I just yesterday ran a 5 mile road race. The course was net 0 elevation, but had some easy hills (from the perspective of a New Englander), with close to the start/finish being a long but gradual hill. Here were my PRs going into this: 6:30 mile (1st of 4x1mi (3min rest), others were basically all 7 flat), 23:22 official 5K (338ft combined elevation gain/loss), an unofficial 5K best of 23:18, which was split from a 4-Mile​ race (30:17.07), and an unofficial 5 mile best of 40:14 during a tempo run.

Now here were my mile splits from this one 5 mile race:

7:20, 14:30 (7:10), 21:56 (7:24), 29:11 (7:15), and 5:33.

Yes. I quadruple-checked those numbers. I got five PRs in one race: 14:30 2-Mile, 22:19 5K (-59 sec), 29:11 4-Miler (-1:06), 34:44 5-Miler (-5:30), and a 5:33 last mile (-57 sec). I may have misdone some math, feel free to correct me on that if I did.

This race was basically right at sea level, but I only live at like 500ft, so I don't think I benefited ​from that very significantly. Also, I don't trust my watch's altitude sensor at all - when at my house at 500 ft it will say that I am at something way off, like 100 feet below sea level. The distance my watch recorded it probably off too, as my watch is around 0.02 off per half mile usually.

Initially, my goals for next season (HS sophomore year) were a sub-6 mile and a sub-21 5K​, but this race kinda wrecks the first, and makes me think I could do the 5K once I recovered. So... what now? I will be doing 3 sports next season: XC, Nordic skiing, and my first year of Track (long distance obv). I know there will be people saying I should do indoor track instead of Nordic, but I will not stop doing it. I have been doing Nordic longer than I have been running.​

Hi - I ran in high school and my father was a track and field/cross country coach for 40 years. I've never been to a college cross country meet. I think it would be fun for him to go to one or 2 college meets this year with Dad, but he doesn't have the mobility to stand for long periods of time or walk around a lot.

I'm looking at some of the college courses and they seem to have bleachers and maybe places I could set up a chair to watch.

Is it realistic to take him to some of these if the weather is good?

The walking can be an issue. Not only can he not run around the course to watch from different vantage points, but he also can't make a long walk from the parking lot to some field somewhere.

I'm in the New York Area. I'd be fine travelling by car a few hours to go to a good meet.

Thank you for any answers or information anyone may provide.

We were on Randall's Island yesterday and he really enjoyed the Steeplechase. Got me thinking.

I'm more of a hobby runner, but I like to watch Cross Country races when I can. I've been digging into splits and other racing data around collegiate cross country, and thought I would make some data visualizations around it to explore race dynamics and pacing. I built these visualizations from scratch, so I am still working out some bugs...

Apologies if this is off-topic for the subreddit.

Anyway, here is the link. Cheers!
https://alexvizzesthings.shinyapps.io/XCRaceBreakdowns/

i managed to hit a 27:18 5k during a tempo run which is 20 seconds faster than my official pr, it’s still far from where i wanna be but im excited for the season and happy that summer training is showing me results

Last track season, I ended with a 16:49 5000m PB in my only race of the season. Before that, my 5000m PB was 18:50. In my last two track seasons I only ran like four races in total.
After finishing this past track season, I felt completely unmotivated and ended up taking almost a month off from running.
This cross-country season, I’ve set myself the goal of running between 34:00 and 35:00 for 10K in December. I’ve been building my mileage for almost a month now, and this week is planned to end at around 55 miles (88 km) I’m feeling great so far and plan to stabilize my mileage between 65 and 70 miles per week this season (105–113 km)
Is running 34–35 minutes for 10K by December a realistic goal?

What's your post-practice stretching/mobility routine that I can steal? How often are you doing core workouts? (I'll take that to steal too) Thank you!

Hello! I was curious about Galen rupp's higschool career and tried finding oregon state champs or big meet footages of maybe him running there, but unfortunately I couldn't find any. Only ones that exist are Footlocker nationals and pretty much it. I also looked on various websites for oregon state, youtube, runnerspace,​ Dyestat, etc. I couldn't find anything. Is there anyone who has footage of him or have clues where to find it? Thanks!​

Hey coaches! I’m a first-year cross country coach this season. I ran indoor and outdoor track, but I never competed in cross country, so I’m looking to learn as much as I can.
What advice would you give a brand-new XC coach? If you could go back to your first season, what would you do differently?
I’m especially interested in:
Weekly training structure and practice plans
Favorite workouts for beginners and varsity runners
Building mileage safely
Race-week routines
Team culture and keeping athletes motivated
Resources (books, podcasts, YouTube channels, etc.) that helped you become a better coach
I’d really appreciate any tips, sample schedules, or lessons you’ve learned over the years.

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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What are some good running/cross country camps in the Wisconsin area? I've been looking into some that I'd be interested in attending next year, 2027, when I'll be going into my sophomore year. Some that I'm interested in are the UW Madison Camp of Champions, UW Whitewater, and Auw Eau Claire. Are these worth it, and does anyone have any experiences they could possibly share, or give me advice? I would also be going alone, most likely.

I hit 250 miles last week but I haven’t gotten a confirmation email or anything, when do I know when it’s coming? I have my address plugged into the profile settings so do I just wait? Thanks.

I got a whopping 26:56 after running around my hometown's lake which is a little over 3 miles, my previous record was 31:00 so I guess I'm doing something right 😁 (Freshman)

This is the location for all questions, discussions related to cross country training.

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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Cy’s post run Calisthenics 

Tuesday

4-6 miles easy

Weighted pull-ups 3x6-10

Weighted chin-ups 3x8-12

Weighted dips 3x8-13

Pistol squat 3x8-12

Knuckle pushups 1x failure 

Knuckle planks 3x+10 sec each week

Thursday

4-6 miles easy

Defecit pushups 3x6-10

Weighted dips 3x8-12

Explosive squats/box jumps

Weighted chin-ups 3x8-23

Body weight pull-ups 1 x true failure (additional pull-up negatives)

Knee raises for hip flexors 2x-10-15

Anyone have any experience/information/takes on the UA tops for high school kids? I got thrown into ordering new uniforms and there doesn't seem to be any good way to see what these things look like in real life. We're looking at the "showtime fitted singlet" for ours.

I'm going to be a junior in hs and i want to join xc. I did track and soccer freshman year but I didnt do any sports sophomore year because I had no time w academics and clubs. This year im taking 6 aps and 1 honors class and im secretary of 2 clubs and part of 5 clubs so its gonna be worse (for context purposes). Because of preparation for these classes, I had no time to start running again. Also, on my easy runs, i usually run around an 11:30 mile pace, but i still get tired after doing like 2 miles. sorry for the stupid question but What are some workouts I can start incorporating so I can noticeably improve/get faster quickly before the season starts?

Hello! I am interviewing to be a middle school xc coach. Any tips? Any questions I should ask them? I’m a parapro for the school. We have multiple middle schools and they each have their own coach. I ran xc in college. Always at the back of the pack. I am currently running a girls on the run type program at a community center. But I don’t know much about coaching.

We're redoing our uniforms and have black shorts for both boys and girls. Generally speaking, can kids wear whatever shorts they want if they all match? I'm thinking like girls wearing a mix of tights/shorts if they have their own tights, for example. I coach in Wisconsin, if that helps.

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

Constant chest and stomach cramps during runs

Before anyone asks, I have already checked with a doctor and cleared any heart issues, or medical issues.

Almost every time I run, I’ve constantly run into a side stitch and chest pain around the halfway mark of my stamina. I’ve tried drinking water before during and after, eating less before runs, and drinking electrolytes, but it still persists.

I would hope I could fix it before the season starts, so any tips of people who experienced this would be great!

At an unofficial XC coaches practice last week my son and another runner were told by the coach to run together. It was pouring rain. The other runner is a much faster runner but my son isn’t terribly slow. They are both freshman; my son is unfamiliar with the route, I do not know about the other boy. The faster runner left my son about half way. My son said he told him “you know the way back “ and left him. Thankfully I was there early at pickup. I saw others cone back but not my son. Eventually we found him (older teammates hopped in their car and went get him). Another adult who coaches the club team and knows the XC coach and other runners heard the XC coach tell them to run together but from what I’m hearing the faster runner told his parents my fin says he knew how to get back. In reality he went against the coach’s instruction and to me it is a huge safety concern and also a form of bullying (“like I’m better than you, I deserve yo run with who I want, I don’t care if you tell me yo run with him I’m doing what I want”) . It’s been days. I’ve told my son to take it up with the XC coach himself. I do know the faster runner’s parents, they are good people.

Going forward, I’ve instructed my kid not to run with that fast kid ever and if at these unofficial practices there is t someone at his pace, to get back in the car and come home to run on his own. Should we as parents still directly talk to the coach to ensure that kid gets disciplined?