Fun Cross country workouts for young team

4 minute drill

Pick a part of your xc course where the runners can run for 4 minutes and end up about the same place they started. Run 4 or 5 of these. The object is to run fast but to also be able to get a little farther on each repeat. If some runners go too fast in the beginning other teammates will beat them on the later repeats. Don't allow watches so the runners don't know when the 4 minutes will be up.

Equalizer run. Take everyones time from the last meet and do a 1-2 mi hard run starting each runner a little later based on a handicap from the past meet. Faster runners chase the slower runners. Key is to give the slower runners enough of a handicap that the faster runners won't catch them until the last few 100 meters. If you do this right, you can get the entire team hammering it out together on the last few 100 meters. Just make sure you do this on a down week because everyone will hammer it.

sort of ripped off from running with the buffalos but i like to incorporate relays into my workouts

either do boy girl teams or divide your guys and girls into pairs of 2 and do like an 8 mile relay (miles or 800s)...with miles the rest may be a little long but 800s with around 2:30-3:00 or so rest seems like a perfect workout with a competitive edge to it to spark things up

surge-recover workout:

pick a distance or a set amount of time you want them to run (20 min or 3M) and then distribute information on small cards (i use old business cards, but 3x5 cards cut in half work great too). write their names on one side, and their set amount of time/ distance on the other.

i try to play on people's strengths (400m runners who run xc will do the shorter, faster stuff, as they'd struggle to hold the surge for longer than 3').

we do this to help them respond to people's moves in races, and it forces the team to work together. of course, they will spread out, but they should regroup at the end of the surge.

my surges usually look like this:

1:00-2:00

2:30-4:00

5:30-8:00

etc. i think you get the idea. i've also seen other coaches run 2 mile loops that are marked A-B-C-D-E, and the card would have, "surge A-C" or something along those lines.

We've also done 100m "Chasers" at the end of a 30-45' run. This will make them sore, so choose wisely when to incorporate it. Get your slowest runner to go first. This person will sprint towards the finish line, but a set of cones will be set up about 15-20m from the start line. if they get caught, they have to do 10 push-ups. sometimes, you'll have 1 person who can catch 2-3 people. i like doing this diagonally on the football field. 300m jog recovery. 4-5 is plenty.

turkey trot:

like the equalizer run that the person mentioned previously, we use a flat 2 mile loop near campus that we've used for several years. we use this for our pre-season time trial, as well as mid season fitness assessments (mainly in track).

Take their everyone's last 2 races, and average it out. then (i use time trax, but also a bit of coaching savvy), i develop the handicap. So i write down what i think each person can realistically run for our 2M loop. slowest person starts first, fastest person goes last. if you do it right, and if they run what they're supposed to run, you'll have everyone finish close together (last year, we had over 10 people kicking it in for the top 5--very exciting finish). it works well, b/c you have women who normally can't compete with the men, who will finish in front. Also, our women's course record was set last year, but she finished last.

prizes:

1st: Turkey

2nd: Turkey lunch meet

3rd: Turkey gravy

Play some ultimate frisbee, but encourage the sprinting during the game!

University wrote:

Play some ultimate frisbee, but encourage the sprinting during the game!

We used to do this or play 'spud'. If you got hit you had to run a 1/4 mile, if you missed your throw you had to run a 1/4 mile. Added up after 90 minutes.

My coach used to have us do a scavenger hunt where he would break the team up into groups and there was the same list given to every team with items like (drink cup from local Wendy's/ Business card from Suntrust bank) and most of that group would split up and head to those destinations to get the items. There was usually 20-25 items on the page so most people would get around 5-6 miles of hard running as you hammered to get to the location and back with the item first. Our coach would have some sort of prize or incentive at the end for the winners. It was pretty cool for the kids who weren't super serious about racing. I sometimes found the game to be a bit annoying as I wanted specified hard workouts because I wanted to get better.

We would also do a variation of Texas Hold'em Poker where you pick a card for each repeat you finish and at the end the coach would do something for the best hand. Hope this helps!

We have done the devil takes tehhindmost run a few times at our school. Usually do a moderta epaced medium length run (progression) followed by lining the entire team up on a 400m grass field. continuous running and the last person across the line is pulled. keep going until there are 3 left and then race FTW.

did a few things i enjoyed in high school

handicap miles, like someone suggested earlier but if we were running 3xmile hard our coach would take the first one and have his assistant do the math and rework them so whoever finished last started first and if they ran 8:00 and first ran 5:00 they would start 3:00 ahead. or do the same thing based off of the first mile of your last race if you can get splits.

relays, teams of 3 with 800s. have a starting point and then 800m away another starting point. runner 1 starts runs to runner 2 who runs back to runner 3 who runs back to runner 1 and so on for a set amount. works best with a U so the coach can run back and forth easy while the runners are curving out. works with any distance

a tied together dmr. we ran this where 1 runner runs 400 then stops 2 ran 800 then stopped 1 ran 1200 then stopped and 1 ran the full mile then they all met together at a point and ran to the finish. it worked well with the loop we had since it was a little over 1200 meaning the 400 and 800 runners were close and the 1200 could beat the miler over. a good way to get guys and girls together keep them on the short loop then your top guys hammer at the end because the 1200 legs sprint 400 and drag the milers out. works well with everyone having to hold a rope and just let go.

two runner teams. a round loop. start out going opposite ways for a mile loop and go until they meet slap hands and turns. works well for even teams they run the same distance but uneven ones someone runs far.

all things my team did in high school and we enjoyed. our coach offered mcdonalds breakfasts to winning teams at morning practice.

We did a decently fun workout awhile ago. You have a spoon and you run for a designated amount of time, and where you end you drop your spoon. Recovery is time it takes to jog back to starting..then you go again, and the goal is to get farther than the spoon each time.

Was simple but fun!