Summer Training: An Introduction

Cross Country and all distance running training is based on a basic universally accepted notion understood by coaches and elite athletes: you must overload a specific physiological function to obtain a training effect. As you recover from the workload your body adapts. Progression occurs as you increase intensity and volume over time and add different types of training to the mix. With the right amounts of sharpening and tapering, the end result is outstanding fitness and fast races.

Our summer conditioning starts with aerobic mileage and adds hilly runs, strides and strength work. The idea is to increase VO2max and running efficiency during this period. Anaerobic development and speed will come later during the cross country season. During the cross country season, we will be doing a large amount of hill training, steady-state running and speed work. Additionally, we will be running 70 miles(women) to 80 miles(men) a week at the beginning of cross country practice in August and will be doing hard 13 mile runs our first week back. Everyone should be ready to run a solid half-marathon in training by the end of the summer.

For now, a couple of weeks of easy recovery running/cross training is important at the end of the track season. In June, we will want to increase weekly mileage and add a weekly long run to improve aerobic capacity. We will also want to add core strength training and, soon hill repeats. While these increases in mileage and training need to be gradual, they also need to happen early in the summer so aerobic conditioning can be consistent for 8-10 weeks before the cross country season starts.

The more volume you can do during the summer, the better you will be in races in the fall.

I will provide specific training suggestions starting June 3.

Coach Van Arkel