up their performance.

Your summary is quite good.

I think the main thing a HS runner would need to keep in mind is that they need to keep those distance runs at an easy pace. Don't be impatient and hammer that morning 6M, then hammer the evening 6M too. You need time on your legs.

Don't let your ego get the best of you and have you running too fast on days where you just need the miles.

You will run fast and hard during the season and there's enough fartleks, tempos, and 200m pick ups in SoM to keep the legs moving.

Unless people know you and your level and what you have done in the past there is no way to tell if this is a good schedule or not. No good coach would prescribe something without knowing what you have done.