Welcome to the 2026 cross country season! This is the first weekly training plan post of the season. These weekly posts outline the scheduled training for the upcoming week. Each weekly training plan covers Monday to Sunday. Typically the plan will be published by the Sunday evening before the start of the week, but certainly no later than lunchtime Monday.
Remember that while the weekly training plan is a good outline of what we will most likely be doing at each day's practice, there are sometimes unforeseen factors (typically weather related) that can change things. When this happens we'll do our best to get the word out quickly. In addition, note that there's a wide variation in the length of each day's run among the different training levels. This is because we have a diverse group of athletes on the team with a wide range of experience and incoming fitness levels. If you have any questions about how far or how hard to go on a particular day don't hesitate to ask one of the coaches.
If
you're not in Wayland during all or part of this week which doubles as the preseason (the time
between the start of practice and the start of school), do your best to
follow along with the training plan and do what you can on your own
until you can join us at practice.
Because this is the first week of the season, there are some details to go over here besides the daily workouts. For the rest of the season, this "preamble" section of the weekly training plan will be much shorter.
You should bring the following items with you to practice:
• running shoes
•
comfortable clothes in which to work out. For the first few weeks you
might also want to wear a hat with a brim to keep out the sun.
•
running watch, either your own the one you borrowed from the team
supply. If you don't have a watch one will be assigned to you from the
team supply.
• sunscreen
• water bottle - Very
important item, should hold 32-48 ounces (1-1.5L). Please bring a water
bottle which you can use during breaks in practice and after practice
has ended. Bring your water bottle already filled.
There are a maximum of six runs total scheduled for this week. For people doing six runs there will be three shorter length efforts, two medium length days (one of them with timed pickups), and one long run. If you haven't been training much or at all over the summer, don't worry you can start at Level 1.
We'll
also employ cross training options, open to anyone, that can be done as
a supplement or in place of running as need be. These include the
elliptical bikes, or riding your own bike if you have one and can bring
it to practice. If you haven't been running consistently over the
summer, it's best to avoid jumping right into 5 or 6 days of running per
week. Cross training is the best way to accomplish this. In other
words, running 2-4 times in a week and doing alternative forms of
exercise the other 2-3 times.
Monday through Friday, practice will be held at WHS. The meeting point at the high school is under the large trees next to the field house,
this is on the southwest side of the field house. If you walk around
the outside perimeter of the field house in either direction from the
parking lot, you'll find us.
It's
expected that returning athletes will hand in a training log from the
summer. Athletes new to the team have the option of submitting a
training log but it's not required. Rewards will be
distributed once the coaching staff has tabulated all the logs,
hopefully no later than the week after Labor Day.
With all that out of the way, here's the plan:
•
Mon 8/24 - Practice at WHS 6:45 AM. Warmup including BURPEES and
strides (run-outs on the track) followed by a medium length run broken
down as follows:
Level 1: 22-26 minutes
Level 2: 34-38 minutes
Level 3: 43-47 minutes
Level 4: 52-56 minutes
The pace of the run today should be easy on the whole, if you feel up to it it's ok to pick up gradually towards the end of the run.
• Tue 8/25 - Practice at WHS 6:45 AM. Warmup including CURTSIES followed by a short length run that will incorporate hill drills (springing AKA bounding for height and high knee running). For those that have been on the team in the past, we'll be using the same hill along the Hultman aqueduct between Cedar Creek Road and Pine Ridge Road that we've used for hill drills in the past.
Level 1: 18-20 minutes
Level 2: 22-26 minutes
Level 3: 28-35 minutes
Level 4: 38-45 minutes
•
Wed 8/26 - Practice at WHS 6:45 AM. Warmup including BURPEES and
strides (run-outs on the track) followed by a medium length run that
will incorporate timed pickups of 2 minutes in length, at an
"uncomfortably sustainable" (80%) effort. In between the race pace
pickups is a recovery of 1 minute, ideally run at a 50-60% effort (this
is easy but not a slow jog). Level 1 athletes may find it more realistic
to walk the first 30 seconds of each recovery interval. Everyone will
begin and end their run today with a warmup and cooldown that are at an
easy pace, with the timed pickups sandwiched in between. Time for
today's run is as follows, with number of pickups indicated as well:
Level 1: 22-26 minutes, 3-4x 2 minute pickups (warmup and cooldown 5-6 minutes each)
Level 2: 34-38 minutes, 4-5x 2 minute pickups (warmup and cooldown 10 minutes each)
Level 3: 43-47 minutes, 6x 2 minute pickups (warmup and cooldown 12-14 minutes each)
Level 4: 52-56 minutes, 8x 2 minute pickups (warmup and cooldown 14-16 minutes each)
•
Thu 8/27 - Practice, @WHS 6:45 AM. Warmup including CURTSIES and then a
short easy run followed by run throughs (accelerations) and bounding
over cones. The run throughs are short accelerations building up to 95%
or so of maximum speed.
Level 1: 18-20 minutes
Level 2: 22-26 minutes
Level 3: 28-35 minutes
Level 4: 38-45 minutes
• Fri 8/28 - Practice, at WHS 6:45 AM. Warmup including BURPEES and strides (run-outs on the track) followed by either a short run for those going on the trip tomorrow or a progressive long run (PLR):
Level 1: 36 minutes (12 minutes easy - 9 minutes fresh - 9 minutes good - 6 minutes easy)
Level 2: 48 minutes (16 minutes easy - 12 minutes fresh - 12 minutes good - 8 minutes easy)
Level 3: 60 minutes (20 minutes easy - 15 minutes fresh - 15 minutes good - 10 minutes easy)
Level 4: 72 minutes (24 minutes easy - 18 minutes fresh - 18 minutes good - 12 minutes easy)
We'll discuss where to go for this long run, it will likely be an out and back affair along one of the aqueducts. For those doing the short run today the time guidelines are the same as yesterday:
Level 1: 18-20 minutes
Level 2: 22-26 minutes
Level 3: 28-35 minutes
Level 4: 38-45 minutes
•
Sat 8/30 - Western Mass. day trip. There will be more details shared via e-mail with the people going on the trip. For those not coming along for the Western Mass. day trip, either:
- a cross training workout of 30 minutes to an hour plus (depending on what the activity is)
- a run of 25-45 minutes with the last 5-10 minutes being run at about a 75-80% effort. Up to that point, run at an easy pace.
Regardless
of which workout you choose to do, please remember to do a warmup
routine beforehand and "silly walks" afterward. The specifics on these can be
found in the "Training Links" sidebar of the team website.
Sun 8/31 - off (no running), if you like you're welcome to go for a bike ride or hike on your own.
