Summer Cross Country Training/Practice

In preparation for next Fall’s Cross Country season, a suggested outline of summer training is provided below. Use this information to guide your summer workouts.

1. Team practice begins on July 15 (6:30pm by the tennis courts/playground area at Seneca Park). KHSAA rules do not allow coaches to have any contact with their athletes during what is called the "dead period" (typically the last week in June and first week in July). Until we meet on that first Tuesday night, you’ll have to practice on your own.

a. That first week only (July 15-19), we will practice Tues-Wed-Thurs at Seneca Park (6:30) and on Sat at Joe Creason Park (9:30am by the playgrounds). Thereafter, (July 21 until school begins) our practice schedule is tentatively set as: Mon, Wed and Thurs at Seneca Park (6:30pm); Tues at EP Tom Sawyer Park (6:30pm by the playground area); and Sat at Joe Creason Park (9:30am).

2. These are suggested training guides. You may find it necessary to adapt things to your summer schedule. If you do, then here are a couple things to bear in mind:

a. Each week’s workouts are set up in a specific order. As long as you keep the sequence of training days the same (e.g. move everything back two days - changing the Monday workouts to Wednesday, Tuesday to Thursday, etc.), you’ll get the same benefit.

b. Your workouts should vary in intensity, don’t transform every run into an easy day. Understand that your body may need to adjust to the harder workouts, and/or you’ll have up and down days physically, but you need to move toward these tougher workouts. Of course, you should always balance the intensity of your training with how you feel on any given day, the weather, etc.

3. Here are some more specific descriptions of certain workouts.

a. Fartlek: after warming up, run for 4 minutes at as close to 5K pace as you can, followed by a 2-3 minute recovery period of easy jogging, not walking, before you start on the next 4 minute effort at 5K pace. After our first official practice, we’ll start with 2 minute recovery jogs (not 3 minutes), so work toward that goal. Always follow up this workout with an easy warmdown.

b. Hill loop: find a loop at the park or near your home that has some pretty good hills on it, and run continuously around that loop for the listed amount of time. During the first few weeks of hill loops, don’t worry about running the hills too hard. Work on good form and running smoothly.

c. Tempo: a tempo run is one where you push the pace for a certain amount of time. Prior to the first practice, you’ll have to decide for yourself how fast "pushing the pace" will be. Build gradually during the run, trying to make the last half of the run faster than the first half.

d. Strides: run a series of 4-8 sprints (between 40 and 80m) after the workout. Concentrate on good running form and rest as much as you need between them. At least half should be fairly fast, so it’s OK to use the first few as more of a warmup (running at about ¾ speed).

There will be girls following their respective schedule very closely. If you cut back on your summer training, then you will definitely fall behind those girls. At the start of every season, a common lament is about how someone wishes they’d prepared better. Remember, while something is better than nothing, your Fall Cross Country success will ultimately depend on what you did during the Summer.