Hello, high school distance runners and Happy New Year from RunBlogRun!
This is the fourth day in week 1 of our ten week Winter Training program, which goes up until the NIKE Indoor Championships (March 12-15, 2026, more info at https://nikeindoornationals.runnerspace.com/). Our workouts in Winter program will include long run, tempo day, fartlek day, race day or repetitions day, plus 3 easy days a week.
The goal is to have you in track shape at the start of Outdoor season (March in most of the country).
The NIKE Indoor Nationals will be held on March 12-15, 2026 at the NIKE Track & Field Armory. We encourage high schoolers to race indoors but always note that the Big Season is Outdoors!
Workout for Thursday, January 8, 2026
Fartlek workouts are one of the most simple ideas for training that may become as complicated as you so desire. Gosta Holmer, a former Olympian and Swedish national coach in the 1930s developed Fartlek, Swedish for ‘speed play’ to use the interval system on the wonderful trails that Sweden had. Holmer noted that the Swedish cross country team in the 1930s sucked, and he used fartlek to build their strength, speed and endurance. You can too!
Thursday workout, warm up, 45 minutes of fartlek, First five minutes , run 3 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy, next 20 minutes, run 1 minute hard, 1 minute easy, then, for fifteen minutes, 3 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy, 3 times, and finally in last five minutes, five minutes hard, cooldown for 15-20 minutes. Hard should equal effort for current 5k pace.
Hydrate well, spend time stretching, keep running at conversational pace and also, vary your surfaces, perhaps some park trails, and sidewalks.
Monday, January 5, 2026
Sunday, an easy 60-70 minutes of fun running with your friends! Keep it relaxed!
If you need a little more cushioning, try the Vomero 18. The Vomero 18 has more cushioning that the Pegasus PLUS. If you like NIKE, I would suggest high schoolers use the NIKE Pegasus PLUS for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. I would suggest the Vomero 18 for Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I always suggest two pairs of training shoes. Learn more on www.nikerunning.com.
Do you want to be a better cross country runner than you were in the past? Focus and follow our training. It is all about the consistency.
For Winter reading! Self Made Olympian by Ron Daws, A Clean Pair of Heels by Murray Halberg, Pre! by Tom Jordan, Quicksilver, The Mercurial Emil Zatopek, by Pat Butcher, The Destiny of Alain Mimoun, by Pat Butcher (a monograph)
Remember, one day at a time!!!! #crosscountryrunning, #trackandfieldtraining, #winterrunning, #wintertraining,
