Can you overtrain for cross-country?

Question

my coaches want me to run 500 miles this summer for my fall xc season. last summer i ran 400 miles as a 14 year old and didn't have a very sucessful season.

Answer 1

Yes it is possible to overtrain.  But 500 miles would not be overtraining if you did 400 last year

Answer 2

I understand your situation. It seems to me, the more I push myself the worse I become.



For example, last year in track I got 14' and 15' as a average for my long jump(which isn't great, but it's my best). That was in middle school where nothing is really as serious so there wasn't much running...or practicing at all for that matter. This year in high school, it became a lot more serious and we ran upwards of one mile per day, did leg strengthening skills, and tried to perfect our jumps. I felt sore all the time and my muscles felt overworked. And I never reached 13' for my long jump.



Sorry, I know this doesn't really answer your question, but I thought I would relay the fact that I have been in a similar situation so it may be possible that if you overwork yourself, you could put yourself into a position where you can't put your best effort into your running.

Answer 3

phil is right on,,, back in OUR day lol,,, i had to burn close to 100 miles a week.   That can get you there, but  injuries will creep up on you working that hard,,,

500 in the summer is nothing though,,,,

If I could tell you a couple things, you need to find a successful athlete that you admire and try to emulate their workouts,,, you Def need to make running fun and easy,,,  Also consider 3-5 miles a day 5 days a week, then on the 6th day knock out an 8-9 miler,,, do it for fun and with as many of your friends that you can include,,,

now thats a perfect summer set up,,, and you will be on fire this CC season!!

gl

tater

Answer 4

You certainly can over train for running; there is such a thing as running too much.  As an experienced runner 500 miles over an 8 – 10 week period for a 14 year old is way too much.  There is no way you need to run 40 – 50 miles a week for a cross-country season.  

Since I don’t know what the distance is for your age group, for a teenager under the age of 16 we don’t recommend anything over a 5k run at anytime.  Your body is not finished growing and you are training what basically is ½ to full marathon distance weekly.  

My recommendation would be to build a nice base and run 20 – 25 miles a week.  Maybe as much as 30, but no way I would suggest 50.  Cross country also requires a certain amount of strength, I would recommend Interval training or hill training once per week as well this will also help build strength and endurance.

Also mix up your runs as well.  Run a long run on Sunday (or anytime during the week) this should be no more then 50% of your total weekly mileage.  If you go slowly I could see a 6 – 8Km run at an easy conversational pace.  Then 2x per week do a smaller tempo run 3 – 4Km this is slightly slower then race pace.  Then 1 steady run 5 – 6K which is somewhere between Tempo and LSD, and 1 day training interval or hills with a total of on more the 5 – 6Km for the run.

This in itself is only about 28K, which is about 18 miles per week.  If you want, you could maybe increase your runs weekly over the summer, but never more then 10% per run per week.  Taken a step back week ever 3rd week so that the body can recover.

This will give you a good base when you come to school in December.  So unless you are planning 10 – 15 mile races,  you do not need to do 50  miles a week.

Harry

Answer 5

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It would be good to take some time to discuss last season's results with your coach to identify specifically what made last season unsuccessful (in your eyes, at least).  You might be surprised, it could have been the mileage, or illness, or insufficient speedwork, or . . .

Generally you do need to put the miles in, and a fairly high proportion of quality miles, to be ready for XC.  The races are won in the off-season!

500 miles in 12 or even 10 weeks is not too high.  Be thankful you're not working out in the LONG SLOOOOW DISTANCE era, back when long was good . . . longer was better . . . and longest was best.  

Following some of the training guides available back in the '60's and early '70's, high school XC and track runners (even at age 15!) trained upwards of 100 miles per week.   Some would periodically cover 170-180 miles in a week (no lie).

Regards,

Phil

Answer 6

I have to do 700 and the first few weeks of the chart I felt like I would burn out before the season even started, but it just takes some getting used to; I feel fine now going out and running 8 miles on a regular day. Your coaches know what they are doing.

Answer 7

Three things accompany successful distance running. training , Rest , Nutrition. All three are key, Your body has to have time to recover . Quality runs are better than alot of poor quality runs. You need to fix a schedule that accomodates all of the things that you do in the summer so your body will thrive from the training and not get broken down without recovery time.