2011 Cross Country Season

I have not posted in a while, so figured I should do one today! I have almost finished up my last high school Cross Country season. I have been religiously training since June, and I got up to running 50 miles a week in August which is a huge improvement from only running 35 at most last year. I have by far improved the most this year due to an increase in training. A typical training week for me right now will look like this:

Sunday- Long Run (10-13 miles)
Monday- Easy run or Tempo run, depending how I feel (8 miles)
Tuesday- Speed workout (Alternates every week, but usually will either be: 10x400, 8x800, 4x1600, or a ladder of 400, 800, 1200, 1600, 1200, 800, 400 meters. Usually around 6-7 miles total)
Wednesday- Easy run or Tempo run (will do opposite of Monday) (6-8 miles)
Thursday- Easy run if I did Tempo run yesterday, or Hill repeats (6-8 miles, or rest day if racing on Friday
Friday- Rest Day if racing on Saturday, or easy 8 miles
Saturday- Usually will be race day

In addition to running, right now I also do cross training/supplement workouts twice a week, which consist of P90X and One on One workouts. I believe it is very important to have a strong core, which will help prevent injury and give you good form. I also like doing pushups and pullups which will be my other workout for the week. Right now I don't really care about working arms because they aren't really necessary for running, and pushups and pullups work the arms some too. When I'm not racing I will do supplement workouts 3-4 times a week.

My races for Cross Country are usually either 3 miles or 5K. Often times it is somewhere in between, which is one reason why I love my new Garmin Forerunner 210! It tells me my mile pace, mile splits, and average pace for my runs. Here are my race results so far this season:

AISD Invitational on August 26: 3 miles in 17:29
Lockhart Invitational on September 3: 3K in 11:24
St. Andrews Invitational on September 10: 5K in 18:14
Pflurgerville Invitational on September 16: 3 miles in 17:14
Cedar Park Invitational on September 24: 5K in 17:59
IBM Uptown Classic on October 2: 10K in 37:11 (No Cross Country race this week so I ran a local road race)
Westlake Invitational on October 8: 3 miles in 17:16

Sadly, I am missing the Vista Ridge Invitational this Saturday because I am going to visit Texas A&M University, so my next meet will be the AISD District meet on October 28. I am hoping to compete for 1st place, but I will see how it goes. My team is also looking really strong this year so I think we will be able to get 1st place in District as a team. Then I will have Regionals on November 5, which will most likely be my last high school cross country meet. After the season is over, I will take a well deserved recovery week, then I will start training because this year I am also running indoor track which I am really excited about. My mileage will probably go up to 70-80 miles a week, so I should see really good improvements. The key is to stay healthy and injury free, which I have pretty much done a good job of. I typically get sick once a year, and I have never had an injury.

I will keep yal posted on how my season ends!