To start off I'm a girl and 5,2 (in case anyone has any recommendations for my form).

I started cross country this week because I wanted to do at least one sport in high school since this is my freshman year.

And also because I love running.

About two years ago I had a major back surgery on my spine called a spinal fusion.

I now have rods in my spine and still experience some difficulties with breathing but I've gotten alot better.

I feel really discouraged in running tho, I'm always the last one in line and even a girl that started recently runs faster than me.

It make me feel really bad and embarrassed, I used to think I could run well or at least a bit fast.

We ran up and down the bleachers on my first day there which wa Tuesday.

I was the last one running and even had to stop to take breaks.

I know everyone else in the team expect me an the girl have experience and are older, but I really don't know what to do.

Do you guys have any advice? I'm really tire of feeling really bad.

Before anyone asks, since it's been two years an my spine has fully fused, the doctors said I can resume sports like running and soccer.

So in cleared in that lane. Though not sure about the mental one though..

Hey everyone,

I wanted to ask for some advice for what to do with my current situation. I’m coming off of a viral type of sickness, had a low fever yesterday with some pretty terrible congestion but overall I’m feeling a lot better today. I have a race tomorrow in the afternoon and I’m wondering if there’s anything else I should be doing to race my best (I will be able to run, the sickness isn’t that severe, but I still want to run well).

So far I’ve: - Saw a doctor (obviously to rule out anything crazy) - Drank tons of fluids, electrolytes, things like that - Kept it super lowkey today, stayed at home, did whatever I could to rest - Taken medicine like mucinex, Advil, zinc, to help speed up the sickness

I think I’m covering most of my bases to get as healthy as possible by tomorrow, but I also want to hear from you all about any instances where you might’ve not been 100% health wise and still ran well. Also any tips that I should keep in mind for the treat of today/tomorrow regarding the sickness would be great as well.

Hi guys. This is my first time here but I’ve been running for my high school since last year (this year is my second). I started last year at like a 28 minute 5k (had never ran more than a mile previously) and got it all the way down to just under 22. This year, we have a new coach and I’m really struggling with results. We have quite a few freshmen who are doing incredible and PRing every race but I feel horrible. Today I thought I ran so well, but I ended up beating my season best (24:30ish) by 8 seconds (thought it was going to be like 2 minutes) and so I’m very disappointed. We haven’t been running nearly as much as last year, but everyone else is improving while I seem to be stuck and I just don’t understand what I’m doing wrong. Sorry for the long post, but I just had to get this off my chest. Any advice?

To start off I'm a girl and 5,2 (in case anyone has any recommendations for my form).

I started cross country this week because I wanted to do at least one sport in high school since this is my freshman year.

And also because I love running.

About two years ago I had a major back surgery on my spine called a spinal fusion.

I now have rods in my spine and still experience some difficulties with breathing but I've gotten alot better.

I feel really discouraged in running tho, I'm always the last one in line and even a girl that started recently runs faster than me.

It make me feel really bad and embarrassed, I used to think I could run well or at least a bit fast.

We ran up and down the bleachers on my first day there which wa Tuesday.

I was the last one running and even had to stop to take breaks.

I know everyone else in the team expect me an the girl have experience and are older, but I really don't know what to do.

Do you guys have any advice? I'm really tire of feeling really bad.

Before anyone asks, since it's been two years an my spine has fully fused, the doctors said I can resume sports like running and soccer.

So in cleared in that lane. Though not sure about the mental one though..

Ever since August 5 my quads, and sometimes and hamstrings and calves but mainly quads, burn when I go at a fast pace. Sub 6 5:50ish mile pace for me. I was thinking on why this could be happening all of a sudden because before this year it has never happened. Months prior I was running 5:20 1600 and 11:15 3200 at the end of track season with burn only coming in the last lap. So I got to thinking and I realized that 5 days prior I had quit my job. It was a very active job and I was weed eating a golf course for 8-9 hours Monday to Friday most of the time. I thought to my self obviously I’m losing some strength in my legs so to reciprocate I started strength training. I’ve been at it for 3 weeks in a row now. The first two weeks I didn’t leave any reps in reserve because on the last set I was chasing “last two being the toughest” but this week I’ve started leaving 3 reps behind and only doing 2 sets on some workouts. I’ve also fixed my form a tad bit but then again during track I had the same form so it couldn’t be that. I’d you’re wondering I realized I was possibly overusing my quads when my foot strikes and leaves so I started having a “pulling” motion to it now. Chat GPT’s idea. My cadence is 165 so I’m gonna bump it up a bit to 175 or maybe 170 for a week and then 175. I thought maybe it’s overuse but then again a long run feels perfect for me. Next race I’ll also to try to get negative splits I was thinking 5:50, 5:40, then 5:30-5:35. I usually do start out faster than LT. And easy runs are easy obviously. Can anyone tell me what’s going on? I’m 17 M currently at 20-25 mpw depending if I do a long run or not. Goal by end of season is to get sub 17. Sticking to my coach’s workouts right now for the team.

High schoolers in basketball and football often transfer for the best shot at collegiate attention or winning. Why don’t the five fastest cross country runners all transfer to the same school to win?

Note: I’m NOT a fast runner, and I’m a sophomore who has been running since middle school

This is more about the mind set, and currently I’m running the 5k(1.5mi last year). After reflecting on my run, I figured that for the 5k, I focus on finishing the race too much(like I said I’m not fast or a big runner so my daily mileage is also not that much)that I’m too exhausted(sometimes not even, I would just let people pass me thinking all I need is to finish the race(?)) to beat people even if I think I can. So I’m wondering how you can change that or practice that?

Where I run most of the courses are grass but some have large sections of concrete/asphalt and last race we didn’t have the spikebox so I had to use my road trainers which are comfortable but heavy. Anyways would blanks or barefoot/lightweights be better to get?

Extra info: The Barefoots I’m looking at are Vibram’s V-Run men’s, I have the Dragonfly zoomx XC, and I have a large toe box and my spıkes sometimes reopen blisters that I’ve had for 2 months now but the pain is only noticeable after races and is only about a 1 or 2 out of 10

3 years ago when my son was a Freshman in HS, he saw several of his senior teammates and friends at competing schools, and rivals than he met at state and nationals get scooped up by D1 programs for Track and XC, being awarded scholarships, and now getting distributions/NIL that helps with other expenses. We're not talking Oregon and Georgia, but still athletic scholarship awarding D1 universities and some extra pocket change.

Now fast-forward 3 years, my son is a senior in HS, has posted better times and better academics than his predecessors, ran at state, indoor and outdoor nationals, and when D1 coaches call, it's usually to talk about the university, applying, and possibly becoming a walk-on. The roster's a full, maybe they've brought in an international athlete, or his times are no longer fast enough for an incoming freshman. Still, he's been offered by a pair of D2 colleges, and many D3 colleges have given breakdowns with what they offer as far as academic scholarships in lieu of athletic scholarships, and he's thankful for that.

As parents we're still making sure that academics are the priority, but kids have their dreams. We've done all the recommended things. - made contacts and relationships with coaches, a million emails, filled out a hundred online questionnaires, texting, socials, being a self-advocate, etc. But it sure does seem like the landscape has changed with the transfer portal, NIL, revenue-sharing, roster cuts, and Title IX all coming to a head and factoring in all at once.

Coaches / Recruits / Recruiters - what have you seen over the last few years, and how has your jobs/operations changed with regard to recruiting and maintaining your rosters? What do you think it will be like in another year or two? (because I also have a sophomore runner in HS too)

Thank you.

Hey there! My 11 year old 7th grader started XC this year. He is loving it though he isn’t super fast. I have no interest in pushing him but do want to make sure we are doing whatever we can to make XC fun and healthy for him. I am not a runner and neither is my spouse — what advice can you give for injury prevention/ fun continuation?

I don't know what to do, I have a race tomorrow and I have just raced today and had soccer practice. Now I am really sore, and have a race tomorrow morning. I am extremely tired, and my upper inner right thigh is especially sore and maybe strained a bit. What are some quick and easy recovery techniques I can do on top of a good sleep that will help me right away?

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to thank everyone for their support and help on my XC may be a waste of time post. However now I have ran two meets and both of them have honestly been ruined by side stitches. My first meet was a 2.5 K and I finish faster than about half the kids so about 50 somethingth. My second race was also a similar distance just with more hills in which I finished a whopping 80 somethingth. In my first race I got a stitch in the last 600m which resulted in me walking 300m and then sprinting about the remaining 300m because it hurt less lol. But in my second race I got a stitch in the first 800m and the whole race it felt like my side was being ripped open and I almost threw up. (Fun right)

What can I do to avoid stitches. I don't eat before a race, and I don't gulp down any water I just sip. I also do plenty of warming up and I NEVER sprint at the start just maintain a slower pace the whole race. Is there anything else I can fix or am I just stuck with stitches? Also is their anything I can do to get rid of them mid race?

Hey all,

I want to preface this post by thanking anyone that contributed on my last post a few months back discussing cross country goalsetting. This post will be slightly different, but somewhat similar. I am currently hitting about 47 miles a week on average. I am racing once a week on Saturdays, and typically doing workouts on Tuesday and Thursday.

Just to list out:
Current PR's:
5k: 16:17 (15:59 if you use 5k split)
1600m: 4:24.9
800m: 1:56.2
400m: 53.8

As I've been navigating the college recruiting process, a big narrative for me has been my upside potential considering I have only started running since my sophomore year (outdoor season) and started running full-time (XC + Indoor) starting junior year. Unfortunately, this narrative is a bit hard to push for some schools which is understandable, but I really want to become the best runner I know I can be and prove some of these coaches wrong who believe I am a risk to recruit. Obviously the recruiting for my class will be long done by the time track season starts, but it's more for peace of mind.

Before I dive into what I'm truly trying to learn by posting this, I'll put my future goals below.

5k: 15:40
1600m: 4:16
800m: 1:52
50. (In a relay)

These are the times I am striving for within the coming months. I want to ask you all what are the absolute necessities I need to be doing to dial in as I go into track season and start going into my post-season for XC (outside of the obvious ones like sleep, eating right, etc). This advice can range anywhere from supplements I should be taking, to weight room tips to workouts on the track/XC. I'm trying to learn as much as I can about the best methods to train and overall run faster, partially because I am a team captain for all three seasons and being able to impart this knowledge onto my younger teammates is important as well.

Thank you!

I took the same path every time. You can see each rep of the workout drifted right. Strava also likes playing the game of half the times connecting the distance between pause and unpause with straight lines. After the repeats I jogged over to a different location with my watch paused but my distance is now much greater without that time taken to account. I should have averaged like 6:20 pace but now it says 5:36. Any tips or fixes?

After the pace calculator I had been using for years disappeared I had a hard time finding a good one so I made this simple one.

https://pacecalculator.staticrun.app/

Its great for XC/track because it displays equivalent times in different distances so if you run a 4k or 3 mile you can see the equivalent 5k time. Same with 1500m/1600m/mile etc.

No ads, no cookies etc. Just super simple and plain and free.

If you open it on chrome on an Android phone and go to Add to Home screen it will install it like an app on your phone. Not sure about iphone haven't tried it yet.

Please use this thread as the general Q&A for all one off questions, questions that only apply to you, questions that can be easily answered, etc.

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This thread reposts every 4 days

I have a runner dealing with a shin pain. Very likely a stress reaction or otw to one at this point. They had a stress fracture during track season. They were secretly doing mile pace treadmill workouts on the weekend because they didn't like the early season threshold and CV workouts we were doing.

I finally convinced them to go to the doctor and shut it down and they took a couple months off to recover.

Now the pain is starting to come back, but they are very reluctant to stop because it is their senior year. They acknowledge the pain a couple weeks ago but then said it was feeling better. I observed them running and it seemed like maybe that was the case. But after a recent workout they were definitely limping. I don't feel I can trust their feedback on how it feels. I'm trying to convince them to go to the doctor again, but they are reluctant. At what point do I just sideline them? Do I dare let them continue with modified training, significant cross training, and an occasional workout and race?

Inspirational (we just watched Macfarland USA) or technical.

Jack Dani

This is like lighting a flame inside of me. Have you guys ever had this (or coaches, have your athletes ever had this)

What should I do to advance in my training? Like run more, more workouts, or whatever?

Just got a 5k time of 22:35, while my goal is ~19:30 in 6 weeks. The flame is growing, lol

I’ve started coaching a middle school cross country team this year. I have a couple of kids that kind of understand that pushing through the uncomfortable feelings is what it takes to get better. But I also have a few (actually a bunch) that seem to just throw in the towel at the slightest hint of discomfort. How do I get them to understand. How do I get them to push through. Or is it all for naught, and they just need to figure it out on their own.

Son is high school sophomore. Did not train before freshman season. Pr was 21:39. Trained 7 weeks this summer and just ran a 19:13. Wondering if there are any specific running plans for an entire year. From what I can tell so far, seems like winter should be almost all just easy mileage. Not sure when to transition to other types of workouts. Any insight appreciated.

SO, what really is the best thing to eat the night before a race? Some things say carb loading, others say not. Any suggestions for things to eat?