OU is known for their running. Don't be shy. Give their coaches a call and see what they suggest for spring/summer running.

I've heard of college kids logging close to 100 miles/week in the summer, but obviously that's not a good plan for everyone. Actually, that sounds crazy for preparing for a season of 8k races, but I'm no coach.

I would just concentrate on putting in the miles. I would recommend working up to 60 miles for the summer. By the time i was a senior in college I was running 100 mile weeks. I didn't even run cross country in high school and by the time I was a senior in college I had run a 25:10 8K and a 10k in 30:12. Just have fun with it, do not be intimidated just work hard and good things will happen.

[quote=SDtriman]I would just concentrate on putting in the miles. I would recommend working up to 60 miles for the summer. By the time i was a senior in college I was running 100 mile weeks. I didn't even run cross country in high school and by the time I was a senior in college I had run a 25:10 8K and a 10k in 30:12. Just have fun with it, do not be intimidated just work hard and good things will happen. [/quote]

Where did you go to college?

I ran one season in college - didn't work out because the coach pushed too hard and I was constantly injured and slower than high school. However, I'll second the advice to just call or email the coach and ask them. They probably already have a summer training packet that they give to all the returning runners and would be more than happy to advise an incoming runner. If you don't get anything from them, the things that really help me are to be extremely consistent but careful not to overdo it. The rules that I set for myself when I was prepping for my best hs season were to never take more than 1 day in a row off running unless injured, and don't become so fixated on the mileage numbers that you do too much and go into the season tired and on the verge of burnout.

Good luck!

I went to a small NAIA school in South Dakota tri love

is ohio (athens) D1? No offense but if your a junior and you want to go to a D1 running school ( i dont actually know that its D1 im just assuming-apologies if its not) you probably should have a p.r. close to 16:20-30 (5k) by the end of junior year. Sophomore year i ran around 16:40 and e-mailed the UC Berkeley coach with my times and he said that I should email back at the end of junior year xc when i drop around 20 or more seconds at least (did that this year). It doesn't mean that you cant email the coach though. It could've just been UCal that was looking for those times. Ohio athens could be different and for all i know you could be the perfect match for them at this point. Even if the coach says that he's not interested right now...I'm sure if you search around there very well may be a D1/Good D2/D3 team that you'll fit into.

if http://ohiobobcats.cstv.com/sports/c-xc/mtt/ohio-c-xc-mtt.html is the school, I think you will be fine with a 17:05 5k. Looks like Chris Myers PR is 16:57, and Jeremy Wolf only ran a 17:40 5k in high school. Talk to the coach.

Are you looking for financial help or are you looking to walk-on? If you want to run professionally, by all means seek out the best teams. But if you want to run because you enjoy the sport, you should definitely not be discouraged from going out for the team by your times. My fastest high school time was 17:00 (I ran in NE Ohio region) and I walked onto a division 1 squad. Granted, the team was mid-pack in the conference but I still ended up in with 25:30 8k. But the really great thing about college athletics are the opportunities you’ll get through participation. The experiences you’ll get traveling and training with the team will last a lifetime. I started out as a seventh man my freshmen year and through consistent work ended up as a third/fourth man. The difference between college and HS XC: In high school you raced the state champion once or twice a season; in college you may train with three or four state champions EVERY DAY. Everyone gets better when they train with superior athletes.

My advice is free and worth every penny so take if for what’s it worth: follow all the training rules. Don’t build your mileage too fast. Don’t run on the roads everyday. Consider training with a HR monitor, especially if you suffer from can’t-run-low-itis (common for HS runners). I attended a XC summer camp at Malone College in HS where I learned HR training. It changed my whole understanding of training. Concentrate on building your base. Don’t race all out too much. Your long run is your key workout out of season; long session puts the tiger in the cat. Do some homework read ‘Running with the Buffalos’ ‘The Daniels Formula’. I’ve heard ‘Harriers’ is good but haven’t read it. Most important: have fun, enjoy the process, pay attention to your body, find a coach who’s smart and you respect. Good luck.

First and foremost, contact the coach and tell him of your interest in running with the XC team. It won't hurt him one bit to have a quick discussion with you and send you a general idea of what he expects his team to do over the summer. And since you've alrady been accepted and plan to attend without assistance from the athletics dept, he has nothing to lose. My D-I team had a few people try to walk on every year. Our coach would give them 2 weeks training with the team and if you could hang with a group on long runs and intervals, you were in (regardless of prior race times). Plenty of college teams have walk-ons, so don't be discouraged by the times run by the top 3. And many H.S. athletes respond well to college training and will show vast improvements in their running through maturity and specificity to training for one distance.

For your summer training, you should start building up mileage now. You won't be able to make up for lost time come June. I would shoot for a longest week of 45-50 miles during your track season (probably around the first/second week of May, before your end of season taper), take an easy week off after the season and start back in at 40 miles the second week of June. Over the 12 weeks of summer run 40/45/50/40/50/55/60/50/60/65/70/60 with your long runs increasing from 10 to 15 miles. There's no need for anything longer than that. Also, starting in week 5 or 6, of your summer training, toss in one tempo run per week (e.g. 5 miles ~ 6:00-6:15 pace with 2 mile warm up and 2 mile cool down) and try to get your daily run pace down to 6:45-7:00, including long runs. One big difference you'll find when running in college is the pace at which all runs are done. We wouldn't run anything slower than 6:30. Recovery days would just be shorter, rather than slower.

OP: you don't state your current milage. Hitting 45-50 in 16 weeks assumes your running 30-35 right now. That's based on 10% max weekly increase (which is the universally accepted max weekly increase) and the "three week increase followed by one week recovery" regimine. If you're not there right now (30-35) start where you are though the outdoor season and resume after your taper. Don't worry if you don't hit big milage. Focus on building a 10-12mile long run and getting a couple of other longish runs. A tempo is also a good idea. There is nothing wrong with maxing out with a 45 mile week your freshmen year. I didn't break 50 my first summer; I don't think I ran 70mi weeks till my junior year. BUT I didn't get injured or miss any time.

I agree with XC800 about the pace. But don't be concerned with that your freshmen year. You are likely to get your clock cleaned regularly your first year; it sounds like you understand that (hard work comment). Trying to run with upper classmen will only get you burned out or injured.

OP: you don't state your current milage. Hitting 45-50 in 16 weeks assumes your running 30-35 right now. That's based on 10% max weekly increase (which is the universally accepted max weekly increase) and the "three week increase followed by one week recovery" regimine. If you're not there right now (30-35) start where you are though the outdoor season and resume after your taper. Don't worry if you don't hit big milage. Focus on building a 10-12mile long run and getting a couple of other longish runs. A tempo is also a good idea. There is nothing wrong with maxing out with a 45 mile week your freshmen year. I didn't break 50 my first summer; I don't think I ran 70mi weeks till my junior year. BUT I didn't get injured or miss any time.

I agree with XC800 about the pace. But don't be concerned with that your freshmen year. You are likely to get your clock cleaned regularly your first year; it sounds like you understand that (hard work comment). Trying to run with upper classmen will only get you burned out or injured.