My name is Monique and I love to run. It is my passion, joy, sport and feeds the competitor inside. Although I strive in cross country throughout school and state levels I am noticing a plateau in my times this year. I am in year 7 and first started running in year 5.
Do you think that I should continue to look towards running competitively hoping to make it that step further to nationals, or not focus so much on running. I also play soccer which I also very much enjoy, though notice it is consuming most off the time.
My family cannot afford for training lessons for running or any squad so I was wondering if I could have some advice training wise as well. :) ;) :) Thankyou very much.
Answer by Dominique:
Hi Monique,
Thanks for your running training question. I can't possibly tell you or ask from you to give up one sport for the other! Soccer and high school running are luckily quite compatible. For both you need a high degree of fitness, strong legs and a good aerobic base. Obviously, specializing into one sport has got its benefits, but if you like both sports, then why not continue both?
Soccer is more dominated by short sprints, but then again, in cross country you often have hills to battle and tough terrain, so a bit of extra power in the thighs can only help.
I do not know which training you do now. And you are still a young lady, not fully grown yet. So I can't give you any training program or specific further advice. I can however point you to a few articles on my site which may help you further:
100 Day Marathon Plan from Marius Bakken
presents a welcome fresh training approach to marathon running that has proven to be very effective. It's the best marathon training program available today.
Marius has competed in the Olympics and has trained with world-class
athletes from Italy and Kenya. He has learnt from these runners and has made those training
methods applicable to marathon training programs for normal people like
ourselves.
This marathon plan prepares you well for a marathon by first focusing
on 5k and 10k training. Only when you are ready
Marius moves on to marathon training.
Want to get ready for a marathon within 100 days?
Then you need to give the 100 Day Marathon Plan a try.
Fat Loss 4 Idiots is based on a simple idea:
if you keep on doing what you are doing, you can not expect to be having a different outcome.
When you want to lose weight, and you find that only running is not enough, then try out Fat Loss 4 Idiots. It will provide you with a new way of thinking about food and could just be that little help you need to shed the pounds and start living the life you want.
