I'm a HS XC runner and lately I've been struggling to perform. I'm a Junior and as an Upperclassmen would really like to help lead the team, but I'm struggling to perform where I think and feel I should be.
This summer I put in more base training than ever before running consistently 5-6 days a week and gettin up to 50 mpw before regular season training started. Then summer training as a team started. We practiced 5 days a week, doubling on Mondays and Wednesdays. I never missed a practice. Now the school year is here and we practice 5 days a week, meets on Saturdays and long recovery run on Sundays.
In workouts I run with the top group of guys, sometimes beating some of our Varsity A runners, sometimes trailing just behind. I also perform well on our long runs, generally beating some of the individuals with better PRs than me.
What's frustrating for me is that I can be finishing 5th or 6th in practice, but then multitudes of people behind me in practice will beat me in a race. I've got the 12th fastest PR on the team even though there are 6 or 7 people ahead of me who don't run as hard as I do in practice. What am I doing wrong? I take all the hard practices hard and easy days easy. I don't know if it's something wrong with my racing tactics? I've tried going out slower and picking it up, but that hasn't worked. I've tried flying out faster and trying to hang on, but that hasn't worked either. Is there any advice? What do I need to adjust to improve?
Just yesterday our team ran a meet and I was one of 2 guys who didn't PR. The only other guy who didn't PR, PR'd 2 weeks ago and just barely missed his time. They weren't just little PR's either. We've run 3 races now and I have friends who have improved over a minute from last year's times. I still haven't hit my time from last year. It's really aggravating and I was just wondering if anybody had any tips?
Let me know if you need more information.