My son has just started training seriously for XC this summer. As a HS soph last spring, he was a 54-55 quarter miler. Ran the 800m fresh and turned a 2:08 on a blustery, cold day the 1st time he ran the 800m fresh in a competitive heat.
He’s a rising HS junior and has averaged around 30mpw since mid-May, starting at 25mpw with a slow buildup to 42mpw a few weeks ago.
Most days he runs 5-7 miles at 7:00-7:40 pace. Long runs have been 8-10 miles at 7:00-7:30 pace. Runs 6 days most weeks with day a week off. Has had mini breaks of a 2-4 days off periodically due to a few minor illnesses, vacations/travel, wisdom teeth removed, etc., so his legs are pretty fresh.
He’s done very little speedwork. A few 20-25 minute tempos, some pickups in the middle of a 50 minute or so run, and 5x1k averaging 3:24 with a 400 jog rest.
Ran one local 5k road race in 18:13 on a fair road course (not totally flat, but no killer hills) weeks ago, but has no real idea what he’s doing in the 5k. Sprinted in like mad the last 200-300m.
Last 3 weeks since the race have been multiple vacations, so he’s run about 4 days a week averaging 25mpw.
Official practice starting next week, so he will bump up to 30-35mi this week, and then start running 40-42mi per week from mid August until early October (6-7 weeks) with 2 hard efforts per week (1 or 2 5k races sone weeks.)
-What are realistic expectations for him in terms of a time on a fair XC course? I’m thinking mid 17 range, like 17:20-17:30.
-What type of workouts will be best for him?
-Any other pointers to get him as close to 17:00 as possible?
Thanks!!