how can i make myself a better and faster cross country runner?

Question

exercises
books
etc.

Answer 1

Weeks 1-6 are fairly low intensity. Some need a little bit of a break after track; some need to get accustomed to gradually increasing your volume.

Weeks 1-3.
Each day, get out and run 25-60 minutes at a comfortable pace. Your breathing should allow you to talk or sing easily as you run. Look for variety in your routes.

Week 4
Sun: Long, slow run. Extend your range by at least two miles, slow down 15%.
Mon: 30-50 min., follow with 10 strides (100m at race pace).
Tues: 30 min., follow again with strides.
Wed: 30-50 min. easy.
Thur: 40-60 min. easy.
Fri: 30-50 min. follow with 10 x100m strides.
Sat: 20-40 min. follow with strides.

Now, take a look at your mileage, and increase it every other week by 10%. No more, no less. This is one very good reason to keep an accurate journal. Weeks 5 and 6 will follow the same structure as Week 4. If you need to take a day off for any reason, don’t panic…don’t try to recoup the lost day, just get back on the schedule. If you feel exhausted, I encourage you to take a day off and look at your training. Have you started too hard? This is a difficult judgment. Tired is OK…this is supposed to be hard. But if you feel “over-trained”, you need to look at your training, and maybe your sleeping.

Week 7
Sun: Long, slow run. Follow with strides.
Mon: 30-50 min. easy.
Tues: Your first SPEEDWORK! Sets of 2 x 30-40 seconds at light quick turnover, followed by 1x65-90 second bout at the same speed. This entire workout should total up to 5% of your weekly mileage total.
Wed: Sets of repeated miles at a hard pace with one minute’s rest between bouts. This should total up to 8% of your weekly mileage UP TO 6 MILES, NO MORE.
Thurs: 30 min. easy
Fri: 30-50 min. easy
Sat: 2 minutes hard, one minute easy, 1 minute hard, 30 seconds easy, 30 seconds hard, 30 seconds easy (repeat up to 6 miles, no less than 3 miles.)

Week 8
Sun: Long, slow distance.
Mon: 30-60 min., easy.
Tues: 30 min. easy, follow with 10x100m strides.
Wed: Find a 400m stretch, maybe hilly, repeat 400m at race pace with full rest between bouts, up to 5% of your total weekly mileage.
Thur: 30 min. easy.
Fri: 30-60 min. easy
Sat: Same as Sat., week 7.

Week 9
Sun: Long, slow distance, follow with strides.
Mon: 30-60 min., easy.
Tues: Sets of 2x200m+1x400 at race pace with a full rest between bouts. This should total 5% of your weekly total.
Wed: Same as Wed Week 7.
Thur: Easy 30 min.
Fri: Easy 30-60 min.
Sat: 4 minutes hard, 3 minutes easy up to 8% of your weekly total. Follow with 5 strides.

Week 10

Sun: Long, slow distance, follow with strides.
Mon: 30-60 min., easy
Tues: 30 min., follow with 10x100 strides.
Wed: Same as Wed Week 8.
Thur: Easy recov.
Fri: 30-60 min., easy.
Sat: 2 minutes hard, one minute easy, one minute hard, 30 seconds easy, 30 seconds hard, 30 seconds easy. Repeat up to 6 miles, no less than 8% of your weekly total.

Week 11
Sun: Long slow distance, follow with strides.
Mon: 30-60 min., easy.
Tues: Same as Tuesday Week 9
Wed: Mile repeats with one minute rest, up to 8% of your weekly total.
Thur: Easy recov.
Fri: 30-60 min. easy, follow with strides.
Sat: 4 minutes hard, three minutes easy, up to six miles, no less than three.

Also, do exercises that improve your core strength (stomach, lower back, obliques, etc.)...you will be AMAZED at the speed you pick up just by having a stronger core!!!

Good luck, you can do it!!

:)

Answer 2

Build a base up before you start to incorporate speedwork. This base is normally anywhere between 7 and 10 weeks. After this time start to do maybe 1 or 2 workouts a week- these can be hills, repeats, ladders, fartleks, etc but space these workouts out during the week. Work on your core- strong core helps so much. Run with a group of people form the team to keep you motivated so that way you know someone is counting on you to be there so they don't run alone and vise versa. All of these should help with some of the above information. This all helped me drop my average time from 2 minutes last year and my overall best by almost 3 minutes.

Answer 3

seriously, just keep running! it sounds simple, but that's ok-it is. try to add more mileage each week-for example, at first i was doing 25 miles a week-i added a mile or two for each week of the summer and fall, and ended up with 40 miles a week, which is a good amount for a female runner. boys can go a little more than that-up to 50ish miles a week. vary your workouts-try hill workouts, cross training, add a few sprints every few weeks (to practice driving for the finish!), that sort of thing. but be sure to have fun while doing it-otherwise you'll just grow sick of it. good luck!

Answer 4

other than running a LOT...do extreme breathing exercises...I mean a lot of cross country runners do these exercises and apparently it helps people at my school because we always are in the top 10. THANKS...that's all I know...

Answer 5

Practice!

Answer 6

practice every day around the block for a least 15 minutes

Answer 7

The food you eat, stretching well, pushing your-self, and when you run it's a mental thing, look straight ahead and try not to look down at your feet.

Answer 8

Jog every morning and night.