At the moment I am the 5th place runner on my High School XC team. I will be a Junior this year. Freshman year was my first year of serious running and was spent whippin' myself into shape. Last season I dropped time and spent most of my time leading JV while ocassionally running Varsity B. This season I've been doing more miles than previous years during the pre-season, I finished 5th in our Time Trial and I've been working hard. I'd like to run Varsity A this year, but my questions is, which is more effective for training? Leading Group B (2nd Fastest Group) on everything, or trailing Group A (Top 4 guys)? Because the Top 4 all ran Varsity last year and some the year before that. Their fitness is still visibly higher than mine. So should I push the pace in Group B or haul ass and try to hold on Group A? Which is better for training?
For speed reference, the Top 4 guys run 16:08, 16:43, 17:22 and 17:38 in the 5K. Group B consists of runners who ran 18:11, 18:37, 18:58 and 18:59. I ran 18:59 last year off of about 10-15 miles per week. This year I've bumped it up to about 40 so I think I can run in the 17s for the 5K. Which group do I tain with? Should I train with one on tempo runs, one on long runs and one on speed workouts?