When should be off season for elite HS runners?

Race indoors right after nationals, take off winter break, start up again

You want to take at least a week off after the last XC race. Then slowly build base, train thru indoors and peak for outdoors. You can race indoors off base you just wont run as fast of course. I wouldn't start jumping in races until January though or later. Depends on your area/school really. It makes the start of indoors weird when you got your throwers/sprinters asking where the distance guys are and your telling them they have the week off for instance cause they just had their last XC race lol.

cramister wrote:

Race indoors right after nationals, take off winter break, start up again

Running Lane / Footlocker nationals are Dec. 4.

Indoor track meets start up in January to with NSAF indoor indoor nationals in mid March just before outdoor track practice starts. There is no break between indoor track and outdoor track.

Outdoor track is where the money's made, so to speak. Have him cut down on the indoor side of things.

Distance runners don't really care about indoors. It's about 5k cross country in the late fall, and 1600/3200 in the late spring. Take your time off immediately after cross country is over, and immediately after the last big 1600/3200 in the spring/summer

Funny, I remember racing the last two weeks of December

All depends on what national champ you went to etc

Going a few more weeks and getting off for break doesn't sound bad to me

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.

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?

Common problem for those who like all 3 seasons. Ya gotta pick one to not peak. When are you periodizing with 3 peaks? Those would be tight cycles. Pretty sure pros cant handle that (3 true peaks). You see pros having so-so indoor races and everyone jumps all over them...there is a reason they are not in peak form in indoor. From what I have seen, you just tolerate the guy or gal wanting to run indoors but try to keep it more base-focused, big picture. If they are good, they will still run a few good races in Jan/Feb/Mar off of base with threshold stuff esp off XC. Peak for outdoors. But you gotta pick. Taking a week off between seasons is common but thats more mental, it doesnt affect a long term periodization.

Indoors is for sprinters wrote:

Distance runners don't really care about indoors. It's about 5k cross country in the late fall, and 1600/3200 in the late spring. Take your time off immediately after cross country is over, and immediately after the last big 1600/3200 in the spring/summer

I think OP isnt asking when to take a 2 week break. Thats easy. But which season to effectively "skip"? Meaning you cant go all in for 3 seasons. No?

There's no reason to take a break after XC and I didn't hear of anyone doing do so when I was a serious runner. Just mileage without intervals is rest.

You can also easily train through winter, mini peak and get back to work

Do indoor, but train through it. No tapering, peaking etc. This is easier said than done. Competitiveness gets the best of both athletes and coaches.

Thing is, if your kid is a miler type, Cross is basically base training anyway.

If longer stuff is the bread and butter, indoor and outdoor is just speed training for the main event.

You just need to be conscientious about building mileage while getting just enough of the other stuff.

Outdoor nationals is a bit much for all but the very best. If your kid is not competitive in the elite races, train through it. If they are competitive on a national level, you can pretty much train through most of regular outdoor season.