I'm a junior girl in high school (16 years old). This is only my second year of cross country. I started it last year because I used to be a sprinter only, but then track of my sophomore year we found out I was a pretty good 400 runner. My coach convinced me that cross country would help since I don't do any other sport during the fall. Last year's cross country season was great. I felt good and I was proud of myself for accomplishing so much. My best 5k was a 20:30 (which I know isn't really that good but for a not really long distance person it was). I improved in every race last year. This year I've dropped down to an average of 22:00 for my races. I went from being number 2 on the team to number 5. The only race I had that was close to last year was an all downhill course basically where I ran 20:40. During all my races I feel like crap. My legs are heavy and they feel like lead. I always feel so weak during my races. I want to keep go faster, but it seems like my legs just won't let me. I feel like I have so much more potential in me. I tell myself to keep going and that it's not that bad and it'll get better, but it's just getting worse. I'm starting to hate running and I don't want that. I dread going to practice and racing. I wanted this season to be good because I started the 800m last year in track and I love it. I thought cross country would make me better, but I've just been getting worse in cross country. I've been thinking about quitting the team, but there's only 4 more races left including counties, districts, and states. I also love the people on my team and I don't want to disappoint them cause they're like my family. My coach says my problems are all mental. I think it might be kind of true, but my legs still hurt all the time, even on short runs. I got injuries right when the season started and I still have some. I haven't even done a proper (90 minute) long run yet because I haven't caught up because of my injuries. I don't think it could be overtraining. My week looks like this. Monday - 45 minute premeet with pickups. Tuesday - race day. Wednesday - 50 minute recovery. Thursday - Long run - 80 minutes. Friday - 55 minutes. Saturday - interval workout (usually 12 400s at 1:30-1:40 pace) with 1 min. break in between, this past Saturday we did 16. Or I do 6 800m repeats at 3:08-3:18 pace with 2 min break in between. I rest on Sundays. I don't want this season to affect my track season. That's honestly all I care about. I want my 800 (my best was 2:17 last year) and 400 (best was 58 last year) to get better. I'm afraid this season is going to be jeopardized because of what's happening now in cross country. I don't know how to stop feeling horrible in cross country. How can I fix all this?