Ok I will post first on this-I am doing XC for the first time (I'll be a sophmore) but I hope I'll be ready. I am doing about 30-35mpw (this is a HUGE increase and I'm almost scared it's too much). I have one question- what do you do about shoes? I have NO CLUE what courses are like since im new, so do I get spikes (i have track spikes but they aren't REAL distance spikes) or what? I am LOST!! But anyways, good luck to everyone this summer and this year!!

quote:<HR>Originally posted by fasterISfunner16:
Ok I will post first on this-I am doing XC for the first time (I'll be a sophmore) but I hope I'll be ready. I am doing about 30-35mpw (this is a HUGE increase and I'm almost scared it's too much). I have one question- what do you do about shoes? I have NO CLUE what courses are like since im new, so do I get spikes (i have track spikes but they aren't REAL distance spikes) or what? I am LOST!! But anyways, good luck to everyone this summer and this year!!<HR>

For running races, get a pair of spikes. It's not that hard or expensive to get a pair. You can get them on the cheap if you do it online.

I'm going into sophomore year too, and I had stress fractures for the whole season during my freshman year, so I'm pretty new to XC also.

I'm going to be a senior for my high school XC team which has generally about 160 runners. About 100 of those runners are on the men's team, including me. This is my fourth year running and I've worn Nike's (both trainers and spikes) my whole career.

My current best times are 17:58 in XC and 4:59 in the mile. My goal this season is to run a 16:30. To make my team's top 7 you have to run usually about a 15:50, and to make our top 14 (state squad), you have to run about a 16:20.

My team meets together everyday to train. I started my training a couple weeks ago and am currently on 55 miles a week. I will probably peak at about 80 miles a week. My training routine consists of running 7 days a week, with two interval workouts per week. One is a 400 workout and one is a 1200 workout. One day a week is a long run (90 minutes). The other four days of the week are two-a-days, consisting of 40 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes at night.

Alex, my team had about 90 runners. It's not necessarily a blessing when many of them are developmentally challenged.

Our school has about 3,500 students. The men's and women's teams do not practice together, but we hang out with them a lot since we go to the same meets and are friends with them.

When our team runs workouts we are split into 6 different groups based on skill, so yes, I always have someone to run with. I definetly enjoy being on such a large team. There is a wide variety of personalities to mesh with. My closest group of friends are all runners on the team and being best friends with your teammates is definetly a motivational push throughout the season. And to answer your question the school is Neuqua Valley High School located in Illinois and this is our 7th year of existance.

http://This message has been edited by Donivan41 (edited Jun-19-2005).

We've got 70 girls out for summer running right now, there were 63 on the team last year. I don't know how many guys there are but definitely more than 70.