Why July Is the Month That Actually Decides Your Cross Country Season
Everybody wants to talk about the state meet in October. Nobody wants to talk about July. That's a mistake. By the time August rolls around and that first official practice hits, the kids who spent July doing the boring, unglamorous work are already a step ahead. The ones who took the whole summer off are going to find that out the hard way in week two of the season.
Here's the thing about base building that gets lost on middle school and high school kids especially: it's not supposed to feel exciting. If your July runs feel like a grind nobody's watching, good, that means you're doing it right. This is when you build the aerobic engine everything else in the fall gets built on top of. Your speed work in September, your kick in the last 400 of a race in October, all of it sits on top of the easy mileage you're putting in right now. Skip this part and you're building a house with no foundation under it.
I saw a piece from MileSplit this week making a point I tell my own runners all the time: you don't need an altitude camp or some trip that looks good on Instagram to have a great summer. Humid, flat, sea-level Indiana miles count just as much as anything run out west. What matters is showing up most days, keeping your easy days actually easy, and not trying to prove something in a July run that you should be saving for a Saturday in October.
A word to parents too. If your runner is sore or tired in a way that doesn't go away after a rest day, don't wave it off. Shin splints and stress reactions love to show up right about now, when mileage has climbed faster than the body adjusted to it. Ice, rest, and a call to a coach or athletic trainer beats gutting through it and losing the whole season. I would much rather have a kid at 90 percent for the entire fall than 100 percent for two weeks and then done.
Bottom line: the runners who take July seriously, even if that just means easy 20 to 30 minute runs a few days a week, are the ones who look comfortable in August while everybody else is trying to catch up. There's still time left this month. Use it.
- Coach Justin
Coach Justin Roeder has spent over 15 years coaching middle school, high school, college, and age-group distance runners, helping athletes develop from first-time runners to state qualifiers and college recruits. He holds a degree in Exercise Science and coaching certifications from USA Track & Field, USA Triathlon, and IRONMAN University, and specializes in training for the 800 through 5K.
Got a question for Coach Justin? Reach him at indianadistancecollective@gmail.com.
