I am a complete newbie. This is my first time doing cross country and my first time doing a sport at all. The season was really hard for me, I will admit. Three races were mandatory in order to get the sports school credit, and those were hard. They were scary, uncomfortable, and painful.

But I tried my best. I hated cross country. Now, next week is the last week of the season, and I think I'm going to miss it. I made a few friends and got stronger, mentally and physically. My first race was at a harder course, with many hills and uneven ground. It was a 5k. I finished in 42 minutes​​, and was very upset. I came in dead last, and my ego was crushed. I was also sick with a cold while racing.

Then came the second race. I had determination, I had grit. It was a slightly easier course, and I ran with a friend. 37 minute 5k. I PR-ed by five minutes. That was my peak, or so I thought. I felt okay afterwards. I had learned that it isn't about being the best, it's about beating my own personal goals.

Third race. Today. On that hard course again. I also had a pain in my ankle, I now am wearing an ice pack as I type this. I knew this was it. This was the grand finale, and I gave it all I got. Final required race, hard course. I was afraid. I didn't think I could PR, I wasn't sure if I could even finish. My legs were burning on fire, and I had to take walking breaks, but I tried my best. I shuffled up the hills and huffed and panted my way down them.

I staggered down the flat parts, my legs turning to jelly, my ankle burning like hell. But by God, I did it today. I beat my PR. By a lot. 35 minutes today, on the hard course.​ I felt like a super hero.

And there we have it.

I have my first 5K cross country race tomorrow and I’m not sure how to pace myself as I’ve never ran a course so hilly. Normally I can run a 5K in 25 minutes but this completely different. The first 4 km is really undulating, slippy and narrow and the last km is flat on a pavement.

Any advice welcome :)

Hi all - would welcome any thoughts here...

which race might be better to target for our athletes who are in junior year and may have some college interest / or which puts them in best possible light for those type of discussions/talking with Colleges...

Two race options For Nov 21 (team won't qualify for NXN/R)...

The Brooks northeast championships meet at Holmdel NJ (Holmdel being a pretty well known, tough Eastern US Course)

and there is another race same day - which says would get a high school athlete a time on Milesplit for XC season - but it's run on a track (so assumingly faster than a XC course - especially Holmdel which is tough)

Do you think there’s a difference or what looks “better” to anyone reviewing a kid - to have a faster cross country season time (if they filter for XC etc) (assuming they’d be faster on a track) vs the brooks race at holmdel time?

They also have some good Holmdel times already from prev. meets in season. I just don't know if the prestige of the race/competition for this Brooks race might be better to get on radar/look better in later months if someone is checking out a profile..

Thank you for considering the question.

With the season starting (in Europe), what are your personal goals?
Ofcourse XC is different all around the world and I'm curious to know how it is in other places.
(also curious to know what pace you guys run)

So I've been frustrated recently because in my state there is a big crackdown on homeschoolers for some reason. They have been kicking us out of meets for the sole reason that we are homeschooled and when we run the open races (which anyone including coaches and parents are allowed to run in) our top runners aren't allowed to get prizes. This is ridiculous to me because they allow private schools and public schools but not homeschoolers, and so far no one has given me a good reason to not give the opportunity for a runner to race.

From what I've heard it's not just cross country but some baseball teams who are better than nearly every public/private school in the state, and have beaten them by a considerable amount on several occasions, can't play against them this year. This is probably because the power shifted and the new regime is very anti-homeschool and anti alot of rights that I won't get into. I don't get why they wouldn't allow us the chance to compete. The only reason I can think of is that they want to disband homeschooling all together and force everyone into public schools.

Based on what my public school friends tell me we do the same amount if not harder work. I know many of us go to Co-ops or groups where we actually have different teachers with degrees and the only thing stopping it from being a school is that it only meets twice a week and doesn't have enough money. This is just me ranting but all I want is a chance for homeschoolers to compete like everyone else. There are a few runners on our team that actually have a shot at winning some of these and I'd like to see them given the same oppurtunities as all the other athletes.

16F. I’m targeting some selective D3 schools. I’ve toured and met with the coaches at 4 sound far. 3 sound like they’re pretty interested and wanted to stay in touch. Gave me their cell numbers told me to stay in touch and give updates. Set up meetings, tours, let me sit in on classses to get a feel for the school, meet and greets with the team, let me do warmups with them.

I had a great sophomore year. But this year junior year has been a bad. I’ve had this cold/respiratory thing for 3 weeks so a chunk of my season is gone with bad times.

I had planned to do a midseason check in and one at the end of the season. I’m still hopeful to get good times by the end of the season but I’m down to two races.

Should I still check in midseason? Or just wait until end of season. What if I don’t post new PRs? Should I still check in?

With so many high schools running XC how does a high school get into the consideration set for the national rankings?

My ferritin has dropped from 113 during my HS senior season to 50 now as a college freshman runner. My current symptoms are higher than normal heart rate (+20-30), weak legs, drastically reduced performance, and overall fatigue. My legs are spent a mile in, when this summer I would run 10 miles with no issues. I feel like my body is giving up.

The doctors just say that 50 ferritin means that iron stores are more than sufficient.

Do any of you require levels substantially higher? I’ve started taking iron daily again to try to get back over 100 when I felt good.

hello! how do coaches select runners for a “select” race? it doesn’t seem to be based on the last run so is it an average from all the races thus far? I know it’s top 7 but not sure how’s it figured. TIA!

This year was his first year doing cross country. His 2-mile PR was 12:33. He is absolutely loving the sport, but the season just ended.

I was never a distance runner, so I do not have a clue on what he needs to do on a daily basis in the off season. I don’t want to make any mistakes causing some sort of overtraining injury.

Is there a “go to” website for kids his age for a weekly plan he can use?

I’m a Junior in XC who came off a really good sophomore year (placing well, lots of PRs, medaling, etc.). This season has fallen completely below my expectations. I trained consistently over the summer, ate well, and I’m keeping up in practice. Unfortunately all of my races have been a complete bust; I’m significantly off my course PRs and I’m getting beat by people who I’ve been faster than in previous seasons. I’m just completely regressing.

Most of it is just extreme fatigue during my races and feeling like I can’t catch my breath. Recently for the first time I DNF a race and it’s kind of felt like the nail in the coffin. This just really isn’t like me at all (which is why my coach was understandably upset) and I don’t know what to do. I’m a team captain and I feel like I’m just letting down my teammates when I’m supposed to be a good role model.

I would usually just push through a terrible season (and have in the past such as freshman year) but this feels entirely different. It’s embarrassing to say but I just feel so sad, disappointed, and angry at the end of all my meets and it extends into other aspects of my life. I’m struggling a lot with focusing in school and feeling motivated to complete my school work. It’s the same thing with my job and other extracurriculars. People point out how gloomy I am and it makes me worried that my negativity is rubbing off on other people.

I’ve been trying to eat well and get more sleep, but no matter how much I rest I wake up feeling tired. I just don’t know what to do. I currently take supplements as I have a history of iron deficiency/low ferritin but recently I had some blood work and it turns out both are even lower for some reason, which might explain the performance decline.

I’m mostly just looking for advice from maybe people who have struggled with having a bad season and how to cope or have some words of wisdom they’d like to share; It’s dumb but I feel like I can never come back from this, especially the DNF. I’ve considered maybe quitting for the rest of the season and taking some time to get better for indoor track. I have a couple meets left and then post season. I’m really only considering pausing just because of how much my performance has been impacting me in other parts of my life. Nothing I used to enjoy seems fun or makes me feel better about my performance. I’ve been avoiding hanging out with my friends because I’m always killing the mood. It just feels like I don’t care about anything anymore and it kind of sucks. I’ve dealt with bad seasons and bad races, but I just can’t seem to cope with this. I think part of it is because I feel like I’ve wasted an entire season. My outlook on life has just been bleak this season, haha, that’s really the only way to describe it.

I feel like I’m just forgetting why I fell in love with the sport to begin with.

Any advice?

Hi everyone! I just had few questions about cross country/track recruitments for elite Universities like Yale university or other ones.

I just started grade 11 as a girl and my PB from the summer was 10:13(hoping to do better next year) and my first 6km(we don’t do 5k) competition on cross country(pretty flat grassy course) was 20:52 min.

My first question is, are you supposed to include your grades from 9-10 when I first email the coach?

If so, is it too late if I wait until December to reach out? Grade 10 was rough academic year as I struggled with severe anxiety, but this year I am doing very well and expected to get very good grades so I woudl rather wait until my December report card so I some stronger proof of my academic abilities.

Thank you!

Hi guys so basically I have this club xc states championships but the only distance for my age is 6k and I’m actually crashing out. Like I’m dying doing the 5k but I want to know if the 6k is even worse? Also these kids are running low 20s for their 6k (girls btw) but my 5k is like 21 something so I feel like my time is gonna be awful. Anyone have pacing tips so I dont freaking die?

Im currently in my junior year and I want to run for college but I'm not too good at xc so my question is how good do I need to be to start talking to colleges and when should I start doing that? My current goals are to run sub 19 in 5k which im only a few seconds off of, run sub 5 during the indoor season which im around 10 seconds off of, and run sub 2:05 in the 800, which im around 4 seconds off of. I'm just coming off of injury so my times aren't that good yet but I think I can improve a lot more and I have been improving a lot already

My son (15yo) is a freshman in high school. He played soccer most of his life-- competitive rec, not club. He was the top 20% in the rec league. As a dad, I missed the boat and didn't realize that I had to put him in club soccer to keep progressing. Keep that in mind for later. His high school is very competitive and a cut sport... he didn't make the team. 65 kids tried out for a freshman soccer team! So he was in a good company, not making the team.

He pivoted to XC. He never ran XC before. Team is no cut, met a ton of friends, loves being on the team, etc. In June '26, he started going to optional pre-season XC practices.. Season started August 1. He's dedicated and attends every practice and meet.

He started at not being able to run 2 miles without walking. His 1 mile time was like 12:00. Now, he can run 8 miles at a slow pace. His PR is 22:30 for 5k. I'm stoked and he's really proud. The progress was amazing in one season. He has been fighting some injuries... mostly feet/arch and shins. Feet are better but shin pain limits his long runs.

He has set his goals on Varsity by Senior Year. His goals, not mine. Almost all the guys on his XC team ran XC before HS. He feels a little behind, especially since one of his buddies, who is a senior, told him that he was running 17:30 as a freshman.

In my head, my son has 3 years to go from 22:30 to 17:00, which would put him on Varsity. That's not going to be a winning time, but it's a contributing time. I don't want to make the same mistake in XC that I made in soccer -- not seeking off-season coaching and also pushing a bit to achieve his goals.

What do I do? Is a freshman ending first season at 22:00-22:30 have a shot at 17:00 within 2-3 years? What would the improvement pathway look like?

Last, I was a runner, but always recreational. It's beyond my ability to coach him, but I want to support him.

First off, I really do like the Corsa as a shoe and it’s been great so far. But today on my long run around mile 11 or so It felt like the cushion/insole on the balls of my feet just instantly went away and I could feel every step on the ground. They only have ~238 miles on them. Has anyone else had this issue? Let me know! Also, I am currently in my sophomore season of XC in hs and I’d like to know if it’s worth it to get a carbon plated shoe for workouts/road races primarily? Thank you.

Some background here. I am asking a question about my 6th grade son and his training for cross country. I have been a runner most of my life. I started running road races with my dad when I was 10, and I still run and race to this day. At that age, I would train for races infrequently, but got most of my running in from playing soccer. As I got older, I became a decent competitive runner, not training seriously until I ran track in high school. Which might be why I have a bit of a bias here.

My son went to middle school this year and joined the cross country team. It turns out he is fairly good, being one of the top runners in his division even while racing kids a year or 2 older than him. I think this has to do with having a great base from playing soccer 6 days a week at a fairly competitive level. On top of playing soccer 6 days a week, he also has mandatory XC practice 2 days a week and 1 optional day. I let him decide if he wants to do the optional practice or not. He has also asked to run with me and do some workouts with me. I've always told him no, I don't want him doing more running, and I actually don't think he needs any structured workouts at this age. I think he gets a lot of the different pace development above easy pace from running in soccer. Although I know he has teammates on XC who train even on the off days.

My instinct is to not let him train more. I think between soccer 6 days a week and XC 2-3 days a week, that is more than I would even have let him do at this age. I actually lean towards not letting him do the optional practice. I don't want him to get hurt or burned out, especially since he's still growing and developing. I'm wondering if I'm holding him back. I know kids are more active than adults and are more resilient. He also does all of his training on soft surfaces between soccer fields and XC fields/trails. He seems to love the sport, and I think from my background he has a pretty high ceiling. Also, if what I've heard is true, a lot of Kenyan kids run a double every day just by running to and from school. On the flip side, there are guys like Dathan Ritzenhein and Ryan Hall who did a lot of running early on and fell out of the sport at a relatively early age due to injuries.

So my question is, should I continue to hold him back, or should I let him run as much as he wants, even letting him train with me on easy runs and maybe some track workouts? Does anyone have any studies or personal experience either way?

Had another race yesterday and today my coach pulled me aside asking me If I would like to join Varsity as a Freshman.

Every race in this season (which is my first ever) Ive only gotten 1st place and I think its possible I could get 1st place in Championships. However, itd be still cool being a Freshman in Varsity. It is good to know though next year Varsity spot for me is already in the bag lol.

The 2nd place kid in JV was behind me by 3 minutes too and I PR by over 2 (nearly 3) minutes in a span of a week. Idk if I should join Varsity for comp or stsy snd finish my XC season only ever being 1st place and getting a medal(?)

I have a race tomorrow. Basically, there are 4 people competing for the last spot on varsity. One girl already has a guaranteed spot of varsity, but she’s doing a workout tomorrow at the race, so she’s running JV. Me and one of the girls are running varsity. The two other runners who are close to us both are running in JV. The varsity race is first. I’m very nervous and am not completely sure what to do. I don’t want to start out too fast, and I want my splits to be decent and not have the first one be way too fast. If I started out too slow though, I’d be afraid of not catching the other girl who is in my race and her beating me, even if my splits were technically better. It’s also hard because we run first, so I really just have to give it my all without knowing what the Jv results are. And also, my legs are really sore from this week!

So I guess I’m asking: what should I do so that my legs aren’t insanely tight for tomorrow? Is there anything motivational I should say to myself? Or how do you keep up the motivation and hold on when you are racing right next to tough competition? And should I try and keep my splits even and risk losing, or should I just start out too fast?

EDIT: I really appreciate all of the advice, thank you so much! I’m really happy with how everything went today.

Hi! I’m racing the varsity 4k at the Manhattan Invitational on Saturday and I was wondering which of these I should use. I’m also looking for any advice for running the course since it’ll be my first time there. Thanks!

I just ran my 5k today, which was actually only 4.5k, I'm in highschool and I'm a girl, I was 2nd last place. It took me 40ish minutes. It didn't matter because I still get to move on as long as I raced in this race.

My friends were all ahead even one of them got 3rd last place. I'm not active, I don't do any sports. I just joined cross country this year. I can't stop walking a bit during practice and the race and I'm scared to push myself, if I push myself over my limit will that be bad?

Even during practice I'm in the last 1-5 people. I struggle going up hills and my side cramped when I was close to finishing which made me struggle to sprint at the end.

I don't know if I'll be able to improve. Even if it's slight I hope I do.

Top 7 is Varsity for my daughter's team. She fluctuates between Varsity & JV. Poor coach communication has her not really knowing what race she'll run as sometimes it's last race time and sometimes it's coach's choice. Any advice on keeping her motivated?

Question for the coaches and runners here. How do you set racing strategy for your runners and how do you coach them to execute on that strategy? And do you allow your runners to wear watches, or is it strictly a no watch zone?

• Pacing Strategy Group: Prescribed target paces/times at various points on the course, accounting for course layout and field.
• Go out and Race Group: Target known runners to race against pre-race, easiest if your runner has podium or top 10 potential. If Mid-Pack, go out initially pacing by feel, and compete against the runners around you or use other cues like teammates, etc.

Theoretically, executing on optimal pacing strategy should give the athlete the best possible time and thus place, but is hard to execute and the data on that athlete has to be spot on or you're leaving time on the table (or over cooking).

What's worked best in your experience?