high school xc summer base training

See "Summer of Malmo"

. This summer I plan on averaging anywhere between 55- 70 miles a week over the summer

That's a BIG jump from 20 miles a week. Be sure not to run too much too soon. You may need to work lower from 35-50; or whatever you can handle from NOT getting injured.

with two tempos or speedwork a week.

One tempo is necessary, two tempos is a bit much, and speed work in the summer is completely unnecessary. Save it for the season.

Is this summer plan good enough to put me on the right direction to run mid to low 16s or do u think more mileage is necessary. I am open to suggestions. Thanks

Don't try to run yourself into the ground over the course of one more summer. Focus on increasing your mileage a little bit gradually. If you start to ramp up your mileage here is the GUARANTEED result:

1. You start amping up mileage way too fast (30 MPW to 60 MPW)

2. You start to feel strong after a couple of weeks.

3. You start to feel a little nagging injury.

4. You get injured.

5. You'll get discouraged and not want to run anymore.

... Happens a dime a dozen to high school distance runners

He said that last summer he ran 20 mpw. That doesn't mean that is what he has been running the whole school year. So you don't know how much a jump in mileage he will be making.

start with 50-60 and peak with 80-90 in august when you are starting team workouts. throw in a hard 8 miler once a week; run summer track meets, 5 and 10k road races if you want for 'fast workouts', try your best but don't rest up or do anything special for them as your focus will be on running your best 5k x-c races in oct.

Thanks yeah i just finished my track season and i averaged around 25-30 miles every week and i plan to take a week off and start back with 35 and then add 5 a week. Should i increase pass 70 or should i keep running 70 a week. Also will this help me get into the 16s?

yes...strength/endurance is the key to racing anything 2 miles and over...increase your mileage as much as you can without getting injured. (run 2 a days, at least 3 days a week. find fellow runners or better yet, teammates where you can all work on fielding a better team next September.) you can step it up more than just 5 miles per week. that isn't much. just try to be averaging close to 70-80 +/- by the time organized workouts start in August. The high school season goes by so fast (2 months), that to really have any degree of success you have to hit the ground running in Sept with a good endurance base behind you. I wish I was in your shoes to do a 'do over' again with my high school X-C career. I never did much mileage in the summers; maybe 20-25 miles per week and, thus, spent most of Sept and 1/2 of October getting in shape.

When you make a jump, add more than 5 miles per week, but don't jump every week. You should allow your body time to adjust to a given workload. For example, instead of upping it five mpw, try starting at 30, then two weeks later try 40, stay there for 2-3 weeks then try 50, etc. I wouldn't jump up fast 50 or so... that's more than double what you did last summer, and almost double your highest ever. Granted, percentages are difficult to work with at smaller volumes, but if you're just getting into running you want to do as much as you can handle... the operative words there being "as you can handle." Do as much as you can where you're still staying healthy and enjoying it.

increase to 70 from 20 is too much, you will likely be burned out or hurt by october...I would increase to 50 or so...thats actually a good amount for a high schooler even though some here will disagree.

I would do 50 miles, with 1 tempo per week over the summer and one long run...stay away from the speedwork over the summer and don't start intervals until the WEEK of your first meet and those should be long...if you want to get with 50 miles I can help you more, let me know, just don't want to waste the time posting a bunch of stuff if its not going to be used...good luck either way.

jerrygjogger wrote:

increase to 70 from 20 is too much, you will likely be burned out or hurt by october...I would increase to 50 or so...thats actually a good amount for a high schooler even though some here will disagree.

I would do 50 miles, with 1 tempo per week over the summer and one long run...stay away from the speedwork over the summer and don't start intervals until the WEEK of your first meet and those should be long...if you want to get with 50 miles I can help you more, let me know, just don't want to waste the time posting a bunch of stuff if its not going to be used...good luck either way.

alright cool ill increase to around 50 and stay there and see how i feel, yeah im willing to take any more advice you have to offer.

probably one of the top 5 high school distance runners (mile and up) of all time.

Google "Summer of Malmo" it's everywhere

too much involved in the summer of malmo training. you have to have a group, etc.

too much wrote:

too much involved in the summer of malmo training. you have to have a group, etc.

Then you haven't read "Summer of Malmo", or you have poor reading comprehension.

gerry lindgren google the name wrote:

probably one of the top 5 high school distance runners (mile and up) of all time.

No, an impostor!

AdamLocked wrote:

1. You start amping up mileage way too fast (30 MPW to 60 MPW)

2. You start to feel strong after a couple of weeks.

3. You start to feel a little nagging injury.

4. You get injured.

5. You'll get discouraged and not want to run anymore.

... Happens a dime a dozen to high school distance runners

Okay I have a story.

I ran 35 miles a week jr year with a 16:30 in XC. Summer before senior year I had just taken a week off after track. Here are the miles

25

35

70 (most certainly did not feel strong)

72

64(needed to back off a bit)

70

80 (Over my head tired)

55 (broke down finally and took two days off after 5 11s)

68

70 (finally felt strong)

kept running 55-65 with down weeks of 45 for the season

Ended up 15:50 in XC and 9:20 in the spring

However I do realize I was an exception and one of the eggs that didnt break. If this kid is as serious as I was about recovery and all the little things, he could do it.