To be honest, when I first started coaching Cross Country, I knew very little about the sport. I did not participate in any high school sports and simply knew that it involved a lot of running. As a developing adult runner, I was immediately drawn to the spirit of the kids and the excitement of racing. Over the years, I have seen that most people do not know much about cross country. If you are reading this, you may be a seasoned veteran, a new athlete, a curious parent, or my wife (she is my #1 fan). This post is geared towards the person who knows next to nothing about Cross Country, other than it is a lot of running. What is Cross Country? Cross Country (usually abbreviated XC) is a competitive team sport for 7th-12th grade boys and girls. Training is considered to be year round, but is generally broken up into different phases, with the summer months being the crucial base building phase. Most of your teams fall results will be directly related to the duration and quality of the summer workouts. Most races are 5 km, or 3.1 miles, with some meets having the JV girls race a 2 mile course. Courses are mostly run on grassy fields or wooded paths. Some course will have more hills than others or may include small obstacles such as hay bales or logs to make the course more challenging. Scoring Scoring for XC is a team based score. Lowest score wins. What? Yep, the goal is to get the lowest score total. Each team usually consists of 7 runners who all compete in the same race, on same course, against all the other schools. All runners earn a place at finish, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc, with that being their score. The top 5 runners from each school are added up and that is the team score. Although the 6th and 7th runners on each team don't earn points for the team, they still contribute by "pushing." Does that mean they get to physically push other people like a football lineman? That would be fun, but no. They can push the scores of other teams higher (remember, lower is better) if they can finish ahead of the other teams' top 5 finishers. They can also help determine a win in the event of a tie in the scoring of two teams' top 5 runners. The 6th runner comes into play at that point and breaks the tie. A goal of a top team is to get a perfect score of 15. This places them in 1st-5th, beating every single runner on every single team. Why do it? To the average high school athlete, running is some type of punishment. Something you are forced to do. With XC, running turns into something you want to do. It teaches you self-discipline. Because a lot of the training is in the summer and not always with the coach nearby to monitor, the successful XC runner has to develop the discipline on their own to get better. The successful XC runner generally has an inner desire and motivation to do well. XC running also teaches accountability. You are accountable for yourself, but also your teammates. Your success as a team is determined by not only your own running and conditioning, but the work and effort put in by your team. Knowing that your team is relying on your effort to win will keep you accountable and provide that motivation to keep going. XC will also teach you humility and patience. Being great at XC takes time. There will be many races that you will be bringing up the rear or stuck in the middle. There will be a learning curve on pacing...don't go out too fast or you'll (almost) die by mile 2. Don't go out too slow or you'll run out of time to get to the head of the pack. Over time, you'll discover the right pace and be able to push past your boundaries. There it is, XC 101. I hope you'll discover that being a part of the XC team is one of the defining moments of your high school experience. "What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals." - Henry David Thoreau In only my 4th year coaching this wonderful sport, I've picked up a few thing about XC and the athletes: 1. XC Runners are "unique." Yes, this is code for weird. What kind of kid wants to wake up a few hours before school starts so they can get 5 miles of work in? A real special kid. A dedicated, motivated (most of the time), and focused individual that can put off the instant gratification for the larger payoff at the end of the season. 2. XC Runners love water. They can go through about 1.2 billion (yes, with a b) gallons of water in a workout. In addition, with me spouting off about the importance of proper hydration, they are drinking throughout the day and night. This is the reason for the long lines at the porta-potties at XC meets. 3. As a sport, XC does not get much respect. At the High School level, we rank just above the Anime club. I am not sure how this came to be since we RACE a 5K course. There is a difference between running a 5K and racing a 5K. Racing a 5K is pure pain from 100 meters on (if you are doing it right). You want to let up so badly as your body is screaming at you. You are racing against a seasoned senior racer, and you have something to prove. You are doing something that strikes absolute fear in the hearts of most athletes on campus. This is why XC runners get the utmost respect from me. 4. XC Runners are not shy talking about their pee and poop needs. As a runner myself, I understand. No one wants to get caught mid run having "the urges" and not be able to stop. The actual act of running encourages this, and the amount of water consumed does not help. It is openly discussed during warm ups and after meets. It is okay. 5. Heaven is wearing a pair of Nike shorts and a t-shirt all day. Every day. XC Runners generally have no interest in dressing up or pretending to be someone they are not. They are athletes and dress like it (within dress code policy, of course). 6. Every XC Runner has abs of steel that set off metal detectors at airports. It's because they are sticks. Yes, they work out like crazy and have a great core. But, it also helps they are 0.32% body fat. They are not completely ripped from head to toe, but their core is probably one of the strongest at the school (especially if their weight is taken into account) 7. Every XC Runner decides to quit XC Every season. Most do not. You know this is absolutely the truth. XC is so brutal on the body that it takes a toll on even the most seasoned runners. The ground force of each step is equivalent to 2.5 times their body weight. They slam the ground with about 300lbs of force with every foot strike (about 4000-6000 times per practice). Most of my coaching is making them mentally stronger. I'm in the business of teaching kids how to not quit when it gets tough. 8. Most XC Runners quietly laugh at sprinters...While at the same time, wish they were as speedy. Hey, we're a different breed. Yes, both athletes run, but the running itself is different, resulting in different athletes. The thought of a 4 x 200m, 2 x 100m workout is laughable to a distance runner. Our warm ups take longer than that. Our running develops a stronger respiratory and cardiovascular system in addition to the muscular strength. This takes time and miles. Period. 9. 99% of the universe thinks of XC as an individual sport. WRONG! We are a team and get scored as a team. For most meets, our Varsity consists of our top 7 runners, with the top 5 being scored based on their finish places. Add up their scores, and the team with the lowest score wins. Kind of like golf. There is a ton of strategy that takes place during the race to ensure success, including pacing, surging and running in packs. As a team sport, XC runners have each other to support and encourage them. A later blog post will be dedicated as an intro to XC that will go into this in more detail 10. XC Runners form a tight family. When you go through miles of training together and spend all day at meets, bonds form. These shared experiences make up the memories they will cherish for a long time. They share the victories and the defeats. The injuries and the breakthroughs. The bus rides to and from. The stops for lunch sometimes. The out of town meets. These all get filed away and become a part of the team experience. I'm sure other sports have their own version of this, but for me, my XC team is part of my family and will always have a special place in my heart. |
Coach Stephen MoralesHead Coach for the Cedar Creek High School Cross Country Team. The personal opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer. Archives
October 2014
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