Off-Season Training: Weeks of June 24 & July 1

With at least two weeks of consistent training behind us we can now bump up mileage a bit and add hill repeats (6-8 repeats up a moderate grade 100-150m hill at about 3000m race pace with exaggerated knee lift and an easy jog back down between each repeat). The long run should be longer than 70 minutes in duration. Mileage for both men and women should be at least 50 miles/week.


Sunday Long Run (>70 minutes)

Monday 6-7 miles w/ strength training

Tuesday 8-9 miles

Wednesday 9-10 miles

Thursday 6-7 miles w/ strength training

Friday 8-9 miles w/ hill repeats

Saturday 5-6 miles or swim/bike

Coach Van Arkel
417-873-7567

Drury 2012 Cross Country Schedule

2012 Drury Cross Country Schedule:

Sept. 15   Richard Clark Invitational   MSU   Springfield, MO

Sept. 29   Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational   Loyola   Chicago, IL

Oct. 6   Jackling Jocks Invitational   MO S&T   Rolla, MO

Oct. 20   GLVC Conference   Drury   Springfield, MO

Nov. 3   NCAA Midwest Regional   WI-Parkside   Kenosha, WI



Coach Van Arkel
417-873-7567

Off-Season Training: Weeks of June 10 & 17

After a few easy weeks since the end of track season, it's time to start regular training and build our base for cross country. For the next two weeks the goal will be consistent running(6/days week) with most daily runs up to one hour at a conversational pace. Starting June 24 we'll add three specific weekly workouts: one longer run(>70 minutes), a set of 6-8 hill repeats, and two sets of core strength work (planks, crunches, pushups). It's okay to add other workouts, cross train, spend time in the gym, etc., but running has to be the top training priority. Mileage should now be close to 50 miles/week for both the women and the men.

Sunday Long Run (>60 minutes)

Monday 5-6 miles w/ strength training

Tuesday 7-8 miles

Wednesday 8-9 miles

Thursday 5-6 miles w/ strength training

Friday 7-8 miles

Saturday 5-6 miles or swim/bike

Coach Van Arkel
417-873-7567

Summer 2012 Off-Season Training

Off-Season Training for Cross Country:

This overview of training is the same as I posted last summer. Nothing about the process has changed and it's pretty straightforward. Preparing for fall cross country races means training moderately hard and long for a number of months over the summer, then training a little harder for a few weeks after school starts, and then training even harder for a shorter period of time before we peak for our big meets. With adequate recovery, we'll be really fast when we race in October and November.

Training for cross country races (and getting faster) involves a progression. The body adapts to increased stimuli (running long and running fast) and then gets stronger during the recovery phase. The idea is to begin to develop early in summer the different bioenergetic and biomechanic systems we rely on when we run cross country races in the fall. Because 6K and 10K cross country races are 80%-85% aerobic, mileage, volume and aerobic fitness are the most important elements during the off-season. 

These key components make up the off-season cross country training plan:

1. Aerobic Fitness - Mileage, not too hard, to improve endurance and efficiency. Consistency is important.
2. Leg Strength - Hill running to increase the strength of leg muscles, tendons and ligaments and improve form and speed.
3. Core Strength - Resistance exercises designed to strengthen and stabilize the core/trunk/upper body.
4. Nutrition - Pay attention to your diet. Eat healthy, watch your weight and hydrate before and after training runs.
5. Recovery/Sleep - Improvement occurs during the rest phase. If you don't give your body a chance to regenerate between hard workouts you risk injury, illness and burnout.

Notice we do not start running fast intervals until we have developed other systems more fully and until we are ready to start peaking for cross country races. Anaerobic fitness and speed will improve during the fall season. While increases in mileage and training intensity need to be gradual, they also need to happen relatively early in the summer so conditioning can be consistent and productive for the 8-10 weeks before the cross country season starts. Expect a more specific workout schedule to start on June 10. And then start counting miles to get to 1000!

Coach Van Arkel
 417-873-7567

Drury Cross Country 1000 Mile Club

Drury Cross Country now has a "1000 Mile Club" for those runners on the team and other runners/alumni/friends associated with the program. The goal for individual runners will be to log at least 1000 running miles from June 10 through the end of October. As each runner hits his or her 1000th mile a "1000 Mile Club" t-shirt will be awarded. The goal for the Drury team is to get all runners to and past the 1000th mile sometime during the season so we will be ready to race as a team in October and November.

Former team members and boosters who contribute to the program or buy a t-shirt are eligible to participate. Until practice starts everyone is on an honor system and keeps track of their own mileage. As a suggestion, mileage can be tracked on web sites such as logarun.com or running2win.com, or phone apps such as mapmyrun or endomondo sports tracker, or a simple excel spread sheet, or an even simpler college-ruled spiral notebook (what I used a few years back) with a day's mileage on each line and a whole month's training on one page. Heck, even a napkin would work, as long as it's accurate and doesn't fall apart.

Remember, only miles run after June 10, 2012, and before October 31, 2012, count.

Coach Van Arkel
417-873-7567