In the two highest revenue-producing college sports, football and basketball, you’ll play more games in college than you did in high school. In many of the others, i.e. baseball, volleyball, wrestling, soccer, you’ll also have more games and matches that you did in high school. But when it comes to cross country and track & field, you’ll compete less in college than when you donned the colors each weekend for your high school team.
Why is that? You train more in college and, in many instances, especially now, you may be getting paid for your sport. But if you make it to the state championship in cross country, chances are you raced nine times in nine weeks—even more if your state runs dual meets.
You won’t even do that as a pro if you embark on a professional running career. Road or track. So why do we have our teenagers race so much at the beginning of their career?
This may be a question that can’t be answered, so let’s keep it rhetorical and, maybe, resort to what may be the logical explanation. Who’s going to give up their meet in order to diminish the high school cross country schedule? As we ponder that, the explanation may become clearer. As new races are popping up all over the country and traveling to races has also become the norm, XC meets aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. So, how about looking at this another way. Why don’t we just have shorter races throughout the season?
Aha! Now we may be on to something. In college, most early season races will be shorter than the post-season distance. And college training would most certainly include higher weekly volume with the goal to eventually be well-trained to peak at the post-season distance, so most college coaches want early season races to be a little shorter.
Also, as much as college kids are still chasing times—whether it’s in the 5k, 6k, or 8k—there’s really not a standard to hit nor a magical time that separates one from another. Let’s be practical here, no 8,000-meter piece of real estate is the same as another anywhere. So as one athlete runs a 24:00 8k at one place, the equivalent of that athlete may run a 25:00 at a different venue on that same weekend.
Any coach on any level shouldn’t look at that 24 or 25 as a barometer of success, but rather as an extension of their training as well as to see where an athlete is in their training. Athletes and coaches in college programs are mostly trying to get in a “rust-buster” early on and a little bit of anxiety-ridden competition with the three or four races they have left on their schedule so that by the time the big races show up, conference, Regionals, and Nationals, the training and race-ready mindset is, hopefully, at its peak.
So why don’t we do this in high school, so that we can navigate to that level’s big meets, Regionals and State (Of if you’re from Pennsylvania, States... I’m a former Pa. guy, so I can say that), in similar fashion?
Here are 3 reasons why the sub-5k race distance may not be such a bad idea:
1) Chasing 5k PRs every Saturday gets tedious. As much as us coaches try to rationalize with our athletes that times don’t matter much due to factors like different courses; different cycles in our training; or even just more of a focus on certain meets than others, it’s still a tough pill to swallow for some kids when they don’t PR each week. Racing a 3k or 4k every so often re-establishes the notion of just going out there and competing. And if you’ve been reading any of the “Running the Tangents” interviews, a good number of coaches would like to deviate away from chasing times each weekend. Throw in a sub-5k race and maybe the focus isn’t a time, but rather the holistic effort.
2) Each fall I ask my athletes what they think they can run an 800 or 1600 in at that point in time. Their response is usually an over-the-top one in which they’re convinced they can PR in those two distances at that exact moment. This is not unlike the spring when I ask them what they think they can run a 5k at that point in time and the confidence of a PR also is apparent. Either way, the gist of what I’m getting at here is that the monotony of training and racing and pondering one specific distance from June to the end of October tends to get a little stale in terms of motivation. Sprinkle a random 3k or 4k somewhere in there and that staleness tends to liven up a bit. Several years ago, when I was coaching at a different high school, we went down to the Cowboy Jamboree in Stillwater, Oklahoma. It was when the boys ran 5k and the girls ran 4k in Kansas. It had rained hard the night before and continued into the morning. The race director decided that the course was too flooded for both the 5k and 4k, so he decided that we were running a 3k. Not only were my athletes super-excited about this, but they were also very confused on how to pace themselves. Well, conventional wisdom would say that because the distance is shorter, then just run a little faster from the onset. Whatever sage advice I would give them didn’t compare to the fact that they threw out any notion of a 5k or PRs. It was very refreshing for them and a very successful race for our team as we won the meet. More than anything else, it was needed at that point in the season. Some type of competition that’s a little different.
3) Lastly, and this piggybacks off the college comparison from earlier, why are we making these kids run a 5k every weekend? College kids wouldn’t do it, and neither would pros. And what if we had a big training cycle we were going through and didn’t want our kids to race a 5k but rather do a shorter and less taxing distance like a 3k or 4k? That allows us to stick to that big training cycle and not have to worry about “over-racing” them that often leads to injuries or burnout. And given the fact that a 3k or 4k doesn’t have too much street cred amongst high school athletes, sitting out a 3k or 4k due to aches, pains, injuries, emotions, or even other conflicts may not seem to be too much of an issue. For some athletes, the shorter race may be a down week not just in terms of distance, but also in taking off altogether.
Agree or disagree, I’m sure most coaches and athletes would see some notion of logic in the sub-5k race. With that said, what’s the issue, then, in putting on a 3k or 4k race?
That’s just it. Who’s going to do it?
Who’s going to: A) create a new meet that has these distances, or B) move their already established meet to a sub-5k distance? Not too many coaches would want to be the pioneers for this endeavor.
So, how about this? Simply just offer the 3k or 4k, or some other sub-5k distance, within your already established meet. Sure, it’s an extra race or two to add to the already usual six-race schedule, but here may be a way to host it. Don’t offer a Varsity, J.V., and C-Team. Just offer a 5K “A-Race” and a sub-5k “A-Race” along with “B-Race” equivalents.
Your "A-Races" are for your faster kids and the "B-Races" are for the not as fast kids. Doing that for both genders would create eight races total. And if you’re trying to figure out who in your varsity lineup should do which races, figure out how their training and racing are going at that point. Maybe some kids need to get better at pacing, or some kids may need some higher volume harder runs. That’s not too tough to figure out and, as a coach, I’d love to have a meet like that in order to be able to specify each athlete a little more. Yeah, you’re probably looking at a couple of extra races on a Saturday morning, six versus eight, but the sub-5K ones are going to be shorter, so those mornings won’t be too much longer.
I’m sure there are a plethora of combinations coaches can figure out to make such a meet accommodating and enticing. But make no mistake about it, there’s a potential benefit to racing the sub-5k distance for high schoolers. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say it’s going to be tough to convince me, and several other coaches I’ve spoken with about this, that racing a shorter distance during the season a couple of times would have a negative impact on an athlete’s post-season. I’d invite that argument and would be all ears.
But let me offer this retort: Do you race your athletes in the 1600 and 3200 every week in the Spring? A combined distance that's just a nudge under a 5k? I haven’t heard too many athletes whose coaches have them do that. And the number one reason why, is to give them a “little break” from those events. Smart, right? So how would doing this in the Fall not be equally as smart?
One last thought on this. Here are Doris Lemngole’s (both seasons), Parker Valby’s, Katelyn Tuohy’s, and Whittni Orton’s race schedule the last five falls that they have won the NCAA D1 Cross Country title: 6k, 6k, 6k with close to two weeks between each. And if a few did a fourth 6k, it was in early to mid-September with NCAAs coming in late November.
And here are Habtom Samuel’s, Graham Blanks’s (both seasons), Charles Hicks’s, and Connor Mantz’s race schedule over the same timespan: 8k, 8k, 10k, 10k with close to two weeks between each. And if they did a fifth race, it was a 6k or an 8k in early to mid-September.
That's anywhere from four to sjx races fewer than a high schooler. Yes, I know, all those distances are more taxing that a weekly 5k. Agreed, and fair enough. But these athletes were also over 22 years of age when they did this and probably had 7,000 to 10,000 more miles under their belt than a 17- or 18-year-old so, seemingly, they should be able to weather a weekly 6k, 8k, or 10k, right?
Well, they don’t race that way and there’s a pretty logical reason why they don’t. And I know, I use some pretty stellar athletes here as examples and your athletes aren’t those humans I mentioned above. Would you tell your athletes that? Neither would I.
Keep racing hard Kansas and see you on the course.
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In the two highest revenue-producing college sports, football and basketball, you’ll play more games in college than you did in high school. In many of the others, i.e. baseball, volleyball, wrestling, soccer, you’ll also have more games and matches that you did in high school. But when it comes to cross country and track & field, you’ll compete less in college than when you donned the colors each weekend for your high school team.
Why is that? You train more in college and, in many instances, especially now, you may be getting paid for your sport. But if you make it to the state championship in cross country, chances are you raced nine times in nine weeks—even more if your state runs dual meets.