Dee-Mack High School’s cross country team strives to promote team leadership, help students form healthy relationships with exercise, and teach adolescents to develop healthy habits in their adolescence.
A typical week in cross country training involves a lot of variation between workouts to ensure that cross country athletes stay in peak condition for their meets early Saturday morning. The blueprint is usually as follows: Monday is typically an easier run considering athletes are coming off the weekend, and getting back into the running routine while Tuesday is usually a more intensity based workout, such as repeats or a “long run,” these workouts are designed for longer duration, with few breaks. This variation of workout intensity is important to keep the athletes healthy and ready to compete.
A balance in fun and intense workouts is important when looking to enjoy your cross country season as well. A classic team favorite is the sponge relay. In a sponge relay, typically selected for a hotter day outside, runners will be placed onto several different teams. Each team is given one designated sponge and bucket. Much like a track relay, one member of each group will run a repeat while carrying their sponge filled with water. When the runner gets back to the start, they quickly wring out their sponges into their buckets. The first team to completely fill their buckets with water will have the least amount of conditioning to do following the workout. The more difficult or intense workouts consist of things like mile repeats, where runners will run several miles on the track, separated with breaks in between for water and rest.
The Dee-Mack High School cross country team also holds team dinners on Fridays after school to ensure that runners eat at least one good meal prior to their races early Saturday morning. This usually consists of food high in carbohydrates, such as pasta of some sort, or bread. Saturday morning is where all the training during the week will show. After being properly set up for success during the week, the runners will take off on their three mile race through varying terrain, focusing on improving their own times, each with their own personal goals. a three mile race through varying terrain will follow.
Though the cross country season is in fact officially over, those interested can still talk to Mr. Ingram in the art room, where he can provide further information regarding summer workouts and practice schedules for next season.
