It was great to see so many new and returning faces at our informational meetings these past two weeks!  If you missed the meeting don’t worry…we’ll present a lot of the information here on the website as promised.

Summer running is a very important part of the fall cross country season. As we detail in our Viking XC Four Phase Training Approach, it’s important to build up your endurance with base mileage as it builds the foundation for the more advanced training to come.  It doesn’t have to be fast miles; in fact, we don’t WANT fast miles. Your early summer runs should be at an easy, conversational pace. We also don’t want you starting off with more than you’re ready for. If you’ve never run before or haven’t in awhile, you may start off with just a couple miles. Just be patient and trust the process, and we’ll have you worked up to longer distances before you know it!  Take a few minutes to read through the training link above to better understand why it’s important to take your time and follow the process.

For those who are coming off of track or have been running at least a few days a week, you want to get yourself to the point of running at least five days per week as quickly as possible.  We’ve created a sample training plan to take you from the start of summer runs through to the first meet. Yes, you’ll see some long runs on that plan.  Those long runs in July make a HUGE difference in your performance in September/October, so if you have any questions or concerns please ask a coach for more information.

Our summer runs this year start Sunday June 3rd at 7pm at Lyons Park.  That doesn’t mean you have to wait until June 3rd to start running. The sooner you start getting your body used to running, the better! These are voluntary runs open to anyone, so siblings and parents are more than welcome, and participation does not commit you to running in the fall (though we certainly hope you will!).

Our weekly running schedule for June is as follows:

• Sundays at 7:00 p.m. at Lyons Park or Coach Schwan’s
• Tuesday at 9 a.m. at EHS (weight room after)
• Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at Metamora Community Park

Please make sure you sign up for Remind alerts (text @vikingxc to 81010) as we sometimes have to change locations and you may want to bring a swimsuit and towel for swimming when we run at Coach Schwan’s in Lyons.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Coach Hesson or Coach Schwan. We look forward to seeing you on June 3rd and in the weeks that follow!