<p>So currently I am a freshman, and I am really interested in doing cross country as a sport next year as a sophmore. I'm not a slow runner, but I'm not exactly the fastest either. I love running though, it really clears my mind. Does anyone have any tips on how to prepare for cross country?</p>
<p>Talk to the XC coach and ask for a summer running schedule. If he knows that you’re new, he’ll give you a plan for beginners. It is IMPERATIVE that you stick to the plan! If you do, you’ll have a good season. That’s the great thing about XC - everybody gets to compete! One of my sons was VERY fast (ran in nationasl) and the other was very slow (like, literally came in last at one or two meets), but they both had a good experience.</p>
<p>Between now and the summer, you could start out by running three times a week and gradually increase your distance. Do NOT try for speed. You will get faster naturally by running lots of easy miles.</p>
<p>If you want a great website for running, look up RunningAhead.com. You can log all of your miles there, and get a ton of good advice from many experienced runners. Some of these people run at the national and international levels! </p>
<p>Good luck! I wish I had run XC in high school. I didn’t start running until I was 44! I couldn’t even run two minutes straight when I started. Now I’ve run three half marathons and a lot of shorter races.</p>
<p>A lot of XC teams start practicing in late summer, so start running now to get in pretty good shape. You don’t have to be the fastest, I really believe XC and track teammates are the nicest (true for my school at least) people, no one ever makes fun of you if you aren’t in the top howevermany and people will cheer you on. Great sport.</p>
<p>hey! i think you’d be great for the XC team. I joined for the first time last August (beginning of my sophomore year). We started actual practice in early August. My coach recommended we started running after the last day of school, every day, for at least 30 minutes. Trust me, it helps. I got faster over the summer, and went to regionals. Many people on the team had their own pace and that was fine. You’ll make great friends.</p>
<p>I’m glad I joined Cross Country, and wouldn’t be running in my free time now if I hadn’t joined.</p>
<p>I would highly recommend doing it. When I joined last year as a sophomore, the most I had ever ran was a mile. By the time the season is over, I could tackle 5 miles no problem, and my longest was up to 7. I also joined because a few of my friends suggested I join, but it didn’t take long for me to consider everyone on the team family, as cliche as that is. </p>
<p>My best piece of advice is to not give up on it. When you start out in summer running, you are probably going to hate it because it’s hot and you’re not in shape. I would’ve certainly stopped going if it wasn’t for my friends on the team. But when it starts cooling off and you get in shape, you’ll appreciate the opportunity to run and clear your mind. In fact, I think I do much better on homework after I’ve ran since it relieves so much tension and stress.</p>
<p>And finally, don’t get discouraged about poor race times at first. Running races and running in practice are two different animals. You need a few races under your belt before you get everything figured out. I would suggest racing with the people you practice with, but personally I run solo and hop from pack to pack. You’ll figure out what’s comfortable for you.</p>
<p>Also, you don’t have to worry about not doing it last year, because in XC it is very common for kids to join during their sophomore or junior years. I can only remember a few 4 year runners on the teams I’ve been on.</p>
<p>I would seriously recommend joining! Honestly i believe that cross country team members are some of the nicest people! And you may be discouraged at the beginning, but just keep going (: I joined this year, my freshman year, and its been amazing! My team started practicing in the beginning of the summer, but i think you should talk to your school’s cross country coach (:</p>
<p>I run cross country. It was my first year this past fall as a sophomore. We started practice a week after school got out that summer prior. It’s hard work, but really fun if you like running. It’s very mental. You will have a tough time if you can’t get through a tiring speed workout of mile repeats or an eight mile long run.</p>
<p>Over the summer you need to run slow miles to get a base for the fall. Your school may already organize summer runs. Go to them. Worry about speed in the fall. Anaerobic workouts of long, easy mileage in the summer are highly beneficial in the season. A 5K is mainly anaerobic, and you probably won’t be satisfied with your times if you don’t do this.</p>
<p>All of the people I’ve met are very friendly. Cross country is a great sport that can teach you perseverance and inspire to keep you fit later in life. Good luck!</p>
<p>Oops, I meant aerobic when I said anaerobic. My bad. I dunno how to edit posts on my phone.</p>
<p>My son’s XC team starts captain-lead practices as soon as school gets out in June. Since you would be new to the team, you should check in with the coach and find out what is recommended/required over the summer. If your team does not practice together, you should still start running a bit on your own in June-July.</p>
<p>You’re probably already aware that XC tends to attract the same type of students as this forum and College Confidential in general, at least at our school.</p>
<p>To prepare, talk with the coaches. You will probably start with low mileage and increase it slowly to build a decent base. If you’re interested, I suggest that you look into it. The great thing about cross country is that, usually, everyone competes, so you can still be a part of the team even if you are not the fastest. Good luck!</p>
<p>Hello! I am currently a senior and have run on the cross country team at my high school all four years. It was definitely the best decision I made while in high school! I would say the most important thing to do before the next season, which isn’t until next August, is to get your base mileage down, so you should probably start with maybe three miles a day and just try to keep this consistent. I would work my way up to five or six, or less if you want, on a regular basis. Also, make sure you are doing some type of core/hip/the rest of the body strength training. You can look up a lot of really good strength exercises on you tube or google. You definitely want to make stretching a habit. I like to stretch before and after every run and right before I go to bed. If your starting to feel like you need more of a challenge, you can start doing some mile repeats (maybe like three or four). The pace of these miles depends on what kind of shape you are in. Just try to do them about hard enough so that you are uncomfortable, but can still finish all of them. You’d probably want to give yourself about two to three minutes of rest or until or heart rate slows down. Also, make sure to ice any pains and fuel your body properly. I would probably add some 100 meter sprint repeats to the end of each of my long slow runs, as well. Hope this helps a little! I also hope that you do cross country. Although it is, in my opinion, the hands down hardest sport, it is also the funnest sport and I promise you will meet some of the nicest people.</p>
<p>Thank you guys so much! Now I really want to do cross country. Although at my school, most people on the team are more socially than academically involved.</p>
<p>I’m a junior who’s done cross country all 3 years so far and I can honestly say that joining the team was probably the best decision I’ve ever made. I almost didn’t join because I missed summer running the year before my freshman year and thought I wouldn’t be good enough because I had no experience. I saw the coach at school registration and talked to him and he told me to come to practice, so I did, and I loved it! I’ve met my best friends because of cross country, and its just indescribable how close the bond on our team is, and from what I’ve heard from others it’s pretty much like that at every school. Do not be afraid of how hard it will be! Because it’ll be hard, but the thing is with cross, you go at your own pace. Unlike other team sports, if you’re not as good or fast as others, no ones going to get mad at you, the coach isn’t going to yell at you, and it just really doesn’t matter. My coach always gives everyone different workouts to do at practice because he knows that not everyone can comfortably run at the same level. People just starting out always run very short distances and slowly increase. If you need to stop, you just stop. No big deal lol. I was awful my freshman year and was only like the 8th best jv runner. Now as a junior I’m on varsity! Talk to runners at your school or the coach to find out when summer running is and then just go to it and try it out for a week! :)</p>