High school winter training

You're over thinking it and you're wearing yourself out mentally. Just run. Try to be as consistent as you can. Don't worry about resting for workouts or races. Just train through everything and keep your emotions in check until spring. I can tell Just from your post that you're probably stressing too much about the plan and peaking for this race or that. That's counterproductive as a sophomore in high school.

I think you have the right idea, but this guy is saying good stuff too

You will do everything you want to do, but you can forget about the plan daily and just relax and run most days. Treat the workouts the day you know you should and run through those meets. When you get to spring then look back and see how much it helped.

Yeah your right, but I was thinking about it because my cross country season just ended and i had to have an idea about how will winter training looks like. But I understand your point, thank you for responding to my post.

cramister wrote:

I think you have the right idea, but this guy is saying good stuff too

You will do everything you want to do, but you can forget about the plan daily and just relax and run most days. Treat the workouts the day you know you should and run through those meets. When you get to spring then look back and see how much it helped.

Yeah the fact that my cross country season didn't go well really motivates me to get in the miles during the winter, and i'll try to stay consistent and up my mileage. Thanks.

Bro that's a lot to read.

If I were you do 40 miles a week.

Try to improve your easy miles down to 6:40 pace (this can take months)

Do 400 repeats weekly at least and do 800s and 600s etc.

Finally listen to your body. If you are too tired then stop running and try tomorrow.

Try and buddy up with some dudes, maybe local rivals even. Make it a fun time to get out there, not a perilous grind

Sham 69 wrote:

Bro that's a lot to read.

If I were you do 40 miles a week.

Try to improve your easy miles down to 6:40 pace (this can take months)

Do 400 repeats weekly at least and do 800s and 600s etc.

Finally listen to your body. If you are too tired then stop running and try tomorrow.

40 mpw is right where i want to be this winter. I'll probably not look at the pace for the first few weeks and just focus on building mileage, but it would be good if bring my easy pace down to 7:00 per mile by the end of the winter, and do some long runs ending in the 6:30's. As for the workouts, i'm still going to do them, but i will just make sure i'm not going to hard for now. Thanks.

cramister wrote:

Try and buddy up with some dudes, maybe local rivals even. Make it a fun time to get out there, not a perilous grind

Of course! I will be running with teammates regularly.

As a longtime coach, Id have to ask...do you even have hair on your legs yet?

Now dont get defensive, hear me out.

Many kids your age are on the verge of going through some physical changes and this winter could be a HUGE opportunity to put yourself in position to have a great spring track experience before summer training starts.

As others have mentioned...just focus on being as consistent as possible with at least one day off per week. Between now and Christmas Break it should be relaxed and spontaneous to give yourself a chance to recharge. Maybe a turkey trot to look forward to just for fun and to keep a little focus on the "why" and to maintain your current fitness. Get your teammates organized for regular meeting times during break for support. Have a means to record and review your work. A diary is better than posting electronically because you can add more personal thought and it will mean more to you later when you reflect back on it months later.

Once you get back to school after the new year, take pride in being consistent and willing to do what most your age arent. Inspire your teammates. Do you have an indoor season to look forward to? Enjoy school and other interests while being a runner. If you have a college near by, take in an indoor meet or two and watch how the athletes operate their experience through their meet routines.

Remember that you want to be your best at the end of the season and not in February/March so take things as they come. Just put yourself in a position to start at a higher level than you did a year ago or even last fall. Take a winter weights class as well and get stronger in the off season, you wont regret it. Only 2 harder efforts per week in training whether it be fartlek, tempo, hills or intervals. You dont want to start the season fatigued or injured due to over training. Youll get plenty of faster paced work during the track season so dont over do it in the winter months. Just get the miles/minutes in.

Back to the legs question.... the point is that you will have 2 years of training after this spring to steadily grow in your running. Ive had several kids come in as freshmen with hairy legs ready to compete at a high lev but it still took 2 years to get them ready from the neck up for championship level competition. Ive also had several kids that took 4 years to arrive but when they did, they had great experiences because they approached things the right way and didnt quit on themselves. They just kept things in perspective. Personally, I grew 3 inches my freshman year in college and doubled my mileage without injury and was never beaten by anyone who beat me in hs again. Everyone develops at different times so just be consistent and keep it fun, healthy and in perspective. Save the emotional energy for times that require it.

Good luck!!!

REP1 wrote:

Yeah your right, but I was thinking about it because my cross country season just ended and i had to have an idea about how will winter training looks like. But I understand your point, thank you for responding to my post.

My post before probably came across a little differently than I intended. Look it's great that you care and that you have a plan (honestly I was probably a lot like you at your age). But at your age/experience you have a lot to gain from just running more and not stressing over the details. That's what I'm trying to say. You'll improve a ton if you just run 5+ days per week until track season (even if they are all easy aerobic runs).

I struggled to finish seasons strong early in high school. At the time I would say I wasn't peaking right or getting burned out. But what I've come to learn is that my body can take a lot of fatigue and still recover in a week or so. But once my mind is fatigued I'm finished until next season. Once I kept my mind fresh by not getting too emotionally invested in workouts and early season meets I was consistently running my best during the championship season. So for me burnout was a mental state and the prevention was keeping my emotions in check until the meets that really mattered to me.