Cross Training Questions

Cross country season is getting closer, please help?

I have a 5k race that is in about 9 weeks. I am a freshman in high school. My cross country team is performing a workout program over the summer that helps create a good base for next season. I don't want to follow this program as this will just get me the same results as last season. Their workout program focuses more on mileage than anything else. I have a program that helps better your 5k time by including track intervals on Tues., tempo runs on Thurs., and long runs on Saturday. The rest of the week I have to perform a cross training workout to recover from the physical stress of the key run workouts.It is about 9 weeks long, enough time to prepare for my 5k race. I also want to perform plyometrics and speed drills twice a week to help me gain some speed in general, because I am a 400m and 800m runner during track. Can I do all this and see benefits for my race in 9 weeks? What day of the week should I perform my speed and plyometrics? Also, can I add hill repeats on my easy days? All this is for cross country. The speed training is for the finishing speed in the 5k races. None of this is for track.

Public Comments

1. You are already putting a lot of pressure on your body with the workouts now. I would just do your easy days w/ hills and maybe light intervals, but don't worry about track right now. You can work on that this winter.
2. Well the 5k is 3.1 miles. so what you should do is just get close up to the 5k (in distance) while doing sprint/walks (100m or more and then walk the same distance) And do these alternating days. 7 days a week. I'm up to the point where I do about 4 miles every single day, and I don't do the sprints anymore because I won't be doing any competition any time soon. After you get more in shape you should be stepping up the distances, even when you are doing more than the 5k you will still be doing amazing at it. Once you get a mile or more above the 5k you should start doing the 5k 3 times a week, long distance 2, and speed 2 times a week. Long distance means that you will be running further, but at a slower pace. 5k means as fast as you can. And same for the sprints, you want to be dead tired when you are done with those.