Although I was a fairly successful high school and college distance runner, I had no experience running prior to HS. Nor have I ever coached at any level.
My son is now in middle school and has already shown signs of being one of the better distance runners in our area at his age level. Our area high school historically has one of the stronger programs in the state, but there is also a perception that the HS program (as well as the pipeline) burns out its runners by the time they graduate.
My point is that I am reluctant to let my son get involved in this system without better understanding what a reasonable training program should look like. Generally I like the "quality over quantity" philosphy, but I have no clue what's too much in terms of weekly mileage. The cross country race distance for 6th/7th/8th graders is only 3K.
Any help?