Fall Cross Country Info/Running Shoes!

FIRST PRACTICE: Our first team meeting will be Monday, Aug 17, at 4:00 pm at the O'Reilly Center. We'll run mornings that first week and expect to do a long run on Sunday morning.

TRAINING SHOES/GEAR: I will be ordering training shoes starting July 1 so each runner on the team has a new pair of trainers in the fall. All runners need to contact Coach Van Arkel (xcountry@drury.edu) with their training shoe brand, model and size (no experimental or beta models; only tried and true). Drury will cover up to $125 of the purchase price of trainers. Runners are responsible for providing their own racing spikes. Drury is sponsored by Adidas and we will be wearing mostly Adidas gear (shoes excepted) on days of meets. Also, each runner will be responsible for selling a Drury Sports Auction cash bash ticket in the fall in exchange for obtaining their gear.

PHYSICALS: For those freshmen and juniors who have not yet completed their physical, physicals for all incoming freshmen and junior runners will be given by the Drury team doctor on Monday, August 17. For those who can be on campus this summer, Dr. Woods is also available some Mondays in July. Physicals are required before any freshman or junior can practice.

MEDICAL FORMS: All freshmen runners must have all medical forms, including insurance card(front & back) and sickle cell test results, on file with the trainers by 4:30 pm on August 117. Signed forms must be returned to the athletic trainers and must be on file before you can practice. Links to the forms are on the Drury Panthers Athletic Training web page. Returning runners are required to update medical history and health insurance info before they can practice.


Coach Van Arkel

Off-season Training: Weeks of June 28 & July 5

The next two weeks we'll add a couple elements to the training. At least one time during the week find a hilly course to run, working the uphills at a slightly faster pace than normal (6 x 150m at 3K pace). Also, add a couple of core strength workouts to the training. These workouts can be as simple as two sets of crunches,  two sets of pushups and a couple of sets of planks (front and back held for 20-30 seconds). The long run should now be at least 70 minutes and weekly mileage close to 50+. In mid-July we'll start to think about specific weekly mileage goals.

Sunday Long Run (70 minutes or more)

Monday 5-6 miles

Tuesday 7-8 miles with hills

Wednesday 9-10 miles

Thursday 5-6 miles w/ strength training

Friday 9-10 miles

Saturday 5-6 miles or swim/bike w/ strength training


Coach Van Arkel

Fall 2015 Cross Country Schedule

Drury's Fall 2015 Cross Country Schedule:

Sept. 19   Southern Stampede   MSSU   Joplin, MO

Sept. 26  Cowboy Jamboree   OSU   Stillwater, OK

Oct. 10   Jackling Jocks Invitational   MO S&T   Rolla, MO

Oct. 24   GLVC Conference   Wisc. Parkside   Kenosha, WI

Nov. 7   NCAA Midwest Regional   USI   Evansville, IN

Nov. 21  NCAA Nationals   Spokane, WA 

Off-season Training: Weeks of June 14 & 21

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 (at least six days each week) with most daily runs up to one hour at a conversational pace. Starting June 28 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 get close to 50 miles/week for both the women and the men by the end of the month of June.

Sunday Long Run (>60 minutes)

Monday 5-6 miles

Tuesday 7-8 miles

Wednesday 8-9 miles

Thursday 5-6 miles

Friday 7-8 miles

Saturday 5-6 miles or swim/bike

Coach Van Arkel

Summer Off-season Training for Cross Country

Our first fall Cross Country practice will be the first day of school, Monday, August 17. Freshmen and juniors will need to get a physical at the Drury athletic training room either that weekend before school starts or earlier in order to practice. All runners must turn in medical forms to the trainers by then in order to practice.

I'll start posting a training plan this coming week, but we will spend the last 10 weeks of our summer off-season training building an aerobic base for the harder running we will do when cross country season starts at the beginning of the fall semester. After school starts we'll have another 10 week window to get ready for our important 6K and 10K cross country races in late October/early November.

Those races are 80%-85% aerobic, so mileage, volume and aerobic fitness are the most important elements during our base training phase and are necessary before we add speed work and more intensive running during September and October. We will not begin running fast intervals until practice starts. For now, consistancy and volume will be the most important factors in determining how well you race in the fall.

Coach Van Arkel