Cross country training

skippygirlsmom

My 14 year old daughter has been running cross country and track (1600 and 800) for the past 2 seasons. During XC season they usually run 3 days a week between 2 - 6 miles, have a core work out day with light running and meets on Saturdays. Last night the new coach handed out summer training and I was surprised to see that she wanted the JV to run 3 miles a day 5 days a week (to start and add miles weekly) with core training on the weekends and the varsity to run 5 to 6 miles a day 5 days a week with core training on the weekends. Last year during the summer they ran 3 days a week with rest days though workouts were about the same distance. My daughter is on the JV team because of her age, but usually trains with the Varsity, I'm thinking of having her run the 5 to 6 miles 3 times a week with rest days until "official" practice starts.

Am I wrong in thinking she (they) need more rest days then Sat/Sun or no? I run but I'm more of a 3 to 4 miles 3 or 4 times a week. I know she can run what is expected, but my concern is injury and burn out. BTW this schedule will be from next week until the 2nd week of August until official practice starts.

kristinegift

When I did XC in high school (2 years) and college (1 year), we ran anywhere from 4-9 miles a day, meets on Fridays or Saturdays, Sundays off, with basic core/stability exercises daily and weight lifting 2-3x a week. Your daughter is probably in good enough shape to run 3 miles, 5 times a week if she's already done XC and track before, though she should be doing core/support training every day, not just on weekends. I would have her keep to the coach's training plan. I assume he/she knows what thy're doing: the coach wants them to build consistent, but higher mileage, so they can work more on speed than distance during the school year when official practice starts. From my experience, it seems like a good training plan (if a little monotonous, running the same distance every day, all summer? Boring!)! I'd have her stick to the coach's plan instead of trying to combine the two to give her more days off.

CarsonRuns

3 miles a day, 5 days a week is 15 miles a week. That is super low volume for a HS CC runner. I would expect that the coach will have her closer to 30+ miles per week by the end of summer, and that's still really low. By the time she is a senior, I would expect the summer weekly mileage to be in the 50+ mile per week range.

Teenagers recovery more quickly than adults do, so they can run more volume sooner than AOR's can (Adult Onset Runners) .

Let the coach coach and be supportive.

skippygirlsmom

Thanks for your replies! My daugther had no problem with the schedule and plans to run what the varsity runs not the JV, keep in mind my daughter is an 8th grader not in HS yet. She told me she plans to be at 30 miles a week before August. Right now she's running 10-15 (with track). She was hurt last year (achilles tendon) and was out 10 weeks so I guess I'm just cautious with her now. I agree they do recovery much quicker. thanks again