hs xc mileage

Talk to your coach about your goals. Don't do extra workouts that your coach doesn't know about, unless he is a goofball and has you running only 2-3 miles a day. At this point in these season, increasing your training load dramatically will tire you out or injure you. If you are always starting over each year, building to 35 mpw, you won't ever get anywhere.

Think about where you want to be in a few years instead of 6 weeks. After you have finished this XC season and recovered, start building you winter base miles. Read books on sensible training theory ( Jack Daniels, Mike Sandrock's Running Tough has some good ideas ). Check out kevin beck's

www.kemibe.com

for ideas about building a base.

There was a guy on my HS team who could barely break 20min in the 5K who stuck with it through and in his 20's was running 25 min 8K's and winning local yokel road races because he was CONSISTENT and PATIENT. If you stick with it, a 17 minute 5K will be your SPLIT time, not a goal.

Not your coach: Thanks for the info. i like that site you gave me, seems pretty cool. Anyways, my coach kindof is a "goofball", in that he does only have us running 2 to 3 miles a day. that's one reason that i do morning runs, be cause i dont feel like im getting a lot out of what he gives us as work-outs. i mean, our coach is a great guy, super funny, intelligent, and i thank he cares about us, but he really dosen't know a lot about what he's doing. im not doing super long distance in the morning, maybe 3 to 4 miles, and i do them pretty easy. i usually do my work-outs in the afternoon, for instance: if my coach tells us to jog two miles and go home, i may make a 3 to 4 mile tempo out of it. anyways, thanks for the info, and any other info you could give would be awesome. peace

mike

Can you talk with your coach about this (how you feel you need more mileage than he is giving you)? If he is a nice guy, and you put it tactfully, he shouldn't mind. That said, your current training seems alright. 2-3 miles a day seems way low. But I wouldn't start cranking the miles on your own at this point, unless you are set on training through xc and focusing on track.

Yeah man, your coach does sound like a goof ball. However it is my personal contention, that if you plan to extend your runnning careear beyond college, don't force yourself into too much mileage. I was no more than 35 mpw all through out high school and was a 1:59 4:32 guy as a junior. Not the best times, but better than average. I think you really have to build yourself up slowly, very slowly as in years. But thats just my opinion. you can reach your goals as long as you are patient. I say stay at 35... and make sure your coach is at least having you do some tempos and longer intervals on the track (especially for cross). But until you see your times start to improve don't up the mileage. You're only a sophmore and have a long way until your senior year. I think in high school quality over quantity.

but then again, everyone is different. Also keep in mind that alot of great runners, high school runners that is (not amazing runners like goucher, or arguably even deak, but above average runners) who do high mileage in high school get burnt out by the sport. Take your time brotha and the fast times will come. You've already got the determination... and thats the most important part.

Good luck.

I know, lets have your home address determine your coach.

Not his qualifications or your compatibility. Oh, yeah...

that is the way its done. Never mind.

Read Running with Lydiard by Arthur Lydiard. He knows what he is writing about, I think his atheletes have won 8 olympic golds, could be more. It will tell you how to make your own plan this year, why you are doing what you are doing rather than blindly following a random person from this messageboard, it will give you drills to improve your technique and leg speed and it will help you plan out scedueles for the rest of your running career. Its definatly worth the time.

You can also get a copy of Joe Newton's book Coaching Cross Country Sccessfully, but be careful, the workouts are designed for high school kids who have run serious high miles since they were frosh- but you can adapt the program. Lydiard is also very good.

Forget all the mumbo jumbo posted so far in response to your question.

I ran in the 18 min to 17:16 runner my freshman and sophomore years (on 30-35 miles per week with lots of short intervals (400s galore)) to 15:40s the next year by simply adding 5 extra 4 mile runs at 8 each night at a steady (moderate) pace to what we were doing. I also begged our coach to let us run longer intervals. BUT, the key was the mileage difference. My senior year, I ran 15:41 the first week of school at a meet (hot outside too) after training 50-55 miles per week for 6 weeks prior to that over hilly courses at moderate paces and running one workout per week at an 85-90% effort for 3 miles (about 20-30 seconds per mile slower than all out, I figured). No speedwork was necessary to produce a good perfomance and beat a lot of guys who went on to become collegiate running stars.

If I had to do it all over again (now I am in my mid 30s), I would do double runs per day for many weeks instead of 3-4 months per year. My wife who was a multi-state champ (18:12 runner) claims that her daily morning runs of 3-5 miles were the key to her success. As a track coach, her best runners over the last 15 years all did morning runs. Those that stopped doing the morning runs were far slower the next year.

You don't need to ask your coach anything. It is your life. Yes, if you had a really good coach then you could get their input, but that is not the case, here, according to you. Look at it this way, if you just try adding extra runs for a month and don't see results, you can quit and never go back. I am certain that you can drop a minute off your time in 6 weeks if you bump your mileage by 20 per week with extra 4 mile runs and get it up to the 50s.

hey guys, thanks for all the info. i am planning on talking with my coach about this, because me and anohter guy on my team have been talking about how we feel we need longer and tougher work-outs, because we are taking 1-2 on the team by at least 400 meters over everybody else. Also, we had a five team meet yesterday in which i ran a new pr, 18:47. anyways, thanks for all the info. ill definatley check into getting those books, and i already have Coaching Cross Country succesfully, and its a great book. so thanks everybody.

mike