Easy milage the day before a 5K race for High School CC

In HS I used to run 3-5m easy and then do 4-6 quarters in 70-75 before meets.

I recommend a few easy miles between 8-10 minute pace or take the day off.

On Saturday, run a lot.

For example, this past Saturday, my 15-year old son ran 5 miles in the morning at about 8:15 pace and then ran 12 miles that evening at about 7:45 pace.

I coach high school runners. My varsity guys typically run between 50 to 70 miles per week in the early part of the competition season (Sept/Early October). If their long run is 10 miles, usually on a Sunday or Monday, then they would typically do 7 or 8 miles easy on the day before a meet. We typically do some short sprints (6 x 50) after the easy run.

When we approach the important meets at the end of the season, weekly mileage would probably taper to somewhere between 40 to 55 miles. The day before an important race at the end of the season, we will do a 4 to 6 mile run.

Easy runs, of a distance the athlete is adjusted to, don't require long to recover from (~12 hours). Tempo runs require a little longer (~24 hours). Race pace workouts and faster will require even more time for recovery (48+ hours).

My opinion is that it is better to be well rested for every race so you can maximize your effort, gain confidence, and place higher. Same principle as hard/easy. The race is your most important workout getting ready for the next race. Why would you want to be tired for that?

The time to worry about mileage is before the season starts.

We don't taper at all before our meets except regionals, state, nxn regionals, and sometimes nxn. We have a race Saturday and on Friday we will do 4 miles in the morning and 6 in the afternoon. Thursday was an interval workout.

How many races are they running? In my HS we had maybe 1-2 meets that really weren't important.

Far better solution: don't race every week.

Milage is an acceptable spelling

Yeah, that'll really help you less than 24 hours till you race...run 5 miles??? TOO MUCH!!!!!! (if you've done the hard workouts, rest or run 3 at most).

Not Cool Bro wrote:

Pre-race day was (and still is) almost always around 5 miles. 4 at the least, 6 at the most if it's an important race (I've ran 8-10 before races I'm not too concerned with).

Steve red wrote:

Milage is an acceptable spelling

If you live in the Kingdom of Great Britain. Not so elsewhere.

Harambe wrote:

Far better solution: don't race every week.

Best solution: If racing on Saturday do 5 x 18 miles MP on Tuesday. Thursday 20 x 400 with short rests at 15k pace. In between just do enough mileage to back it up.

Call me the wizzard and thank me after your big 5k PR :)

FriendlyLobo wrote:

Is no one gonna mention the fact that running easy the day before a race is not tapering for it? What do you want OP? Do you want the kids to run a workout the day before a meet so that they get demoralized and injured?

This coach sounds like he has a good head on his shoulders. Good for him that he doesn't listen to your trash opinion

Agree

I think 3 easy miles and a few strides before the day of the race is a really good way to rest your legs. It's not tapering so much as it is allowing for recovery and reducing risk of injury.

The problem I found with high school cross country is that they just race too often. The real solution here is to have fewer meets. Conferences are partly to blame for having dual/tri meets when they could combine these into fewer meets. But a coach is to blame if he likes to schedule a bunch of weekend invitationals or if he expects the kids to run hard at every meet. Fewer meets would allow for longer blocks of solid training and reduce risk of injury.

But if your kid is going to run a race it's probably wise for the sake of his legs even if not his mileage to take it easy the day before and the day after.