off season wrote:
I have a kid who has discovered a talent for running and basically wants to do so many races there is no extended recovery.
- Train hard in HS XC.
- Stay in race fitness through the end of November / early December for post season XC.
- Indoor track racing starts right away and continues all the way up to outdoor track season.
- Hard HS track racing and training up until summer.
- Stay in track racing fitness for outdoor nationals etc. for half the summer.
- Already a month behind on high mileage base building for XC. Build mileage fast for a month before HS XC starts up again.
Repeat.
What should the HS runners who can do everything skip to recover?
Yes, as others have said, the correct time for "time off" is after cross country is done, whenever that is for your athlete.
Now, what does "time off mean"?
Unless your athlete is injured or really sick, time off should be 3 days of no running, and those aren't even in a row.
In the first week of "time off", your athlete should have three days off of no running interrupted by days of running, so Run, OFF, Run, OFF, Run, OFF, Run. This assumes that your athlete is not taking ANY planned days off of running (as they shouldn't be -- exception for religious observation, but not for laziness).
In the second week of "time off", the total amount of weekly mileage should be ~10-15% fewer miles than what was being done in-season during cross country.
In the third week, back to normal and looking to increase during indoor.