2025 Fall Cross Country & Racing Season, November 15, 2025, Week 11, Day 6, Saturday is a race day!

2025 Fall Cross Country & Racing Program,  Mileage, Week 11, Day 6, Saturday is race day!

Our program will be built around a tempo run with some hills on Tuesday, fartlek on Thursday, race day or repetitions on Saturday, Long run on Sunday and easy days on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. You can juggle around if you need and also consider keeping Saturdays an easy day in weeks you are not racing! Ask your coach before adding anything to your daily training. 

Fartlek means “speedplay” in Swedish. Gosta Holmer, a former Olympic multi-eventer, was the coach of the Swedish national cross-country team in the 1930s. At that time, the Swedish cross-country team was not that good. Coach Holmer developed a training program using a variety of distances at various speeds over the natural terrain found in Sweden. It worked! Fartlek can build the athlete from lower fitness to higher fitness.

Long runs, done on Sundays most weeks are of moderate pace, which means that you can talk during it, in near complete sentences, EXCEPT when you do the ten minute hill grind midway. You do not talk then, you attempt to breathe. Then, back to moderate running.

Saturday, warm-up, 6k-8k race, give it all you have, cooldown. 

In his sophomore year of track, Steve Prefontaine did not make the state meet. He was embarrassed and upset with himself. That summer, he planned, with his coaches, a ruthless series of training runs over the summer. He not only did mileage, he made himself stronger. He made himself tougher. That fall, Steve Prefontaine was ready for his junior season of high school cross country.

Are you ready to race this Fall?  Follow our daily training suggestions, and we will help you be ready to race! 

The NIKE Pegasus PLUS may be the perfect NIKErunning shoe for summer and fall high school running. It is light, sturdy and built for miles! I would recommend it for speed days, fartlek days, hill days and if you have just one shoe, a good trainer/racer. Nike is back on track with this shoe, part of the NIKE Pegasus 41 evolution.

I recommend two pairs of training shoes for the fall, such as a NIKE Pegasus PLUS and a NIKE Vomero 18 (shown below) for easy days and long days. The Pegasus PLUS is well constructed, can handle dirt and mud and gives you a stable, comfortable ride without overdoing the cushioning. As always, we do not recommend that you buy your running performance shoes remotely, but go into a real live running store.

If you like the NIKE Pegasus platform, then, check out the NIKE Pegasus Premium, a super shoe for high school and college athletes. The ride is the most cushioned shoe of the Pegasus line. I like the Pegasus ride, which screams speed. The NIKE Pegasus Premium has a great NIKE Zoom airbag, the ride you like in the NIKE Pegasus platform. If you need a suggestion, email me at [email protected] and I will help you find a shoe that fits your needs! Check out nike.com or at nikerunning.com. 

If you need a little more cushioning, try the Vomero 18. The Vomero 18 has more cushioning that the Pegasus PLUS. If you like NIKE, I would suggest high schoolers use the NIKE Pegasus PLUS for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. I would suggest the Vomero 18 for Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I always suggest two pairs of training shoes.  Learn more on www.nikerunning.com.

If you need a more cushioned shoe, try the Vomero 18 and the Vomero PLUS, for great cushioning, a more sophisticated ride. Check them out at your local NIKE retailer or NIKE running store. The Vomero PLUS has substantially more cushioning than the Vomero 18, plus a good stable ride.

The most cushioned ride from NIKE at the current time? Well kids, that is the NIKE Vomero Premium. The NIKE Vomero Premium has a full Zoom air bag, and is incredibly stable. This Vomero series, with the Vomero 18, Vomero PLUS and Vomero Premium. Each shoe gives NIKE fans more cushioning while giving you a stable ride. Connor Mantz, Faith Kipyegon are two of the NIKE elite athletes who prefer the the NIKE Vomero Premium as their fave cushioned shoe. Fore more info, go to NIKE.com or NIKErunning.com.

Do you want to be a better cross country runner than you were in the past? Focus and follow our training. It is all about the consistency. 

For Great Fall and Winter reading! Self Made Olympian by Ron Daws, A Clean Pair of Heels by Murray Halberg, Pre! by Tom Jordan, Quicksilver, The Mercurial Emil Zatopek, by Pat Butcher, The Destiny of Alain Mimoun, by Pat Butcher (a monograph)

Remember, one day at a time!!!! #SummerMileage, #CrossCountry, 

Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America’s first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: “I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself.” Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys.

Theme song: Greg Allman, ” I’m no Angel.”

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