Cross Country Training: Season Progression

It's one of the most common questions around cross country season, and something I got wrong when I first started coaching.

There's a natural tendency to cut volume once school starts. But at that point we may not have even hit the 50% mark of the season. At minimum we should be holding through the first month of the school year, if not building.

It always depends on the athlete. But if you're planning to race late into the fall and you're prioritizing long term development, this is the way.

Summer is where seasons are won or lost

Most runners either coast through it or grind themselves into the ground, and both show up in September flat, tired, and behind. What to actually do:

• Ease back in and build patiently
• One workout and one long run a week
• Establish new mileage goals
• Blend in light threshold work
• Hills or low rep volume VO2 work (200 to 400m)
• Follow the 85% rule

Summer is not the time to prove anything. It's the time to build something.

The one adjustment behind our best XC season

I slowed down my athletes' threshold. Most of them spent their base phase at 80 to 90 seconds per mile slower than their mile PR. It built in a buffer for weather and fatigue, left room for hills and light specific work, and taught them how threshold should actually feel. In year one of high school online coaching, 5 of my 12 athletes became state medalists.

After the season: don't flip a 180

I see it every year. XC ends, mileage drops, and athletes start hammering specific work in December. That's a recipe for running your best races early and never reaching your potential in the spring. Look ahead to the end of track season and work backwards.

My cross country and 5000m training plan is built for a full fall season. If you want it adjusted week to week around your meets, that's 1:1 coaching.

Written by Coach Travis Mahoney

US Olympic Trials qualifier · 13:19 5000m · coach of state and national champions

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