Why did my race go so bad?

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3 years ago 09/10/2022 10:29pm EDT

Ran a 2 miler @13:59. My previous best from last year was 13:16. Currently a (Sophomore, 15, 120 lbs). I did summer training this year starting from early July. Did not do summer training the previous XC year. Heres how my training week went:

Monday : 3 easy @8:25
Tuesday: Easy 3.5 @8:30
Wednesday: Warmup 0.5, workout 3 sets of 4x400m with 100m jog recovery @90 second average with fast reps being around 80 seconds
Thursday: 4.7 mile @8:15
Friday: Pre-meet 3 miles really easy, followed by jog 3x Jog 200m sprint 150m
Pretty light week of training, went easy for most of my runs other than the workout(s).

Why did I do so slow this meet today with a 13:59? (slowest time i've ever gotten on the 2 mile) I've done the training and i've obviously developed since freshman year. What do you recommend me to do at this point in time.
*P.S* if it helps: I went out with the top 20, kept top 30 for half a mile then basically everyone overtook and passed me. Finished top 60.

Thank you.

3 years ago 09/10/2022 10:44pm EDT

re: rkyle

There are a few reasons.

You're doing really low mileage, barely 20 miles per week. To improve, you'll have to run more, and consistently, 6 days/week.

You need more workouts with longer intervals or sustained running (600-1200m, tempo runs, cruise intervals).

You overdid your warmup by running 3 miles. That's a significant fraction of your weekly mileage to put on your legs just before a race.

Also, don't forget that cross country courses are all different (hills, grass, etc.), many are inaccurate, and competing for place is more important.

3 years ago 09/10/2022 10:47pm EDT

re: colder and wiser

colder and wiser wrote:
There are a few reasons.
You're doing really low mileage, barely 20 miles per week. To improve, you'll have to run more, and consistently, 6 days/week.
You need more workouts with longer intervals or sustained running (600-1200m, tempo runs, cruise intervals).
You overdid your warmup by running 3 miles. That's a significant fraction of your weekly mileage to put on your legs just before a race.
Also, don't forget that cross country courses are all different (hills, grass, etc.), many are inaccurate, and competing for place is more important.

Everything colder and wiser said. But I feel compelled to emphasize the training you did in the days leading up to your meet. That 400 session seems quite a bit too hard, and your warm up as well. But I'm just comparing it to what I do leading up to a race so take my opinion with a big grain of salt obviously

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