Trying to walk on at DII college

Build up to at least 50 miles/week

Monday: Easy run at relaxed pace, 6 strides

Tuesday: Tempo or Longer Threshold Intervals

Wednesday: Easy run at relaxed pace or off day/cross training

Thursday: Quicker distance run but still an easier effort, 6 strides

Friday: Shorter Intervals (1k, 1200, 800) or Fartlek with alternate tempo pace/jog

Saturday: Easy run at relaxed pace, 4 strides

Sunday: Longest run of the week, should be at a good pace but not near tempo/threshold (between easy pace and tempo pace), for a 50 mile week I would recommend an 11-12 mile long run

Hope this helps!

Thanks! What kind of paces should I be running for the easy days? I've heard people say I should hammer them, and people who say it should be a slower pace than my long run.

I would reccomend 7:00 pace for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, 6:40 pace for Thursdays, and 6:35 pace for Sunday long runs. 5:30 or so for tempos, This is just all based on my experience.

I would start the summer of Malmo now and plan to hit your goal times in Outdoor track.

http://pih.bc.ca/summerofmalmo.html

"(1) twice-a-day, as many days as you can - four, five or six days a week (2) increase your mileage, look, you guys are made of the same muscle and bone as me, you can do it. Find your own sweet spot (3) meet with a group twice a week (4) one tempo run of just four to six miles and (5) one workout of 1200m to 2000m repeats OR 16 to 24 by 150m to 300m (5) don't try to impress anyone, run within yourself (6) relax, the real training doesn't begin until September" [Spring]

I would reccomend 7:00 pace for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, 6:40 pace for Thursdays, and 6:35 pace for Sunday long runs. 5:30 or so for tempos, This is just all based on my experience.

You have to be under 16:00 to get onto a DII team? That seems really low. Just how good are they?

Look 17:17 even as a XC time is 5:35 or so pace so he isn't going to be in that kind of shape right now. That means 6:35, 6:40 and 7:00 are also too fast.

The suggested week isn't terrible but you are not close to being able to do it right now unless you have been training hard all summer. When was the last time you completed a serious training week?

Most likely, you want to start a winter of Malmo like the other guy suggested. Try to run maybe 3 easy miles in the morning and 3 more in the afternoon, for two days in a row. The afternoon of the second day, do some strides during your second run of the day. On the 3rd day run through a cycle of harder workouts.

On the first day #3 do a longer run maybe 6 miles, on the second day #3 do a 5 mile run with the middle 3 miles say 30-60 seconds per mile faster than your easy pace, on the third day #3 again 5 miles but the LONG intervals of Malmo.

The next time, on the first day #3 do a longer run maybe 6 miles, on the second day #3 do a 5 mile run with the middle 3 miles say 30-60 seconds per mile faster than your easy pace, on the third day #3 again 5 miles but the SHORT intervals of Malmo.

That is about 40 mpw so might want to not start the doubles until you have been through the 18 day cycle once or twice. By Christmas, you should be able to lengthen the day #3s so you are doing 50 mpw. After a full month at a 50 mpw winter of Malmo, say January, then move to the second poster's schedule and paces.

Good luck and enjoy the experience!!

Try and incorporate core strength training and light weights. It may take a year, but you'll be amazed at the improvements when you have a strong core and have good strength endurance on light weights, high reps. This type of strength sessions shouldn't leave you sore. You're not looking for muscle growth, just strength endurance. In time you should be able to lift 100 lbs x 50 reps continous and it not hurt.

Agree. Start easy and build up.

runhills55 wrote:

You have to be under 16:00 to get onto a DII team? That seems really low. Just how good are they?

They have a few Kenyans. It's West Texas A&M. They had a German dude who ran 1:4x for 800m last year.

I haven't seen many schools publish standards like this recently. They tend to have you contact the coaches and go from there. Old school, but I'm sure it works.

http://www.gobuffsgo.com/documents/2010/10/21/WT_Track_Scholly_standards.pdf

Looking at your times, the 17:17 is slow given the 4:48 as a predictor, but it makes sense given how little you've actually run. You don't say how much you've been running in the recent past. If you haven't been building a good base over the summer, I fully agree with the posters who suggest building up your mileage in a sensible manner (a la summer of malmo or something similar) to build your foundation over the winter for spring track. If you have been training consistently, you might shoot for indoor track season, doing summer of malmo, etc. for October/November for build up and sharpening a bit in December...

You and I are on the same page. I haven't been able to run a ton over the summer due to an injury completely unrelated to running, so I don't really have much of a base. I can hold a decent pace (~6:50/mi) on my easy days, but not for long. I'm basically building up to the Malmo program (hadn't really explored it until you guys brought it up) from zero, so I may just keep building a base through spring, and run at open meets at Texas Tech for the standards. I'll just find some road races in there to keep my racing game strong, and see how I progress. Thanks!