This was directed to coach davies or anyone with an opinion. I’m going to be a junior in high school and I’m training for fall cross country. My splity goes like this Day 1-olympic lifts-all 3x5. Day 2-Running and abs Day 3-Lunge primarily- 3x5, and run.Day 4-vertical, 3x5. Day 5- run and abs, Day 6-horizontal and arms, 3x5 Day 7-Run.
Im 16, 5 9’, 165 pounds, 8% bf.
Really depends on what your goals are. If you really want to do well in cross country (if you have some long term goals to be a good long distance runner), you are fairy heavy for your height. The distance training should take care of that. There was a great article on run training on a triathlon related website just this week. The site is “Slowtwitch”, and the article is titled “It’s the principle that matters”. One thing I noticed is that you don’t have any rest days in your schedule (but I never did when I was doing a lot of long-distance running either). Hopefully your Day 7 run is longer than race distance (which I believe is around 5K for high school), or you plan on boosting it beyond that in the near future. I’d shoot for around 6 miles by the time the school year starts – you’ll have a leg up on most of the other runners, but that won’t put you at the top of the competition. Your other runs should be at race distance or slightly higher by the time the season hits. As the season approaches, I’d drop back a bit on the lifting, and maybe incorporate some pacing interval runs.
brider, I might seem big for my height cause i am a former football player. I’m not heavy because I’m at like 8% bf. Thanks for the tip about running more than 5k which we run during meets.
Steve - I wasn’t trying to imply that you’re fat. At 8% you’re pretty lean for even high school athletes. My comment was in reference to the average height/weight ratios of elite distance runners (basically every one over the mile/1500m) being about 1/2 – meaning the weight in pounds is about 2x the height in inches. Of course, there are variations. I only meant that you’ll have some extra work to do to make up for the extra lean muscle mass you’ll have to drag around the x-c course. My best running weight was 140 at a height of 5’10", and I hit my best times at that (33:35 for 10K, 16:20 for 5K). With all that said, if you don’t have high aspirations for a running career, then don’t worry about it. But keep the long runs, as that will give you the boost you’ll need to keep up with the pure runners when the school training season starts.
First of I’m 20 years old, 62’ 236 pounds at 10% body fat. I play football as well as cross-country. I also train an iron man athlete that is in the top 5 every race she inters; I train a few of my fellow football athletes as well. I’m also the assistant strength coach at the university I attend. I recommend you focus on core strength, do calisthenics, plenty of pushup and crunches. You should also focus on power/strength. Here is an endurance program I use and recommend: morning jog 5-8 miles, afternoon/early evening use a HITT (High Intensity Interval Training) training program, which consist of 15 seconds jogging followed immediately by 30 seconds running repeat for 10-20 minutes. Add a mile every week to the morning workout. Add 5 second to the running part of the HITT program every week. Do this program for 5 weeks then switch to a different program. That was only the endurance part of this program. The anaerobic part consists of only 4 exercises. (Remember you are trying to gain power/strength not mass) The 4 exercises consist of pullups, deadlifts, squats, and of course the bench press. Do one of these exercises per day, followed by 2 auxiliary exercises. I also recommend you read training for speed by Charlie Francis, also read The Charlie Francis training system. I know this program is different, lets not forget brutally tuff, but it works. Try it for your self, then tell me what you think thanks.
I am in agreement with Steve regarding your goals. But to give you any sort of feedback, I need for detail of your training and please identify your goals. In faith, Coach Davies
coach davies,
my goals are to be the best damn cross countrier I can be! 
training wise, heres my full program:
day 1-olympic-cleans from floor,3x5 push press-3x5, bench press 3x5, box squat 3x5, deadlifts, 3x5
day 2-running and abs, early morning,5k run, abs-9x10-12 total, afternoon run, 5k
day 3-lunges-static lunges,3x5,lunges-back foot on bench,3x5, alternating lunges,3x5, step ups, 3x5.
day 4-vertical A1: seated military 3x5 A2:wide pull ups,3x5 B1:side raises, 3x5, B2:close grip pull ups. C1:front raise,3x5, C2:v-bar pull ups, 3x5
Day 5-same as day 2
Day 6-A1:incline bench,3x5,A2:bent over row,3x5 B1:flat dumbell press,3x5 B2:seated cable rows,3x5 C1:decline close grip,3x5 C2:wide grip bicep curls,3x5
Day 7-10K run
Coach Davies, if you need anything else, just ask bro