Pre-season training
If you are serious about reaching your full potential during this cross-country season then you must put time into a proper pre-season training schedule.
If you a Year 8 student who has never run past 5 km but consider yourself to be fit (eg, You have done ACSIS sport, track or cross country racing this year) then please use the Year 8 (fit) plan below. If you are a Year 8 student who needs to imrove their fitness then follow the Beginner plan below. If you are a Year 8 student, who can run past 5 km and consider yourself to be currently be fit, please keep reading to determine what training plan to select.
For all other students, the first step is working out your goal time for running 5 km by the end of pre-season. If you were part of the team last year than your aim should be to match your best time from last season. To see your best time last season go to the Ranking Chart. During the in-season training we will work on improving your personal best time from last season.
If you don’t have a current 5 km personal best time, you will need to go out and run one. If you have a running watch or running app on your phone you can easily work out when you have run 5 km. If you don’t have a watch/phone you will need to go to a track and run 12.5 laps. Make sure you warm up before you begin. Whatever time you run, you will want to choose a goal time that is say 10 - 20% faster.
If you cannot currently run 5 km, or if you take more than 40 minutes to run 5 km, then you will need to undertake the beginner programme (see below) until you reach the point where you are able to run 5 km in less than 40 minutes.
Once you have established your goal time you can choose one of the following 6 training plans.
The training plans can be accessed below. They are in order of difficulty, so if you find the training plan you are on is too easy/difficult you can always try moving to the one above/below it.
