Worried Cross-Country Dad

I’m not a fan of one long run per week though - I think doing 5-6 “big efforts” over a 2 week period is best. So, that could be: Monday lighter workout, varsity easy on Tuesday (if you have a good enough JV or don’t care about dual meets), workout Wednesday, long run Saturday, workout next Monday, lighter on Wednesday, and race on Sat. I think M/W/S is best but if you need recovery cut the 2nd Monday, and change the schedule to workout Monday, lighter Thursday, quality long run Saturday (preferably, hitting 3 miles at tempo towards the end or 6+ at marathon/steady), slow recovery or off Sunday, lighter workout Tuesday, and then go recovery, easy + pickups (I think 10x30 at 5k effort), premeet Friday, and race Saturday.

Continuing this, I like having runners training that’s like a combination of Jakob-style training / Malmo in the summer, but it’s nearly impossible to get this during the year. Only juniors or seniors have enough time in their schedules (free 1sts, but on different days) to run in the morning and maintain sleep, so the logistics make it nearly impossible to coordinate them.

For a 16:00 5k runner entering the season who’s I think is best suited for the 3200 - only 55-56 second top speed but he’s able to maintain just over 10 seconds off his mile for the 3200, yet who struggles greatly at 6k-10k (our time trials), I’ve been having him build up to a 36 mile sub-threshold in the morning (6:00 pace - significantly below LT) or 4-5xmile at true threshold pace, and then either a 3 mile straight tempo + a couple of 200s or 8-10x800 at threshold.
Other hard days - in the middle of summer - have been 4 mile tempo + 8x800 CV, but we scrapped this because it was too tiring. It’s a great stimulus, but you can’t do any workouts within a 2-3 day range before and after it, so it’s just not practical.

I believe that running an additional 10-12 miles per week at 6:00 pace has been crucial. It’s enough to get a good stimulus and leave the legs a little fatigued for the evening, but it’s not enough to treat it like a separate workout that requires recovery. Now that he’s able to cruise at 6:00 pace (running 6:00 required more effort than it should have for him last year), he’s able to run faster tempos, and he knows he has the aerobic strength to keep going in the final stages of a race.

This what high schoolers should be doing…

Mon: Progression Long Run

Tue: Easy + 20 Second Strides

Wed: Dual Meet

Thu: Easy Longer Run

Fri: Easy + 10 Second Hill Sprints

Sat: Fartlek or Invite (2-3 a season)

Sun: Easy or Off

During the off season the Wednesday dual meet should be replaced with threshold work.

I'm guessing that you meant 3-6 mile there, but I could be wrong.

Since when is racing twice a week a bad thing? Especially HS XC? What is the science behind this comment?

Really... just curious.

A lot of high schoolers race too much. Kids be out here racing like 12 three milers in three months

I meant 36 minutes - thanks for pointing it out. So peaking at 6 miles

Hello! I work as a Mental Performance Coach, mostly with runners. This is one of the most common things I see with my athletes! We tend to create more pressure when our attention is focused on outcomes (e.g., time & place) and comparisons to others. I would recommend helping her shift her definition of success to effort and strategy although this does take some time to adopt.

In the meantime, there are some breathing and thought management techniques she can use to reduce any uncomfortable feelings of nerves or anxiety. Look up Progressive Muscle Relaxation! This will really help in the days leading into a race if she has trouble falling asleep.

Thanks for the great insights! I like this approach to long runs. Doing the 5-6 workouts in 2 weeks makes good sense. The solid tempo / threshold work with the 16:00 5K is really interesting. Thanks for the various ideas on tempo workout - 36 minute sub-threshold or 4-5 x mile at threshold, 3 mile tempo + 200's, and 8-10 x 800s at threshold. Good to know these variations.

As you're doing the mile reps and 800's at threshold, are they with 90 second rest?

This is my first year of head coaching a high school program after two years of assistant coaching. We have 5 district meets on Wednesdays over a 6-week period, and then invitationals almost every weekend during that stretch. I've asked my AD if we have to go to the Wednesday meets, and she said yes quickly. I bring everyone, race the JV kids, and have the varsity go do a workout nearby. Then, on Saturday, I race my varsity and some JV if space allows. It's imperfect, and ends up being too many race for the JV kids, but it's a tough balance. I think it works out, because the JV kids are done almost a full 4 weeks earlier than the varsity, because our region meet is two weeks after our last invite, and state is two weeks after region. They all want to race at the big invites, but we have to do the Wednesday meets.

Basically, a lot of this boils down to the fact that many coaches don't have a ton of control over their own schedule. I can pick whatever invites I want, but the low-competition absolute joke Wednesday meets are non-optional.

Most of the athletes and most of the teams at HS level are participating more for show but not really competing to beat anybody let alone dominate.If they are competing it is typically with a very limited horizon but to league or county level which basically means nothing.

Mediocre athletic directors and subpar coaches often assume more races is better than a few. Typically this is because they have no clue.

If that is the situation your kids are in they have to learn to treat half the races more as workouts and focus on meaningful running goals.

My middle school XC team has one meet a week. We only have four contact days with the kids, so we just have one hard workout in addition to the meet a week. The first five meets are practice meets, i.e., no scoring. The sixth meet is the conference final. Good prep for HS, as they should not be burned out when they go to the next level.

This was me to a certain extent. Physically I was fine. I would just get mentally drained from the pressure I was putting on myself. What worked for me was just learning to keep my emotions in check and not to be too concerned with outcome aside for the few races per year I really wanted to focus on.

My team raced 2 times a week. Sometimes 3. You guys are so soft now.

I remember racing a lot in HS and then thought it was weird we didn't race every week in college.

We usually had a dual or tri meet on Tues or Wed then a bigger invitational On Thu Fri or Sat. Usually it was one week 2x race then next week 1x race.

I remember about 15 races from late August to early November if you made State. Heck our Conference Meet was ALWAYS on the Wednesday before oue Sectional meet on Saturday. Then it was all Saturdays: Regional, Semi-State, State.

Alan

There is a greater risk of injury and/or burnout before you get to the important meets at the end of the season. It also makes it more difficult to do workouts other than racing, because days are mostly spent racing and recovering from racing.

Your daughter is struggling psychologically whereas your son isn't because the female body, at that age, is not as efficient at recovering. High school women shouldn't even be doing two intense workouts a week, let alone racing.

What's the coach's track record (no pun intended)? Old school, successful, or just doing it because he ran in the 70s