I am a junior in high school and I just finished cross country season. Indoor training starts in December. My coach told my team to take 2-3 weeks off from running but my body feels great and this seems a little outrageous considering we peaked at 35-40 mpw. Any thoughts?
I'd just do a week or two of nothing but purely easy running, don't worry about how long or how much. Not a single day should feel hard, and by the end of the week or two, you can begin to ease into your base.
One day.
I'd take a week off. Run easy, and maybe just bike (or aqua jog if that's an option). If you feel good after that, then start on your base. And remember, stay on soft surfaces to avoid injuries.
One week to live the life of a couch potato. Unless you have any injuries no matter how minor you maybe need more to fully heal and begin the next cycle injury free. This is what i tell my athletes at he end of each season. Usually after outdoors i ask them to take two weeks off so it works out to four weeks off a year for a good kid with no injuries. And always slowly build up the miles. I mean if your first week back is an easy 20 miles total thats basically another recovery week.
Take a week or two and be a normal kid. You have the rest of your life to run and race.
If I had to do over again I wouldn't even mess with Indoor at all. I would run xc, take 2-3 weeks off, then do easy distance running all winter. Then go into track season ready to race well.
Your body may feel good, but it needs a break. Listen to your coach.
3 weeks off is outrageous. 2 weeks not so much. 3 weeks doing 3 miles easy on grass including some strides every other day would be my suggestion.
I agree with anywhere from one week to two weeks. 3 weeks seems excessive unless you have an injury.
Ideally, for a high school kid feeling great, one week off, and then one week of easy running before getting back into some serious base is the way to go (I know I'm not the first to say that in this thread).
Regarding indoor track though, I'm all for it. Indoor should be seen though as mostly base work preparing for outdoor. If I were a high school coach, I would not do any workouts...just distance runs (some tempo runs, but no intervals) and just let the races on the weekends be the workouts. The outdoor track season isn't that long, so it's good to have some organized scheduled work (indoor track) before the outdoor season begins.
Don't forget that the need for a couple of weeks of rest is more mental than physical. You might not realize how tiring and stressful for your mind that XC season was. Forgetting about the XC AND indoor seasons for a few days will let you be physically and mentally regenerated in time for indoor training.
The single most important aspect of any training is recovery. Like your coach, I believe in taking a break between seasons. You're not going to lose much fitness, nor would you gain much with the easy running many advocate. The physical and psychological benefits of a break will actually benefit your subsequent training.
For the record, my personal coaching recommendation has always been to take 2 weeks off between seasons. Alternative physical activity is okay during the break, but no running outside of those activities. So swimming, basketball, ultimate frisbee, etc. were fine.
Slightly off topic, but I wanted to respond to Flagpole's recommendation of training through the indoor season in preparation for outdoor. I know this is a popular train of thought, but I don't adhere to it. I don't put more value on the outdoor season over the indoor one. To me, they both provide opportunities to compete at a high level. In some regards, indoor provides a better competitive venue due to the consistent conditions - no rain/snow, no wind, comfortable temperature. It's not unheard of for someone to run faster indoors than outdoors. And the team dynamics are no different than during any other season.
Modern training theory now accepts the reality of being able to peak three times in one year. There are events, meets, and championships to be won. Why not go for it?
/soapbox
I think the amount of importance you place on Indoor will vary state to state. My state doesn't even have an official state championship for indoor, so who cares about winning a meet here or there?
Also I can see how if you are more a middle distance runner, a true 800m/1500 guy indoor would be great. For me as slow legged long distance guy my bread was never going to be buttered by running 3000m.
iCoach wrote:
The single most important aspect of any training is recovery. Like your coach, I believe in taking a break between seasons. You're not going to lose much fitness, nor would you gain much with the easy running many advocate. The physical and psychological benefits of a break will actually benefit your subsequent training.
For the record, my personal coaching recommendation has always been to take 2 weeks off between seasons. Alternative physical activity is okay during the break, but no running outside of those activities. So swimming, basketball, ultimate frisbee, etc. were fine.
Slightly off topic, but I wanted to respond to Flagpole's recommendation of training through the indoor season in preparation for outdoor. I know this is a popular train of thought, but I don't adhere to it. I don't put more value on the outdoor season over the indoor one. To me, they both provide opportunities to compete at a high level. In some regards, indoor provides a better competitive venue due to the consistent conditions - no rain/snow, no wind, comfortable temperature. It's not unheard of for someone to run faster indoors than outdoors. And the team dynamics are no different than during any other season.
Modern training theory now accepts the reality of being able to peak three times in one year. There are events, meets, and championships to be won. Why not go for it?
/soapbox
In some areas of the country (New York for example), indoor track is a bigger deal than it is here in Ohio, so if that's the case, I could see trying to be a little sharper for indoor. In Ohio, not everyone competes in indoor, so the competition is MUCH less than it is in outdoor. It's very hard to run faster in indoor than outdoor in Ohio, even if you were to do speedwork to help you do that. The outdoor season is so short and so much more competitive, that, at least here in Ohio, it behooves runners to do base work through the indoor season. If you peak for state CC on Nov. 1 and then indoor state meet on March 8 and then outdoor state meet on June 7, that's peaking 3 times in ~8 months.
well he did say you could peak 3x/yr which would be once every 4 mos, or 3x in 8 mos
0-2 days, then easy runs until you reach 14 days after the season. Indoor track doesn't count as a separate season in this calculation, but if you peak for indoor you might want to take a week easy before outdoor, but not if you're from one of those states like Illinois which is still running indoor in April!
maths guy wrote:
well he did say you could peak 3x/yr which would be once every 4 mos, or 3x in 8 mos
Yeah, I get what you're doing there, but I don't necessarily buy the 3 times a year anyway. Also, the March and June ones are kind of close together.
Again, dealing with indoor track in New York, then I'd be a little more apt to make it happen as there is still great competition. Here in Ohio though...not as much for indoor.
inwardflip wrote:
I am a junior in high school and I just finished cross country season. Indoor training starts in December. My coach told my team to take 2-3 weeks off from running but my body feels great and this seems a little outrageous considering we peaked at 35-40 mpw. Any thoughts?
It depends on two things: injuries and goals.
If you're injury free, I'd take a couple of days off, then run lightly for the remainder of the two week window. Then, you're back into it. If you have an injury or just some nagging pain, take some real time off.
Given that you're a junior and that every college coach will be scrutinizing your jr track times, it's important to put your best foot forward. This assumes, of course, that you want to be a recruit.
If so, not only would not take much time off, but I'd be careful NOT to peak indoor. Use indoor to get your speed back. Don't go to the well too often. Don't taper. Train through races.
Keep your eyes on the prize--your outdoor goals.
depends how slow and unfit you want to get.
anybody wrote:
Keep your eyes on the prize--your outdoor goals.
Why is outdoor any more important than indoor?
I literally never took a day off in high school. I typically just ran easy and random for 2-4 weeks then ramped up the mileage.
Never got hurt. Ran 70-80 miles a week in summer and winter.
Alan