I know there have been some posts on this sort of thing in the past, but I thought I’d look for a bit of advice.
I have a son who ran XC for the first time as an 8th grader this fall. He ran with me for about a week before the season began, and slowly improved to where he got pretty good. He ended up the #1 runner on the middle school team and one of the better 8th graders in our area. I am not sure of his future potential, but it does seem clear that he is going to be a solid high school runner locally if he chooses to.
As someone who has run my whole life (including collegiately), I am excited to see him become interested in this sport. He knows that high school will be much more competitive for him, and has asked me to help him train this upcoming summer. I have always thought he had potential as a runner, but also feel that he has to find his own self-motivation for this sport and not do it out of any pressure from me.
So, I am leaning towards underdoing it rather than overdoing it this summer, figuring it is better if he improves during the season and leaves a bit out there than risking any kind of burn out during his first real year of this. I think this is the year he will either find the motivation or not.
Anyway, I am thinking of something like this:
June: mostly not running, maybe join Dad for a run here and there
First two weeks of July: run every other day, 3 miles or so each time, all slow and comfortable
Last two weeks of July: 20-25 miles, two days off per week, slow runs, striders afterwards
First two weeks of August: 25-30 miles, one or two days off, one long run of 6-7 miles, maybe a 5K towards the end of it.
Last two weeks of August: 30-35 miles, one day off, one long run of 8 miles each week, one tempo run per week.
Do the coaches out there think this isn’t aggressive enough? I am thinking if I was a coach this is what I would want an incoming freshman to be doing – he should be in shape but not even close to burnt out by this.
I am going to talk to his coach at some point, but thought I might seek some advice here first.