An Inside Look: Yearlong Perseverance For Cross Country Runners

By Christy Flom on March 19, 2015

Inside or outside, with rain or shine, cross country runners must train year-round to stay competition ready.

With college meets taking place all throughout the school year, runners in states with harsh winters must find ways to practice effectively indoors. Runners must dedicate similar or the same amount of time to training in the winter during indoor events as they would at outdoor meets.

However, there is a difference between running indoors instead of outside and cross country runners and track and field competitors must become accustomed to this difference in order to maintain a competitive edge.

This sounds simple, but as a non-competitive runner, the mental difference of running on a track indoors versus outdoors is a monumental difference for me so it’s my guess big-time runners experience a similar difference, just maybe on a smaller scale than others. At least when I am outdoors I feel like I am actually going somewhere but when I run inside, it is much harder to keep encouraging myself to run when I am surrounded by walls.

Image via Paul Foot on flickr.com

Several runners from my high school went on to continue their careers at the college level, one being Haley Meier, a sophomore at Duke University who competes with and against her twin sister Hannah Meier.

Haley Meier tends to train the same amount for indoor track as she would for outdoor, stating she runs 50 miles a week mixing in long and aerobic runs along with strength training a couple of times a week.

For the average college student, this is about 7 miles a day. I’m still trying to work my way up to 3 miles a day again so these runners are super humans to keep their legs moving for that many miles at an extremely fast pace.

I love working out but it still takes a decent amount of effort to drag myself out of my bed every day to go to the gym. I cannot fathom the amount of mental dedication and perseverance that a collegiate runner must have to continually run almost two marathons a week merely for training.

As Haley said she mixes up her runs between long and aerobic, there are several other types of runs available to long distance runners to help them work different muscles.

According to an article from Stacks.com by personal trainer Andrew Meyers, there are tempo, interval, fartlek, progressive and recovery runs. These runs differ in speed, distance and difficulty. For example, progressive runs are meant to build endurance by having a runner gradually increase their speed each mile whereas fartleks are “great for simulating races, because they force you to increase your speed unexpectedly, as you do when passing an opponent.”

The variation of runs is great for cross-country runners because seasons can be long, especially since there is not a long break from the fall to winter and winter to spring. With such long seasons, keeping practices new and fresh can help motivate the runners to keep working on different aspects of their competitions like endurance, speed, and perseverance.

Runners competing at the Manhattan College Cross Country Invitational. (Image via flickr.com by Steven Pisano)

As for competitions, there are dual meets, invitational meets, conference meets and nationals.

During the outdoor season there are regionals, too. Some of these meets require certain event times in order to qualify to attend whereas others are welcome to competitors from all schools no matter someone’s times or rankings in certain events.

There are separate indoor championships for different collegiate divisions and conferences within those divisions, too. For example, the Big Ten Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championships took place last month, February 27 through the 28 in Geneva, Ohio.

It is no wonder Haley Meier runs 50 miles every week with meets taking place throughout the year. While many sports have turned into year long commitments, the strain placed on athletes pushing their bodies every day for whatever sport they may play can take a toll on their performance if not done correctly.

Meier participates in strength training and aerobic runs to offset some of the longer and more grueling runs she completes during her training. Taking care of your body is a top priority for athletes, since after all it is their body that they need in tip top condition for them to be the best they can be every day.

Even in the summer there are still training requirements for athletes. I remember last summer while I worked at an alumni camp through the University of Michigan the girl’s cross-country team came up during their summer training for a day.

Located on Walloon Lake in northern Michigan, the team ran the “Michigania Mile,” an event hosted by staffers for campers every week. Normally, a 7 or 8-minute mile is well below the average for the majority of campers who compete but when the cross country team ran it, I believe all of the participants finished around 6 or 7 minutes.

Running may not be a contact sport but it is a difficult sport nonetheless. As someone who cannot comprehend running for hours every day, cross country runners have my utmost respect and I wish all collegiate runners the best of luck at their meets in every season and every month of the year.

Follow Uloop

Apply to Write for Uloop News

Join the Uloop News Team

Discuss This Article

Back to Top

Log In

Contact Us

Upload An Image

Please select an image to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format
OR
Provide URL where image can be downloaded
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format

By clicking this button,
you agree to the terms of use

By clicking "Create Alert" I agree to the Uloop Terms of Use.

Image not available.

Add a Photo

Please select a photo to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format