Do you know how hard the practice and training process is in cross country? It’s much harder than you might think.
Some ways our BGJHS Cross Country team practices endurance and speed for their upcoming races are ”working on specific workouts that target different systems. There are a good amount of longer intervals at a 5k goal pace (think 5 x 800m with 90 seconds in between at goal pace). There are speedier sessions (something like 8 x 400m at closer to 1 Mile pace) as well. Finally, at least two times per week before or after easy runs, we do 4-5 20-second “strides” (much faster than 5k pace) or even sprints (all out for 15-20 seconds) to rev the engine and make sure our bodies remember how to run fast. Even in distance events, you need that gear to close races. Your brain still has to remember how to run fast even in longer events! These are very limited examples of a wide variety of workouts.” Said Coach Cort Basham.
Many things about Cross Country got their players interested. Some things about Cross Country that got Grant Harston interested are “You have to push yourself, and you can’t give up.”
Our Cross Country Coach doesn’t always have an easy time coaching. There are many difficulties in coaching cross country, like, ”Limiting the challenges to coaching cross country, I’d say it is the fact that there are 35 runners on the high school team and no two people are the same! Honestly, writing the training plans and workouts is the fun and easier part. The hard part is helping so many different types of people and athletes “unlock themselves” both physically and mentally. It’s an ongoing process and part of the “infinite game of improvement.” This is challenging but also rewarding while teaching key skills for doing hard things in other aspects of life.”
In sports like cross country, you have a chance to gain memorable moments from playing. Basham states, “There are many. Recently, the girl’s team qualified for the state meet by executing a nearly flawless race plan. Cross Country requires immense individual effort, but it’s a team sport. In this year’s case, our top three girls are all at different speeds, so they have to race against the field of other runners the best they can. They did that. What made Region our best race of the year was that the other four girls got into a pack and ran together for most of the race. This “pack run” elevated all of them! They all ran great. We can do hard things, and generally, we do them better together. To see them all execute “their job” and how that led to a great race was a fantastic experience for me and the team. It was so satisfying,’ a runner on the team.”
So next time you think you could do what the coaches and runners do in cross country easily, think about this article.
