Summer XC mileage/training plan

1. Yes, take a week off. Don't cross train. Play some soccer or something if you want to. You won't lose a ton of fitness, and, even if you do, you aren't trying to be fit in June.

2. You can possibly add 5 miles per week (with a few down/no build weeks thrown in). There's no guarantee it will give you a better junior xc season. You'll probably be a lot better in track and xc your senior year. Double a lot. Your body probably isn't used to running 1 hour more than once per week. You're asking it to do that every day by the end of the summer.

3. Easy, easy, easy. You can include some fast running (strides, flying 30s), race pace with long recovery (400-800 @ 5k pace, but recovery 2-3x the interval duration), and fartlek (1 min at race pace, 1 min float), but nothing should be "hard."

I'd also check with your coach. Doubling your mileage is rolling the dice. It might go well, or it might not. If you don't have a team relying on you (ie, you're a 17 min 5k runner on a team full of 20 minute guys), go for it. If your team needs you I'd take a more conservative approach. Honestly, I'd probably encourage you to try to get up to 45ish instead of 60. You can hit 60 by senior year.

Summer of Malmo

You didn't read the post, did you?

Summer of JS is the way to go.

^This

Play it safe, and don't try to force it...or you'll probably run your best races in the beginning of the season again.

So many people here read "summer" and parrot "Summer of Malmo" without even thinking.

Thanks for the advice, I do have one last question. From the research I've done in the past little bit, I've seen a lot about doing easy runs over set amount of time instead of distance. Should I just focus on a set amount of time for easy runs and/or long runs instead of a distance and try and build workouts around that or would I be better off counting mileage first then sort of transitioning to time-based easy runs? I'd be fine with that its just I'm a relatively inexperienced runner that hasn't done any sort of high mileage like that and since I've been prone to injuries before I just want to be extra careful.

Hi, I’m a qualified coach looking to coach some athletes for free. If you want to talk on the phone about a training plan for the summer I’d be happy to.

You can drop an email to runningsolved@gmail.com

What are you currently doing for a long run, and what did you do for a long run during xc season?

Running for time instead of distance is great if that's your preference. If you're injury prone, then I would be super careful about adding both volume (mileage) and intensity at the same time. Two stressors is more likely to lead to injury. I think you can do well building your mileage and doing strides on a regular basis.

Are you doing any kind of core strength, dynamic warmup, drills, range of motion stuff? If not, building some of that stuff into your routine will help with injury prevention.

You remind me a lot of myself. As a sophomore I went 16:45 XC, 4:42 and 9:52. In the summer before my junior xc season (after a 1 week break), I started at 30 miles a week (all easy runs) for 3 weeks, then I went up 6 miles to 36 and did that for 3 weeks, then repeated it throughout the year. By the end of the xc season I had six or more weeks of solid training of 50 or more miles per week. I ended up running a 15:26 5k, and went under 16 (my original goal) like 5 times. This worked great for me but everybody’s different but I’d say it’s worth a try. You wouldn’t hit 60 in the summer but I had great success building up to 60 over several months.

I had very similar PRs/mileage/injury history after my senior year of HS. I followed the Jack Daniels approach to building up mileage over the summer after senior year (same mileage for 4ish weeks, then increase by 5 mpw for each subsequent block of 4 weeks) and had some significant PRs in my first year of college with little to no injuries. Here's what I (and it seems like quite a few other posters) would recommend:

35 mpw in June

40 mpw in July

45 mpw in August

50 mpw in September (start of cross)

You might be anxious to increase your mileage as high as possible, but the plan above is almost a guaranteed way to not get injured and greatly increase your fitness. Try to do a strengthening routine after every run (I personally like Jay Johnson's SAM routine) plus some strides a few days a week. Throw in a light workout here or there and you should be set up really well for sub-16 in the fall. Summer of Malmo is great, but trying to do too much mileage with only 30 mpw under your belt is a recipe for injury. Hope this scaled back SOM helps!

I'd say I'm around 6-7 right now but that number has gone down due to tapering for the postseason and a little more for xc. I didn't keep very good track of my mileage in xc but I'd say it was pretty close to maybe 7-8.

As for strength stuff, I do core 2-3 times a week and do dynamic warmups. However I don't do any sort of actual strength training stuff and I was planning on incorporating that over the summer.

Sounds good, I had seen a little bit of info on increasing mileage on blocks and I thought that might be the way to go. When you say light workout do you mean something like a shorter than normal tempo, some hills, or....

Get your long run up to 90 minutes.

Hi

a few thoughts:

I ran hs Xc, track (no indoor but we did mileage in winter for outdoor)

I advocate high mileage base training

2 x a day

Easy running though no hard stuff no races except maybe as fun runs.

save it for Xc

I seem to notice a trend now where runners are doing tempos in summer or base building and a speed work out on top of that

i disagree

summer mileage is about building aerobic system mitochondrial capillaries enzymes lung power and endurance

I used to get mad at two groups of runners on my Xc teams the guys who drank beer and hung with their gf all summer and didn’t run and those who raced extensively in summer

Both defeat the purpose of summer mileage

You want to be fresh and ready to race fast in fall especially late fall

When I say high mileages I mean 80-105 miles per week

max steady state

if you feel the urge in mid July to add 1-2 strides days after easy runs that’s a good transition workout a hill workout 1 x a week last couple weeks of summer ok

But I would say resist urge to do tempos resist urge to race

Yeah I would definitely say blocked mileage is the right call.

As for workouts, just keep them fun and light: a shorter/easier tempo would probably fit that description, as would a few hills, a light fartlek, etc. I would also limit it to one workout a week and only doing them in the latter half of the summer. The whole point of the summer is to build up your aerobic base; the time to sharpen up and get fast is in the fall. Increasing mileage without overworking your system by hammering workouts is the best way to set yourself up for success come cross country. Let me know if you have any more questions.

I can coach a couple of you guys and gals over the summer with my SOJS for free.One high school kid has so far joined it and improved from high 18 5 k XC to low 17 in his first race after Summer of JS. You get in contact at : magic@coachjs.se

Sounds good, here's a rough idea of a plan. Let me know what I should change.

June:

Going to do all easy runs after coming back from a week off with a long run on sundays

July:

first 2 week of July:

all easy with long run on sundays

last 2:

all easy with strides on tuesdays and thursdays + long run on sundays

August

S: long run

M: easy

T: easy+strides

W: workout rotating between light tempo, fartlek and hills

T: easy

F: easy+strides

S: rest

How does this look?