This arrival is mainly for the attention of those of you who want to get fit for cross country this year but is useful for those who just want to improve on their current fitness levels.
With us now in the cross country season I thought I'd use The blog to give some hints on how to get fit and what your weekly structure should look like if you're looking to get really fit for the Big races in February. If you're looking to get fit for cross country or sport in general this year. I would recommend that if you're an U13 athlete you train 2/3 times a week, u15 4 times a week and u17/20 up to 5 times a week if you are taking part in competitive sport. If you're looking for general fitness I would say 3/4 times a week is good for u13-20. But always remember to build up to this gradually if you're not quite there yet.
How to structure the week
U13
1) Athletics, 2)Interval Training, 3)Easy long run
U15
1)Athletics, 2)Interval training, 3)Easy long run, 4)Circuits
U17/20
1)Athletics, 2)Interval Training, 3)Easy long run, 4)circuits, 5)Steady paced run.
How long should my long run be?
U13 30mins
U15 45 mins
U17 1 hour
U20 1 hour 15
How long should I be working for in my sessions in my interval training? (Again this should be built up over time.)
U13 12 mins
U15 15 mins
U17 Girls 18 mins
U17 Boys/U20 Girls 20 mins
U20 men 25 mins
I would recommend using a combination of 2, 3, 4 and 5 minute efforts for this with a half time recover e.g 4 x 4 mins with 2 mins recovery. The times above shouldn't include recovery time but just the 'working' time.
What about circuits?
You can use circuits similar to that what we do at school...
2/3 sets of 10 stations of body weight circuits e.g press ups, squats, sit ups etc with 20-30 seconds of work for each station with either a quick recovery like 5 -10 seconds. You could do 2 or 3 sets of this with 2/3 minutes recovery between the sets. If you do some jogging before and after the circuit as your warm up and down that's a good way to get ready for the circuit and recovery afterwards.
What's a steady run?
A steady run is a run you know you're working fairly hard at, a pace you would struggle to hold a conversation at.
It's important to mix your paces throughout the week so at athletics you of course do your shorter efforts/reps on the Astro/ash or Kelvingrove, Interval training should be longer efforts at cross country pace and your long run should be easy (a pace you would be able to hold a conversation at).
Good luck to all of you for this season. If you have any questions about this or on how to get fit please come and see me in the PE department. Mr MacCorquodale.
