How can I get my team a fifth guy for XC?

You need to recruit runners.

Mass email the following link and have people post it on Facebook.

This will get people to come out for your team.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twfTpdko6_E

Children aren't yet conducive in running these many miles at the high shcool age. Why does everyone insist on burning them out to hard early, when they haven't developed? It is not a matter of consistency or mileage as it is mental. Let them enjoy it first, then build it into them as integral to making it.

um, aren't all XC runners soccer rejects? just saying

Probably quite a few football benchwarmers would do better at X-C too. My brother told a kid who wanted to play golf instead of run track that golf was hard to play "with three broken legs." :)

Have your top 4 carry the lightest 5-7 runner on a throne.

Here are some tips on recruiting that our coached used to get quality over quantity. (Editor's note: we had 17 out of 22 guys run under 16:30 for xc 3 miles back in the day)

First day of school have the PE coach make every class run an 800 or 1600. Try to be there in person when they do this. Pay more attention to desire/effort/mechanics than times.

Recruit family members - older or younger brothers.

Have your team recruit from every source possible, football, soccer, swimming, band, German club, etc. Don't rule anyone out.

Interact with the student body as much as possible and be enthusiastic about running. Develop a "brand" for the xc team - team shirts, logo's, sayings, cups, refrigerator magnets.

Attend other sporting events and let them know they could be an integral part of a team rather than sitting on the bench.

Swap easy and hard days, i.e., on easy days have your top 4 run with the lousy kids for their hard days. Make a big deal out of it when one of them moves into the fast group.

Make running a lifestyle for them.

Let them know that running is the quickest way to a letter if they just run. If I remember correctly we had to break 10 minutes to letter. You could make it a letter just being in the Top 7.

And as others have said; run them a lot.

4 yr school check out incoming freshman

3 yr - incoming sophs.

talk to PE Teachers from feeder schools or running coaches

check out (first of school yr) ... PE classes and or talk to PE teachers.

Ask members of team - rope people down in hallways

Most of the good standard things have been taken care of. I say talk to the county/state head of athletics and get them to go back to all dual meets. Then you can easily win with 4 (or even 3) people. As long as the 5th guy can complete the course you should be fine.

First, start by trying to see how much talent 5-7 have and work at getting their endurance and strength up. If they can carry the load they will show it.

Second, start looking around the school. Any kid that looks like a runner recruit. Look into the bench at other sports, some coaches want to lighten the load, like they said before, have the PE classes run 800m and see you can actually run or at least runs the damn thing. Soccer players that can't make varsity are a good choice too, they already have the endurance and speed, just some pacing adjustments.

Make XC seem like the funnest thing to do, show the mud, the big races, the trophies, and the girls. Get yourself 10 guys out and one should pop out.

The reality is you're only going to be as good as your 5th guy. What I would do is see who has put in a solid summer of training and identify 1 or 2 guys and just keep things low key for the early part of the season. When you get to a big mid season invite in late Sept/early Oct pull one of your teammates aside and say hey look we really need you out there today. Then have your 2 of your top 4 guys run with your number 5 guy for the first half of the race, after that he's on his own to gut it out.

Though I really liked the suggestion about having your better runners' easy days coincide with your other runners' hard days, I realize that's not always possible. Two things that we used, that sometimes helped:

Pack running

If doing repeats around a track or other loop, set a specified number of laps for "the pack." Everyone has to run the first lap and the last; otherwise, they're in for as many laps as they can handle, while remaining part of the pack. (And by "pack" I mean: close enough to be able to extend an arm and touch another runner. Three-meter gaps between runners are not pack running.) When they come out, they rest as the pack continues for a lap, then they jump back in.

Example: I had a first-year female team with varied abilities, the best of whom were maybe around 20:00 for 5k. At one point I assigned the team a pack-work session of 10,000m in 40min (= 400m in 96secs). Some people just did every other lap (13 x 400); others stayed in for two, three, or four laps at a time (their choice); but while they were in, the pack stayed together. And with everyone running the last lap, there was a real team feeling as the tightknit bunch swept through the last lap and finished in 39:58 or something.

Wrinkle: With another first-year team, I had a girl (Vicky, a 2:52 marathoner) who was miles better than her teammates (literally). We did a packwork 5000m, this time on a 200m indoor track. Vicky was going to be able to run the whole thing at whatever pace her teammates could manage, so I mandated that she was never allowed to take the lead: one or more of her teammates, while they were in the run, would have to be ahead of her at all times. Gave her practice in following, which came in handy in some big meets; gave them an experience in setting their own pace, rather than just "following Vicky." Productive workout, enjoyed by all.

Pack reps

Somewhat similar concept, but this was out on the course when we were doing mile repeats or longer stretches, and the gap between the front 3-4 and back 3-4 wasn't so large. I would tell them I'd start calling times for the repeats only when, say, the fifth man crossed the line. Naturally, the faster guys wanted to get a good average for their reps, so this encouraged them to bring the fourth-fifth-sixth guys along. I'd make a big point of starting the stopwatch, putting it in my pocket, and then hauling it out only as the fifth finisher approached the line; and runners weren't allowed to time themselves on their watches.

Wrinkle: Over the course of a long session, say 6 x mile, tyring to keep a fourth/fifth man up with the front three might be counterproductive: too tough for him, too easy for them. So we'd vary it by calling times starting maybe with the seventh finisher on the first rep; sixth finisher on the second rep; fifth man on the third and fourth; and third man on the fifth and sixth reps. (On the latter reps, I might call times just for the third, fifth, and seventh-plus finishers. That way, even when a guy dropped off the lead pack, he was encouraged to stay with a teammate--which was just what we wanted them to do in races.)

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Having said all that, I agree with several posters above: It's a lot easier to recruit a fifth than to develop him!

Sleep with his girlfriend, tell him to his face, if he runs you down, u have found ur man. If not, repeat this process until u find someone that can run u down. Everyone wins.

Take Your Time wrote:

I'd say that you can't rush it. Build their aerobic base with miles & longer tempos runs.

As the season progresses, do some GOAL PACE workouts (check out Brad Hudson's book on this one).

12 X 400 @ GP w/ 2:30 rest

8 X 600 @ GP w/ 2:30 rest

6 X 800 @ GP w/ 2:30 rest

5 X 1000 @ GP w/ 2:30 rest

5 X 1000 @ GP w/ 2:00 rest

5 X 1000 @ GP w/ 1:30 rest

5 X 1000 @ GP w/ 1:00 rest

I think that's pretty close to Hudson's plan. I think the big thing is to make sure the goal pace is a realistic pace for your runners.

Remind those kids that the most important runner on the team is the FIFTH MAN. The number 1 runner gets all the glory, but it's that 5th man that is the key to the season.

No. If anything, the first runner is the most important because his place displaces more runners. Aside from that the runners could be considered equal.

A lot of teams were in a similar situation

asjjjgjgj wrote:

Recruit from the hockey team. Seriously.

+1. I've noticed a that a ton of hockey players are very solid runners.

The Man's Man wrote:

So my team has a really, really solid 1 through 4, but our 5,6,7 guys are far back. How can I inspire one of those kids to stay up?

Just steal one from your neighbor.

#transferswinchampionships

Badger Brand wrote:

That's looking for a #1 guy, not a fifth man.

which would make a team even more solid.

People always pick on the 5-6-7 guys. Let’s assume that your guys will finish 5-10-15-25-50 at state. If each of your top 4 move up just 4 spots, that’s 16 places. If your 5th guy moves up 4 also, that’s 20 total. Stop thinking that the 5th guy is any more likely to cut 20 spots. He may already be closer to his full potential from training with guys that are better than him.

Loudoun Valley boys won NXN in 2017 even though their 5th was far behind their 4th