Any workouts that will help with cross country?

Question

i allready am running like 4 miles minimum a day, but there has to be other workouts i can do that will help me drop a couple minutes off of my time better then long endurance runs..

Answer 1

You will tire yourself out if you do some of these workouts.  You may PR by the 3rd-4th race but then when County Open, Divisional Races and Sectionals come you will be dead tired.

Summer is JUST base mileage.  Throw in some slightly faster runs and a long (think 7+ mile) day.  Allow one day of recovery (Sunday).

Answer 2

Try Hill Sprints, biking, running underwater (in a pool), try pulling a football sled or running with a training parachute. Use leg weights when you run, all this stuff will help.

Answer 3

Yeah do some speed work. Repeat miles and stuff. You got to do it all in one days work out too though. Warm up, stretch, do a 3 - 4 miles run at a steady pace (don't push it though) and do 3 or 4 repeat miles with a set goal. Take like 5 - 10 min. in between each repeat.

There was this other workout I used to do too at the track. Find a course about .75 - 1 mile long around the track the loops near it. Do that course to the track, when you get there do 10 push-ups, sprint 200-meters, do 10 sit-ups, sprint 200-meters, do 10 jumping-jacks. You do that whole thing like 3 times. It builds endurance pretty well.

After every hard workout like that or repeat miles make sure to do a 1.5 - 2 mile warm-down run too.

Answer 4

WELL, A WORK OUT FOR CROSS-COUNTRY ILL SAY RUN 4 TO 6 MILE REPETITIONS AT 20 FASTER THAN RACE PACE AND RUN TEMPO RUNS AT 30 SECONDS LESS THAN RACE PACE BOTH IN THE SAME WEEK FOR AT LEAST 1MILE OR MORE THAN RACE DISTANCE

Answer 5

I like to do 4x1600m repeats...I do them at 5:00 or faster pace but it depends on your goal pace. That is my goal pace so that is what I do.

Answer 6

Try aiming for Two fast days a week (2-5 miles Interval, Tempo, and fartlek training... Try 85 -90%)

Two days of hill/trail work to get yourself used to cross country courses... (run those hills HARD! 80 -85% at LEAST 3 miles)

One long run a week ( 7- 10 miles at an easy conversational pace 70-80%)

One rest day (don't confuse rest with inactivity! Try swimming, bicycling or any other cross training)

Another Important factor is core work, 2 or three days a week work you abs, a strong core will improve your times significantly.)

Good luck