I’m a runner, ran D3 in college so I understand some of what goes into training. My son decided to try club XC this spring as an 8th grader so he understands what running in HS would be like. The beginning of the season was going great, ran a 15:30 4k on a hard course but now he can barely run 17 minutes. His legs are heavy and he “can’t move them.” It’s only when he runs hard. His breathing is fine and he wants to run faster but his legs won’t let him. I’m curious if it’s over training on top of figuring out nutrition. Here’s a sample week of workouts from the club (all done on grass and hill loops):
Monday: 1100m repeats at tempo speed
Wednesday: huge hill (best sledding hill in the county) repeats with 400-600m loops fast
Friday: 600m fast repeats
Sunday: race day.
Sometimes he would had 3-4 miles easy on Tuesdays.

I feel like the focus is on too many hard days vs gradually increasing mileage with easy runs. He kind of jumped onto all of this at the start of the season with just running 3 days a week of 3-4 mile rules. He’s frustrated (we all are) and I’ve never seen him so excited about a sport so I don’t want him to give up. Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated?

I’m 16, and my current XC 5K PR is 16:35. I’d love to qualify for Nike Cross Nationals or the Brooks Cross Country Championships next year. What can I do over the next year to give myself the best chance?

I know that’s a big jump, but I’m willing to put in the work. I'm also curious about what top national level competing runners do differently than an average runner like me does. Is it the milage or do they have access to "secret" workouts? Currently I run 35-40 miles a week.

I just tried my first Xc season in high school after doing football for 2 years and I went from running a high 29 to a almost sub 23 during the JV season and im not sure what to do to improve after the season.

Should I just do the same as ive been doing to train for Xc such as 5+mile runs \ intervals while im doing other sports like winter track and lacrosse?

Or should I just keep to a steady 3-5 easy miles a day during my winter and spring sports?

Im hoping to be able to run a sub 21 or 20 by the end of my senior year next season or maybe run varsity. im not sure if im overestimating myself but I think I could if I train some in the offseason.

This sport is great honestly and I just wish I started sooner lol.

I don't think it matters, but my teamates run around a 17, 19, 20, 20, 20, 21, and 24 (I've also been running 20, but I know I can do better)

I've talked to multiple of my faster and slower running friends and they seem to enjoy running the sport (they've also been to state comp), and I don't really see why my teammates don't enjoy the sport

I do understand that practice can be hell sometimes, like today we did 4 200s, an all out mile, then 4 200s, but the running is the best part to me.

Do I enjoy the meats? Yes

Do I enjoy being around my teammates? Yes

Can anyone else relate?

(this is my 2nd post today because I just found this subreddit)

In my freshman year I was averaging about a 23 minute 5k, and this year was a little worse in the beginning but I did a lot better in the end.

After coming back from hamstring troubles, I ran 23:17, then the next 4 races I ran slower than 23:30 and it was very hard to stay motivated.

Then we had a PERFECT day and I got a 2 minute PR, which was really needed.

I proceeded to run sub 23:40, then I ran 2 prs afterwards, then a pr in regionals (also mile pr) with 20:13, but only because I tried pacing with our 19:45 freshie

Spoiler alert; he ran 18:07 that race 😬

The annoying thing is that I know I can get at least sub 19:30, but I just don't run fast enough

Full quote:
My God, I don’t know if you guys follow this stuff and know the cross country team, but I see the kids in the cafeteria, and I promise you, I think they can run all the way to Denver without a sip of water. Like, these kids can go get it, and they’re dominating right now. Hats off to them.

My daughter is in 8th grade and has been running XC since last year on a modified (middle school) team. Since beginning last year she’s continued to make incredible progress - this season winning many meets early in the season (1.6 miles) and now dominating 2 mile meets in larger fields. Her latest race was at 12:40 for 2 miles, and she’s been shaving 10-25 seconds off almost each race, albeit different courses.

She is very self-driven, serious about practice, trained on her own most of this past summer, etc. we want to support her talent and continuous improvement, especially as she moves from middle to high school (and in to longer races) next year.

As a former college athlete, I have foundational knowledge on training but not necessarily for distancing running. What are the best way to support her talent? Some questions I’ve been thinking about:

1. Does she need a running coach? For context, the
   school coaches have been okay so far but wondering if she needs more support for training.

2. What should her strength training look like? Currently she’s not doing any but she’s interested and we have equipment at home.

3. Balancing her other activities, she’s likely participating in XC skiing in the winter, how much should she be running and how should MPW evolve as she starts to train for high school (5k). She’s at about 20 MPW now (only in season).

Appreciate this community and your advice.

I DNFd today because my legs started feeling like crap after the first mile. They felt really tigh and fatigue. I went out at a similar pace as my last race on the same course but this time I had to drop out. Has anyone had this experienc? Is this like a one time thing? I really want to do better for my next race because I had been pr‘ing before but I don’t know if this means I am done for the rest of the season.

Just some background: Our daughter started 6th grade this year and joined her XC school team (it’s a middle/high school combo). She’s on the JV team and even though she’s middle school, she’s typically running in meets that are mostly high schools and 5k. She’s been doing really well and has improved her times from 29 minutes to 24 minutes this season and is now the third fastest on the entire team, even though she’s technically JV.

My question is the coach seems to favor the two fastest girls on the team who are varsity, of course. The depth and speed on our team is limited compared to some of the other schools we’re racing against and we usually don’t finish top 10 individuals. But on JV, because of our daughter she’s been placing 6-9 out of the runs. On a couple occasions the coach has “mixed it up” as he says and put the teams two fastest girls in the JV race. He doesn’t really say why but I assume it’s to get them to place higher and get a medal/shirt. When he does this, they bump our daughter down in the rankings on the JV runs and I don’t feel like it’s really fair to the JV runners to be doing that. It’s almost always his top two runners and I don’t think he’s moved other varsity runners to JV.

Since thjs is my first experience with XC, I’m not familiar with race etiquette etc. do coaches normally bounce their varsity down just to confidence boost or possibly stack the JV team because the varsity team can’t compete at the e varsity level? I thought about asking the coach but didn’t want to be “that parent” and only our first year. He also seems to favor his top two runners and talks to them about their runs and next races while he doesn’t seem that interested in boosting our daughter up.

Thanks for any advice and if we’re just worried about nothing and should just focus on our daughter and how well she’s improving/doing.

What should I do during winter for cross-country?

Cross-country season's almost over, and I need something to do during the winter to keep my running level up. I run track during the spring, but that won't be for a few months.

I don't really have the opportunity to run at an indoor track, and where I live the ground is covered in half a meter of snow and ice until March, so I was thinking of using my indoor bike during this time, but I'm not sure if cycling really translates into running that great.

Also, if I do decide to use the bike, is winter just for long sessions or can you also do interval-type training during winter?

Coaches, I'm curious what you all are using to score small meets like dual, tri, quad? Are you using paper pencil or something else electronically?

As XC season is coming to an end in many parts of the country, how do you feel about this season? Coaches, athletes, parents feel free to share.

I’ll go first. I’m a former XC runner now coach and parent. This was my first season as a parent after spending the last 3 seasons as a coach at the youth level as the school I teach elementary PE at. I have shared my love of this sport having probably close to 70 students, passed and present running XC this year. My son, as a 1st grader also started this. My niece is finishing her final XC season Saturday. This has been by far my best XC season I have ever been involved in. I think this sport is in a great place that multiple people elementary schools in my district are now also starting XC teams. Which in return will create a lot of interest in a few years from now when those kids reach high school

Son had severe cramp/pain across abdominal area during race. Slowed him way down. This wasn’t a side stitch. Anyone heard of this happening? 2 weeks until Regionals
Thanks

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I run 30mpw 6d/wk and whenever I take my Sunday rest day I'm just not hungry. I eat breakfast, but I'm never hungry for lunch or even dinner really. I eat well 3 meals per day the rest of the week and I know it's really important for me to be fueling on rest days; I'll try to eat something like a banana and feel sick. Does this happen to anyone else? what do i do?

Today’s my first day coaching middle school cross country and I’m extremely nervous and anxious I want to do well as a coach for my team. Any tips or recommendations would be much appreciated. Practice time is an hour I haven’t met the team yet but I know it’s co-ed just some ideas of how practice should go, examples of fun games to incorporate, good stretches and warm ups to use. They run a 1.5 mile run at meets for reference

I'm a first year volunteer coach at a small school and the season has been a great success. So much so, that we are the favorites heading into the State Championship next Monday.

I'm bouncing around a little bit with our final taper strategy, mainly because what we have done so far has worked well and we don't need to do anything extraordinary next week.

What is different is last weekend was the first time we didn't race all season. We did back off some mileage. I just planned to back off some more distance this week and keep intensity.

Our Middle school kids did race last week with no real taper and they all PB'd. They actually had 2 races last week. But they do run less miles throughout the season.

Just looking for any advise. Mainly, because we had the change in our schedule, but we also haven't run fully fresh either. We have run 10 races, so they are seasoned racers.

Here is what I changed last week and what I plan to do this week.

Last Week:

M: 7x 3 min sub-threshold w/1 min rest vs regular 10 intervals. 21 min vs 30.

W: 2 x 1 mile + 1200 + 800+ 400 threshold vs regular 4 x 1 mile. 3.5 miles vs 4.

F: 10 x 400m at 5k vs regular 5k race on Saturday. 2.5 miles vs 3.1.

T, Th, Sa: 45 min easy vs 50, 50, 70. 135 min vs 170.

Total was about a 20% reduction for both quality and easy

This week plan.

M: 3x1000 sub-threshold w/2 rest + 3 x 400 @5k w/3 min rest. 2.6 miles approx 18 min.

W: 3 x 800 + 3 x 400 at 5k with full rest. 2.25 miles approx 14 min.

F: 3 x 400 at 5k + 3 x 200 fast. 1.1 miles.

T, th, sa: 30 min easy. 90 total. Saturday will be mostly travel as it's 7 hours.

Sun: pre- race at the course.

Additional 30% reduction or about 50% total over regular season for both quality and easy.

This is quite literally how a race is SUPPOSED to start. I ran for a while on an XC team and have only seen this done, like, twice ever. Instead, I see starts following a track and field style "Ready, set" audible command start way more often. Is this tradition just dead or what?

I am a complete newbie. This is my first time doing cross country and my first time doing a sport at all. The season was really hard for me, I will admit. Three races were mandatory in order to get the sports school credit, and those were hard. They were scary, uncomfortable, and painful.

But I tried my best. I hated cross country. Now, next week is the last week of the season, and I think I'm going to miss it. I made a few friends and got stronger, mentally and physically. My first race was at a harder course, with many hills and uneven ground. It was a 5k. I finished in 42 minutes​​, and was very upset. I came in dead last, and my ego was crushed. I was also sick with a cold while racing.

Then came the second race. I had determination, I had grit. It was a slightly easier course, and I ran with a friend. 37 minute 5k. I PR-ed by five minutes. That was my peak, or so I thought. I felt okay afterwards. I had learned that it isn't about being the best, it's about beating my own personal goals.

Third race. Today. On that hard course again. I also had a pain in my ankle, I now am wearing an ice pack as I type this. I knew this was it. This was the grand finale, and I gave it all I got. Final required race, hard course. I was afraid. I didn't think I could PR, I wasn't sure if I could even finish. My legs were burning on fire, and I had to take walking breaks, but I tried my best. I shuffled up the hills and huffed and panted my way down them.

I staggered down the flat parts, my legs turning to jelly, my ankle burning like hell. But by God, I did it today. I beat my PR. By a lot. 35 minutes today, on the hard course.​ I felt like a super hero.

And there we have it.

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This is the location for all questions, discussions related to cross country training.

I have my first 5K cross country race tomorrow and I’m not sure how to pace myself as I’ve never ran a course so hilly. Normally I can run a 5K in 25 minutes but this completely different. The first 4 km is really undulating, slippy and narrow and the last km is flat on a pavement.

Any advice welcome :)

Hi all - would welcome any thoughts here...

which race might be better to target for our athletes who are in junior year and may have some college interest / or which puts them in best possible light for those type of discussions/talking with Colleges...

Two race options For Nov 21 (team won't qualify for NXN/R)...

The Brooks northeast championships meet at Holmdel NJ (Holmdel being a pretty well known, tough Eastern US Course)

and there is another race same day - which says would get a high school athlete a time on Milesplit for XC season - but it's run on a track (so assumingly faster than a XC course - especially Holmdel which is tough)

Do you think there’s a difference or what looks “better” to anyone reviewing a kid - to have a faster cross country season time (if they filter for XC etc) (assuming they’d be faster on a track) vs the brooks race at holmdel time?

They also have some good Holmdel times already from prev. meets in season. I just don't know if the prestige of the race/competition for this Brooks race might be better to get on radar/look better in later months if someone is checking out a profile..

Thank you for considering the question.