by Larry Eder
Week 3, Day 5, Summer Mileage Program
Welcome to the fifth day and third week of the 2024 Summer Mileage Program, which runs for ten weeks until mid-September.
Our goal is to build you into a strong cross-country runner.
This week is week 3. Your vacation is over. Now is the time to build consistent building blocks to being one tough cross-country runner. We want to help all 560,000 boys and girls in high school cross country! We love it!
Friday is a relaxed run.
When Joe Mangan and I were coaching at Foothill Community College in Los Altos Hills, California, we had a secret weapon: hills.
We would literally take 800m to 5000m runners and, in six weeks, build them into shape to race a 4-mile cross-country run on tough, hilly courses across Northern California. We did lots of hill runs and hill repeats.
Hills are secret weapons that will make you stronger, whether you push them or take them easy. A day in the hills is harder than a day on the flats—always remember that!
We will use hills this summer to build your confidence, strength and speed!
Friday, July 26, 2024
You did hill charges yesterday, so keep it relaxed today.
Today, get in a good 40-45 minutes, and if you can, run in the hills, keep it relaxed.
Cooldown, stretch and hydrate!
Cross Champs, photo by Kevin Morris/Sound Running
Good luck!
Enjoy your summer running.
What do you want to do this summer? What do you want to achieve?
To learn about the late Steve Prefontaine (1951-1975), please read this fantastic book by Tom Jordan ( I have gone through six copies and read it 12 times): https://www.amazon.com/Pre-Americas-Greatest-Running-Prefontaine/dp/0875964575
To enjoy a wonderful photo gallery of Steve Prefontaine, courtesy of the Eugene-Register Guard, please go here: https://www.registerguard.com/picture-gallery/sports/2022/07/07/oregon-distance-runner-phenomenon-steve-prefontaine-olympican-eugene-hayward-field/7336370001/.
