How many miles should i be running a week for cross country?

Question

I am going to be a freshman in highschool and i was wondering how many miles i should be running per day to keep in shape. i want to be one of the best and this week i only ran 16.49 miles averaging around 3-4 miles per day for 5 days. How many SHOULD i be running?

Answer 1

you should be running 40-50 miles per week if you want to be one of the best.

you should be running 20-30 miles per week considering you are a freshman.

you should be running about 35 miles per week to keep in shape, if you are already were you want to be-or close.

sometimes a runner has to be realistic and there's nothing better than talking to a person that knows your running--your coach. keep on being determined and dedicated and you will get where you want to be-i bet you can. be careful and don't over train because an injury could easily sabotage the whole season. don't be disappointed if you are not the best, experience has a lot to do with it, as well. i would recommend you become friends with one of the junior/senior top girl runner and just talk with her and let her help you out.

Answer 2

I've coached cross country (girls high school) in the past.

The most serious seniors on our team usually came in running up to about 50 miles per week.  I would try to aim for about 20 miles per week as a freshman.  However, the person to best advise you on this is your coach.  Find out who the high school cross country coach is and ask him/her for advice.  You might also find out that your team-mates are already doing some group runs together.  In my state, we couldn't formally and directly work with the kids until a set date in August, but they would do runs informally together.

As long as you're doing some running entering the season, you should be fine.  It's better to come into the season a little bit under-trained than well-trained but injured.  As I said, try to talk to the coach.