by Larry Eder
The 2024 Cross Country season is here!
Wednesday is an easy day
Most of the 560,000 high school boys and girls in cross country are competing in high school cross country in 2024!
Wednesday is about recovery.
George Young was a 4 time Olympian (1960-steeplechase, heats, 1964, steeplechase-fifth, 1968-steeplechase-Olympic bronze, Marathon-16th, 1972-5,000m, heats), focused from 2 miles to the marathon. Young sets ARs at 2 miles, 3 miles was oldest man at time (age 34, 1972) to reack 4 minutes for the mile! In 1968, Young made the marathon team and steeplechase team in the Olympics! After he retired, he coached cross country and track and was AD. George Young loved cross country and grew into the great runner he became.
Just how good was George Young? In 1968, in Mexico City, George was the only athlete who medaled in the steeplechase not born at altitude! He beat the then WR holder, Kerry O’Brien of Australia. Young was tough as nails and battled the 22 year old Steve Prefontaine while he was 34 in the 5,000 meters in the 1972 Olympic Trials.
Cross country is a real key to developing as a great distance runner!
Link to NIKE NXN site: https://nxn.runnerspace.com
Link to FootLocker Cross Country Championships by HOKA: https://footlockercc.com/
Wednesday, Week 6, Day 3, October 23, 2024
Warm-up well,
45-65 minutes of moderate running, 6 x 150m stride-outs,
Cooldown well, and remember to hydrate.
Check your shoes and make sure that your training shoes
are ready for 12-18 more weeks of training. (Most shoes make it 12-16 weeks of training)
If not, go to a local running store and find one or two pairs of good training shoes.
We will speak about that soon!
Frank Shorter won 4 AAU cross country titles, was on several US World Cross Country teams and won two Olympic medals, gold and silver in the Marathon (1972 and 1976). Frank Shorter set ARs from 2 miles indoor to the Marathon. He was a cross country animal.
