Ways to drop time outside practice

+1

The MOST important thing is that you are ensuring you are recovering properly. That means eating well, sleeping well, and icing when necessary. Everything else comes AFTER taking care of that.

Doubles are great, whether running or cross training (depending on what you can handle). Just make sure to give enough time between each session (e.g. one in the morning, one in the afternoon/evening).

Strength training, whether lifting weights or doing body weight workouts, would also be beneficial.

+2.

"While you are playing video games, your competition is sleeping."

Grant Fisher wrote:

Hey, sub 4-miler Grant Fisher here just to give some advice to a young runner. I usually wank 3-4 times per day to work on stamina and powering through fatigue to get the ultimate satisfaction.

i can attest to this. I stopped running and just jerked off 5 times a day and my 5k pr went from 19:00 to 14:36 in a matter of months.

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about.

True more is not always better, but better always means more of something. In this case, an extra dose of running in the morning is hard to beat. This does not have to be a remotely hard or taxing workout. 30min of very easy time on your feet is the #1 way to get the most bang for your buck. Hell he could even walk half of that 30 min and it would still be great.

Oh, ok, so you do know something. Converting this knowledge to practice is just your problem.

Lunges every day

Leg swings (side and forward/back) every day

When everyone else is done with practice, go do strides for 10 minutes

Sleep lots

Foam Roll every day

malmo wrote:

Run mornings. As many as you can. Start now.

"While you are sleeping, your competition is training."

Oh yeah, Wilson Kipsang is running at 3am.

malmo wrote:

Run mornings. As many as you can. Start now.

"While you are sleeping, your competition is training."

WRONG! While you are sleeping you are resting up to beat your competition. Run for 20-30 mins easy every other morning or so if you want, but only if you're able to get at least 8 hours of sleep. Nothing has improved the way I feel in workouts more than solid rest.

Do doubles. Do them. Don't worry about doing them every day. Don't worry about doing them quickly. Don't worry about doing them for even a half hour. Just do them as often as you can without ruining your sleeping, eating, schooling, and other things. Maybe one week you manage no runs and one week you manage three extra runs. Don't do them if they're going to hurt your key workouts, races, or needed recovery. But do them. People are saying don't start them when you're 13. You face the same annoyances starting when you're 20 that you might have if you start when you're 13. Do them; just don't be an idiot about forcing them.

Now here's the hardest pill to swallow: you might not see a huge improvement by the conference meet.

But you will see a huge improvement by track season.

@OP, well the obvious answer is EPO. You can buy it easily online from China for about $100 or so, just google "buy EPO online China" or something like that. For a non-elite runner such as yourself it improves performance 3-6% depending on genetic receptiveness to it. That makes your 18:45 worth 17:37-18:11 on EPO.

But of course, your probably have morals and ethics like the rest of us, so the real answer is that there are no secrets to running. You're a freshmen. At your age just add an extra 10 miles per week each summer/winter and maintain that mileage during the new xc and outdoor season. Also, since you're in HS rest on Sundays. Try to run once a day until you get up over 60 miles a week, then consider adding doubles. You may have to double during xc/outdoor to keep the mileage up if your coach has a low mileage program.

Also, diet isn't that important. If you run enough, you'll burn anything right off. Bill Rodgers won 4 Boston and 4 NYC marathons and twice broke the American Record at the marathon, and for him Mac N' Cheese was considered eating healthy. Mark Nenow still holds the American Road 10k record (from 1985, tied with Lagat at 27:48) and he held the American 10K Track record from 1986-2001 (27:23), and he basically lived off of pizza and sandwiches.

Mark Nenow never stepped on a track except to race. He ran 2 hours a day averaging sub 6 pace, did doubles Mon-Sat and a long run Sunday. He ran fast if he felt good and ran slow if he felt bad. He'd even hit 150 miles per week (5:36 pace for his 14 weekly training hours) on his best weeks.

There are ton of ways to train. You just got run a lot and train hard. And increase the volume or intensity a little bit each year. Don't change things very much from season to season. Small incremental changes over time lead to huge improvements.

What is your first mile split in all of your races? Most young runners go out way too hard in races (usually in the first 1/4 mile) and don't know why they are dead at the end. Your first mile in XC will always be a little fast (otherwise you'd be buried in the pack), but shouldn't be more than 10 seconds faster than your average pace. For you, that means you should be around 5:50 at the fastest. Then work the middle mile while everyone else is slowing down.

agc5k wrote:

Also, diet isn't that important. If you run enough, you'll burn anything right off. Bill Rodgers won 4 Boston and 4 NYC marathons and twice broke the American Record at the marathon, and for him Mac N' Cheese was considered eating healthy. Mark Nenow still holds the American Road 10k record (from 1985, tied with Lagat at 27:48) and he held the American 10K Track record from 1986-2001 (27:23), and he basically lived off of pizza and sandwiches.

So what? How do we know that Rodgers and Nenow would not have run faster with better diet? Don't make a silly excuse for your shitty diet. Even Rodgers himself eats much smarter these days.

Your legs and cardiovascular system work together. Don't start doing weights mid-season. Your legs are tired because your system isn't able (yet) to get your legs everything that they need.

Shoebacca's advice is the best I've seen (as you get older, you'll learn that the answer is usually somewhere in the middle). Run in the mornings as much as you can without losing sleep. If that's three 20-minute runs a week, so be it. If that's none, so be it.

And, not that I would've listened at your age, but the guy who said to slow down at the start is right. My high school xc mile splits were ridiculous like almost everyone else's. Run your splits as even as possible. That will get easier to do as your mileage increases over the years, but, yeah, 2.5 miles is plenty of distance to catch back up to (and pass) people who took off like it was an 800-meter run on the track.

Don't listen to Malmo or anyone agreeing with him.

At 13, you don't need to be doing doubles. Period.

I would recommend just enjoy it. Have fun, and as you progress, and grow older, gradually increase your workload. Chances are, you'll make lifelong friends on your HS cross country team. Don't miss out on that.

davishatcher wrote:

I'm a freshman. My PR is 18:45 but I can do a lot better. My question is this: What should I be doing outside of practice to help improve my time? I feel like I have a pretty solid diet and I take vitamins. I've tried running twice a day (Once in practice, once outside of practice) but that usually kills my workout the next day. Any suggestions are appreciated.

When in high school I lived 2 miles away from school and I had to walk that everyday and back, so if you can, walk. If you live 3 miles away, do that in the morning, then after school take the bus home, if you can. I suggest foam rollers, and after track workouts, tempos, fartleks, anything that requires extra assertion, drink coconut water and or a protein shake, if you can mix the two, great. Make sure to static stretch afterwards and beforehand, dynamic stretches. Also, use foam rollers before you stretch. Easy runs are meant to be run EASY, so easy it. I suggest not to do doubles, but add walking into your daily routine. Don't start working out now, wait until you start conditioning for outdoor track, and start lightly. If you are considering doubling, don't start off so much, make it light, even if it's on and off running, like jogging for 3 minutes then walking two minutes, just don't injure yourself. Cut out soda. Add water to your life, it works, carry a bottle with you and takes sips of it during the day. If you don't, record your runs with a GPS watch, so if you start noticing your easy runs getting slower and feeling fatigued that can very much mean you are over-training. No junk, candy, cookies, sweets, none, in moderation you can, but don't junk on em. Hope I helped. Lastly, sleep; when changing a sleep routine, sleep 15-20 minutes earlier each night, and if you can't, take 1 MG of melatonin, helps in sleep aid. I want you to get eight hours at the least a night, I care about you and do not want to see you end up like me, a degenerate who works part-time and took a semester off of community college.

This is very good advice. When I was in school we didn't have so many ways to watch TV and we did not have the internet, so less distraction. But we still found reasons to stay up past 10, and it is the undoing of many. Go to bed at the same time and early as consistently as you can. If you are getting 6-7 hours a night you cannot absorb the training you need to.

I also had to go to morning practice M, W, F and we generally ran 3 or 4 miles those mornings in XC ... no longer. In track we ran AMs every day ... even meet days for most of the season. I had to walk to school then too. Would have been better if I took a bike, as it was a 22-minute walk to school two times per day. But YES, it was a huge boost to me once I had run every day through the winter of 9th grade.

Also, protein powder once or twice per day, following your run.

Here are 10 suggestions. Each one should be worth a second or 2.

- lift weights ( 8-12 lb hand weights are fine)

- push ups and sit ups (50/50 5x week)

- stretch/ use foam roller

- get enough sleep

- talk to your coach. You don't have it all figured out yet.

- wear a watch

- go for walks (with parents, dog..... Whatever)

- keep a log so you can see what has and has not worked.

- set goals. Write them down.

- be accountable for what you do/don't do. Don't blame others.

^ this

So, you are very new to the sport of running, having only done a few 5k cross country races. A great way to improve is to set long term and short term goal. Maybe your short term goal is to run 17:30 in the 5k this cross country season or break into the top 7 on your team. Once you establish a goal, then find ways to reach them (I realize this is what you are asking in this thread). Here are a few tips I have to improve:

1. Listen and believe in your coach/training - Don't go behind your coaches back to do different training or weird strength training, etc. Ask your coach what he thinks your mileage should be, ask about adding in two a days a couple times a week, whatever you may have in mind.

2. Try and run with the faster groups - Wanting to beat your teammates is a good thing, but don't let it consume you. Good teammates will help you in practice to get better and may have tips of their own.

3. Rest - Don't feel the need to always train. Take a day off as needed, since you're a high school freshman a day off a week is probably fine, especially during the season when workouts and racing are more intense then summer and winter base building phases.

4. Focus on placing in races, not time - This helps you enjoy the racing experience more. Don't get too caught up in mile splits because every course is different, even the same course from year to year! Go out and try to beat people and never give during the race.

5. Stretching/Core - Always stretch well after runs, it will help prevent injuries. Core work, like abs and pushups, will help you become more efficient biomechanically. So if you are not doing any core work, start doing some ab exercises and pushups a few nights a week. Don't over due anything, especially at this point in your season.

6. Blood doping and thyroid medication will probably take you to the next level as well......

Not sure where everyone is getting numbers from. I'm 15