speed endurance

[aznXCrunner]

Hi im a sophmore and i run highschool cross country. I run on average a 5:50 mile but during cross country meets i run 2 miles with an average of about 6:35 each mile. I know the hills will influence my time a bit but how can i lower my average mile times for the two miles. Also how can I lower my normal mile time my lap times are always all over the place starting out at around 1:19, 1:28, 1:34, 1:29. If i train to fix the gaps will my time improve? If so what kind of training can i do?

Thx in advance

[Joe Rubio]

Generally speaking, a young XC athlete will realize the greatest gains by focusing first on putting in consistent miles. Doing so results in laying the groundwork for future success by strengthening the tendons and muscles so greater work can be done in the future. It will also improve essential areas such as positive changes in mitochondria, blood volume and stroke volume of your heart all necassr ingrdients for you to accomplish your goal. Bottomline, you need to start with establishing a broad background of easier miles, consistently as a starting point. This and things like strides will improve efficiency which will also help. Racing consisnetly and adding other elements of training w/ your team will add the final elements to achieve your goals.

The main thing now is to have fun, be consistent and look forward to naturally improving through greater experience and improved fitness in the coming seasons.

Joe

[CBoddicker]

Just to further support what Joe said, I'll offer you a bit of anecdotal evidence. Freshman year, I ran 4:55 for 1600m on very little training. After XC sophomore year, I adopted then adapted Joe's system. I basically did what he just recommended to you with a few things to fit myself, then soph track season I ran a 4:40. I then stuck with this approach (at a slightly larger total weekly volume) and ended up running 4:24 on a broken leg from helping my neighbor with something (which you should never run on a broken leg, by the way) my Junior year. Just get out there and run easy; if you feel good, stride out a bit, if not; no biggie, relax and enjoy the scenery. One thing to remember, which I had a heck of a time accepting at first is that every few weeks you need to reduce the volume of running to let yourself recover. Good luck!