I have finally convinced some 400m runners who are not 400m runners to come out for XC with the hope of 1. converting them to 800/1600m runners for track and 2. growing the size of my ridiculously small XC team. They all have decent speed, but no matter how much speed development we do, they aren't ever going to be competitive outside of our local area.
As you can imagine they are all scared of XC and running "long distance" In my mind I have this plan starting them off with lots of interval training at moderate speeds with very short rest.
Initially 1.5-2 miles of total volume in sets of 800m total
for my guys something like
3-4 sets of 8x100 at 25 with 20 sec rest (basically going every 45 sec)
3-4 sets of 4x200 going every 1:15-30
you get the picture...
Then move to some fartlek allowing them to walk in between at first and then run in between (constant moving)
Continue to build volume and distance and decrease rest until we get to the point where we are doing non-stop running.
Ideally I'd like to have them bring a bike and do some more sustained effort/rides either before, during or after their runs.
I figure that by August they will essentially be the equivalent of an incoming 9th grader and kind of start them at the level of "traditional" xc running.
Constructive feedback wanted.