Pre-Season Training

by Justine
(California)

Hello. My name Justine, and I recently just ended my track season and took two weeks off. I'm going to start training for cross country. Is runinng an hour everyday worth doing, or should I mix it up?

Thank you.

Great question Justine. The short answer is mix it up. You can make sure each work out takes you an hour to complete, but two workouts per week should be more than just a distance run.

In the summer, I suggest running at least five days a week. Most of the runs you do can be distance runs. In your case, these distance runs can be for 60 minutes. That will give you an incredible aerobic base going into the cross country season.

At the end of each run, I suggest doing a few quick strides. This will keep your legs fresh and fast. If all you do is long, slow distance runs, you will be able to run a long time, but you won't run fast races.

Two of the days should be either tempo runs, fartlek workouts, and hill runs. Let me explain each workout a little bit.

The Tempo Run is a great way to keep that fitness level up. Let's say you run the 5k at a pace of seven minutes per mile. You should run a three to five mile tempo run at about 7:30 to 7:45.

The Fartlek means Speed Play. You should run like you are doing a regular distance run. Then mix in some speed every so often. I suggest doing five by one minute pick ups. Start running for about ten minutes, run fast for a minute, slow down for a minute, and repeat.

The Hill Run is just as it sounds. Find a hilly path to do a run on, and go for it. You don't have to run any harder than a typical distance run.

The only workouts I would stay away from during preseason training is intervals. Good luck! For even more information read this article on preseason tips.