Summer of LetsRun: How Good Can You Become with Real Training?
By LetsRun.comSummer is when champions are made.
Or, as we’ve often said on LetsRun:
CROSS COUNTRY IS A SUMMER SPORT THAT’S PLAYED OUT IN THE FALL.
A great summer can transform a runner. A mediocre summer usually leads to a mediocre fall.
That’s why this summer we’re going to do something special on LetsRun.
A few weeks ago, we got an email from a talented high school runner on the West Coast looking for some advice. He’s already broken 10:00 for 3200 meters.
The crazy thing?
He’s only running about 8-10 miles per week.
When we heard that, we couldn’t stop thinking about it.
LetsRun is one of the primary reasons high-quality coaching and training have improved in America. The site spreads wisdom.”
Nick Willis, 5-time Olympian, including silver & bronze in the 1500m.
How good could this kid become if he actually trained?
This summer, we’re going to find out.
Over the next few months, we’ll be coaching him and documenting the process on LetsRun.
Every week we’ll share:
- What he’s doing in training
- Why he’s doing it
- What mistakes he’s making
- What adjustments we’re making
- What lessons every runner can learn from his journey
But this isn’t just about one athlete.
It’s about all of us.
Because every runner has asked some version of the same question:
How good could I be if I really committed myself to a summer of training?
Maybe you’re a freshman trying to make varsity.
Maybe you’re a senior chasing a college scholarship.
Maybe you’re a parent trying to help your son or daughter get the most out of the sport.
Maybe you’re 35 years old and still wondering what might have happened if you’d trained a little smarter back in high school.
This summer, we’re going to explore those questions together.
At its core, this project is also going to be a crash course in base training.
Every successful cross-country season is built on a summer foundation. The details may differ from athlete to athlete, but the principles are remarkably similar.
Throughout the summer, we’ll explore those principles in real time as we help this athlete see how good he can become.
And we want the LetsRun community involved as summer training is base training 101.
We’ll share updates. We’ll answer questions. We’ll debate training decisions. We’ll hear from coaches, athletes, parents, and some of the smartest running minds in the sport.
Some of you will agree with everything we do.
Some of you will tell us we’re idiots. That’s okay.
That’s what makes LetsRun great.
Most importantly, we’re going to use this athlete’s journey to teach the principles that have helped generations of runners improve:
- How to build mileage
- How to stay healthy
- How to progress without overdoing it
- How to train consistently
- How to think long-term
The goal is to help thousands of runners have their best summer ever.
Tip #1: Don’t be a June Hero
We’re going to leave you with one key tip to get your summer started: Don’t be a June hero.
The goal isn’t to be in peak shape on June 15. The goal is to be running your best when championship season arrives in the fall.
Build gradually. Stay healthy. Stack good weeks on top of good weeks. The runners who have great Novembers usually aren’t the ones who had the biggest workouts in June.
In the meantime, we’d love to hear from you.
We’ve started a few summer training themed questions on the forums and would love for you to get involved:
- What’s the biggest summer training mistake?
- What was the best thing you ever did in a summer that led to a breakthrough season?
Join the discussion in the forum threads above.
And if you’d like to see the thread that started this entire thing off, it was this one:
Welcome to the Summer of LetsRun. Let’s get started
