Preparing to Race (part 2 of 3)

At camp, after my great opening idea on what it takes to be prepared to race, most of the high school cross-country athletes understood and agreed that--  especially right now, the most important thing they could do to be prepared was to stay on top of their summer training.  To me, that seems pretty straightforward and physical.  Run, run, run when you’re tired, run so much you might cry, or snap, or cry and snap, and then run again more than you ever have.  That’s what summer going into your best season of high school looks like.  Physically tough, but straightforward. 

Many people also agree that running is some % mental and another % physical.  How does this work?  Where are you on the scale? On Monday afternoon I asked my first group at camp, “In July, do you find your sport to be more physical or mental?” I had them step to one side of the field to denote physical % majority or the other side to denote mental.  Then I asked them which majority side they leaned with in August once school had started, regular practice sessions were underway, and the first meet was nearby.  I moved on and asked them about October, the month of pre-state. And what about November?  On Monday and Tuesday I had completely different results amongst the groups.  We discussed each result along the way.

You might not be in high school, but do you have a season planned out?  …or do you have random races on your calendar?  What side would you stand on pre-season, early season, mid-season, and championship season?  How stuck in stone in this?  How does which side you stand on get adjusted by your previous race, your prior week’s training, reading about someone else’s result across the country, or by your coach and teammates and the culture and tradition of your training set-up?  Why did the Tuesday team’s responses look so different than the Monday group’s?

Later this week I will share with you part 3 of the talk I gave at the Brevard Distance Runner’s Camp.