Many people outside the sport regard cross country as one of the easiest youth teams to coach. It’s just running, and how difficult can that be — you tell your kids to go out and run, right?
Of course, coaches and runners know cross country is much more than jogging a few miles every day. Races involve individual and team strategy, and workouts are incredibly nuanced. Ensuring your athletes are building a sufficient mileage base before and early in the season yields success later. Distance runs are essential to maintaining that base, but speed workouts are necessary for getting faster as the season progresses. And the taper must be just right so that runners are peaking for the end of the season.
All these nuances make for complex practice planning. Individual development becomes important to see how runners are improving throughout the season. Furthermore, coaches tasked with running both the boys’ and girls’ teams may need to devise different workouts and expectations for each squad.
Given the challenge of guiding a successful cross country team, Practice Planner Live delivers a fantastic tool for coaches. Workouts can be planned well ahead of time, and even preseason and postseason runs athletes do on their own can be devised. This planning helps ensure your team isn’t overtraining in a certain area and that workout intensity tapers just in time for big meets. Finally, you can track the miles with our tool and plan for future cross country seasons, not to mention track season in the spring.
Team sports that don’t use a ball or a puck still require high-level coaching. Email us at [email protected] or give us a call at {{account:phone}} to learn more about how Practice Planner Live can help cross country coaches, as well as coaches in other sports, set their athletes up for success.