Building the Championship Season: A Case Study A successful running season isn’t random; it’s designed. By utilizing mesocycles—distinct training blocks lasting 3-6 weeks spanning the aerobic base, threshold, and VO2 max phases—coaches can ensure athletes handle progressive overload and peak exactly on race day. Here is a 13-week case study on building that structure. Let…
Mesocycles: The Engine of Adaptation Mesocycles are 3-4 week training blocks within the macrocycle, each with a specific physiological target. This is where the magic happens—where abstract periodization theory becomes concrete workouts that create measurable adaptation. This is what you came for, right? This article is part of our Complete Guide to High School Cross…
The 3 Essential Workouts Every XC Runner Needs: A High-ROI Guide In the world of high school cross country, we are drowning in data but starving for wisdom. You open Instagram and see Newbury Park doing double thresholds. You read a Steve Magness blog about neuromuscular fatigue. You check a forum and someone is arguing…
How to Structure the Perfect XC Practice: A Daily Blueprint for High School Distance Programs The season was three weeks old when I realized we were wasting an hour every day. Athletes trickled in across a 20-minute window. Kids disappeared to the trainer one at a time, each taking 15 minutes. Warmup was chaotic—some kids…
Inexperienced coaches often start their season planning with a quick search for the ‘secret sauce’ used by the country’s top programs. They stumble upon legendary workouts like ‘The Michigan’—sessions that sound epic, garner hype for being borderline sadistic, and feel undeniably cool. It has a name, it has the allure, and it worked for the…
Let’s be real for a second… Mental toughness for runners is often the deciding factor between a PR and a DNF. I’ve watched countless races, and I’ve seen the exact moment an athlete’s race falls apart. Sometimes it happens before they reach the starting line. It’s rarely because their legs gave out. It’s almost always…
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