Cross country newbie?

Question

I'm going to be a freshman next year and I really wanted to join cross country but I don't know if I can handle it!! So I was wondering, how many miles do you have to run for practice? Are there a lot of people who join who are kinda average runners or can everyone do 8 miles without stopping? And, how can I train during the summer? Right now I can run about a mile and a half without stopping.

Answer all the questions or just one! Thank you!!

Answer 1

To be honest XC will suck the first 2 or 3 weeks for you.  But after that you will probablly learn to love it. Definately go out and don't quit.  Finish the season and if you still dont like it don't go out next year.

Answer 2

Cross Country is made up of lots of different people with different amounts of skill in endurance running. I'm sure there will probably be some good competition for you. There will probably be some good runners who can easily outdo you. There will also be lots of people who are in the same skill level as you. The important thing is that you work with what you have.

During practice you could be running anywhere from three to ten miles. You never know. Just be prepared to practice hard.

Answer 3

When I started cross-country I could only do about a mile and a half.  You don't have to be a star runner to try out.  Usually races are 5K (3.1 miles).  Your coach will have the best techniques/practices to get your body to go faster and longer.  Some days you'll go short distances(speedwork on a 1/4 mile track) and other days you might go longer (3-4 miles).  Just make sure you are getting enough nutrition and are cutting out stimulant(caffeine/energy drinks).  Most importantly, enjoy your runs!  Good luck.

Answer 4

You're not use to running distance like the normal cross country runners.

-1 1/2 miles is good for not running cross country, but just remember that the races are 3 miles, and it takes a lot of physical and mental endurance.

The first week will be the hardest for practice, and normally they would run around 3-5 miles, but thats not until later.

They should have conditioning for the summer, because it would be hard to go out and run a 3 mile race with no practice!

Good Luck!

Its a lot of fun!

=]

Answer 5

Don't be afraid!  You can do it, it isn't that bad.  I mean, maybe it is, but you will learn to love it.  You have to give it time, but I think everyone who is patient and trains hard will come to love it.  

My XC team in high school was really good, and tough, and I never had any idea how many miles a week we ran.  It didn't matter--we just did as our coach said and were too busy having fun to count the miles.  

We ran a lot, but I run a lot more now (after college).   We did a mile warmup everyday, then a work out of some sort--hills, speed, or distance--and we did a lot of team-building activities that happened to involve running.

So really, not more than 5 or 6 miles on a typical day.  Races are only 3.1 miles (5k) or sometimes shorter.

You can run a mile and a half today... that's not bad!  Try running 2 miles every other day for a week, then adding a 3 mile run, then working up to a 4 miler.  After that you can pretty much run any distance without stopping.  You def. need to train this summer though.

It's so worth it!

Answer 6

1.5 miles without stopping is really good! i remember before i started XC, i could only run 1.5 miles without stopping also. it's one of those things you will get accustomed to over time. As for training, here was my schedule: on monday, go find a steep hill and run 15 laps on that (up and down is one lap), on tuesday, run a 2 sets of 4 400s or 4 800s+ 400s. on wednesday, run a little lighter, maybe 1 or 2 miles. On thursday, we went distance and ran 4-7 miles. Friday was easy, 1 miles max cuz saturday was race day. You might not be able to run that fast right now, so do a fourth of everything for now. Once you can do that, do half of everything, then 3/4 of everything, and finally all of it. Since you still have the summer, you have time to improve. Good luck on ur season!

O yea, remember to get a pair of running shoes..

i recommend asics, although you don't have to get them