Ivy Cross Country

riverrunner
Thu, 26 May 2011 23:30:40 +0000

College track/XC coaches aren’t interested in marathon times and the training a marathon would require of you to be able to run one this summer would not be the kind of training you should be doing for XC. You should be doing 30 or so miles per week this summer for XC, while a solid marathon training plan would have you hitting 50 per week, then a taper, then the marathon, followed by a few weeks of recovery. This would put a big damper on the start of your XC fall season.

If you want to be part of fall recruiting with Cornell as your target, you would need to improve your track times for some summer meets, and/or run fast in the early part of the fall XC season. Here are some summer track meet possibilities.

[USATF - Youth - Programs - Junior Olympics](Youth | USA Track & Field)

[Golden West Invitational](http://www.goldenwestinvitational.org/)

To be bluntly honest, your times so far are very far off the mark for Cornell. I completely believe someone who runs a 21:30 could run a sub-19 a year later with really good training, and some natural running talent. Make every effort to hit that goal, but know that this will very likely NOT be your ticket in to Cornell. It’s everything else you’ve been doing that will get you there.