Cross Country FAQ

You got questions here are a few that are common to parents and people new to the sport.

Welcome to Cross Country. Your son or daughter has joined the Belle Plaine Cross Country team. Cross Country is a fall sport that involves running on a wide variety of terrains such as wooded trails, across fields, on golf courses, up hills & down hills. Races can also be run in the rain and even snow.

Why cross country?

Cross Country provides the opportunity for individual and team accomplishments. Many students join the program for different reasons. Some are here because they have had siblings that ran. Some use it as a way to stay in shape for other sports. Some join because their friends are involved. However they choose to get involved, we welcome all who wish to work hard and improve.

Being a part of such a sport, a student can become more qualified in terms of college acceptance.

In Belle Plaine we take great pride in our running program, however we remind our athletes that they are students first and grades come before sports. For the past number of years our guys and girls teams have been among the top in the state.

Before the Seasons Begins

We try to provide a good training program for our runners throughout the year. Running is a year round sport in order to excel. There will be times during the year when the athlete will need to workout on his or her own. Summer training is critical to cross country athletes so that they may be prepared for the first meet of the season which for Belle Plaine XC is 2 weeks from when practice starts and about one week before school starts.

Parents often ask, is there anything they can do to help? What can we expect? How can we help prepare our child for training, competition, and the everyday challenges that come with cross country?

To begin, every athlete must have a current physical on file at the activities department before they can begin practicing with the team. A physical is required every 3 years. The rule of thumb for participating in sports activities in Belle Plaine is that if you are entering the 7th or 10th grade you probably need a new physical on file. If it is your first time competing please make sure you have had a physical in the last 3 years and that it is on file in the activities department.

After getting a physical athletes need to feel out the appropriate forms and pay an activity fee. The forms required are MSHSL Eligibility and BPHS Eligibility. Both the athletes and parents or guardians signature are required after forms are completely filled out. Finally an activity fee based on family income is required. The required forms and activity fee guidelines are available for download:

Do not change their normal daily routine. Everything should remain the same in terms of their responsibilities, eating appropriately, getting enough sleep, and social habits.

Be aware that a common result of training (especially early on) is muscle soreness. For beginner runners this muscle soreness may last as long as a couple weeks when they first start their training. Let the coaching staff know about any unusually soreness or health issues that may affect training so adjustments can be made to his or her workout to get a faster recovery. As with any other sport, there is the risk of a sports related injury. All concerns should be directed to the coach and/or your child’s physician.

A well balanced diet is going to help any athlete performance. If you want to make dietary changes it should be gradual and you may want to consult a Nutrition expert. On competition days such items as high fat, fried foods, sodas, and highly acidic drinks should be avoided. Distance runners should be drinking about 8 glasses of water during each day and even more on hot and humid days. Not only is water consumption important for hydration, but consuming fluids with electrolytes. A ratio of 3:1 of water to an electrolyte like Gatorade twice a day is suggested on a daily basis during training and competing. It is recommend eating a diet that is high in carbohydrates, which is excellent fuel for a cross country runner. We understand that everybody’s dietary needs are different, but it is usually better to go into a race on the hungry side than to over eat which can cause cramping or feeling of being nausea.

Commitment & Communication

This is a sport which requires a lot of time and dedication to excel. Along with our weekly school meets we also attend some Invitational’s that take place on Saturday. A list of these Invitational meets will be handed out at the beginning of the season. On occasion because of the distance to the Invitational overnight stay will be required for the runner. We do some fundraising to help with the hotel costs and some meal costs, but the runner is responsible for most of their meals. So as you can see with our daily workouts, meets, and invitationals this makes for some very busy student-athletes and coach. Therefore, “commitment and communication” are very important to abide by.

Commitment – We are aware that sometimes unforeseen events come up and a runner will need to miss practice and/or an Invitational competition. We ask if at all possible please give as much advance notice to the coach.

Communication — We expect all team members to communicate with their fellow teammates and their coach(es). If something comes up, we expect the athlete to speak with a coach directly and not go through a friend to relay the message. This is especially important in regards to practice times. Athletes are considered unexcused when they miss a practice unless they have contacted a coach ahead of time. In the event the athlete is sick, a contact needs to be made prior to practice time. At the beginning of the season an email contact list is put together and distributed among the team. This enables the coach to send out email information concerning the team and parents to communicate with each other.

Equipment needed for running

Shoes - We recommend going to a store that deals primarily with running equipment or that has an experienced runner as their salesperson. Things you should you pay attention to when buying a new pair of shoes:

1. It helps to buy a good shoe. The shoe should feel good on your feet. It is not necessary for you to get the most expensive one to run. As for cheap shoes, there is a reason their cheap. They can cause more problems than it is worth. Your feet take the most abuse in running so remember the old saying “you get what you pay for”.

2. You treat you running shoes the same as you do when buying regular shoes. Make sure you have some room at the tip of your shoe. In the shoe fitting world it is recommended to leave a space the width of your thumb between the top of your toe to the end of the shoe. This allows some room for growth and helps with any foot swelling from a hard run.

3. Always designate a pair for your training and another for racing. These shoes should be keep separate from ones used for other activities. With all the running you can go through a pair very quickly. I strongly recommend a new pair of running shoes at the beginning of every new season. Your racing shoes will last a little longer, so those will probably only need to be replaced when outgrown.

Clothing - Uniforms are checked out to each athlete at the beginning of the season to use during school meets and Saturday Invitational’s. For practice a t-shirt and running shorts are fine. Clean, dry socks are important for prevention of blisters, fungus, and other foot ailments that can occur. Uniforms are to be turned in at the end of the cross country season. Should the jersey or shorts be lost during the season the runner is responsible for the replacement cost of the item. The coach will advise you of the cost.

Team Gear - Also each year a Team Gear are designed for runners to purchase. Each year we try and purchase gear that the runners may wear over their uniform before races. The gear is a great team bond, but is not required for purchase.

Watches - Although not necessary, watches are good for runners to be able to see how they are pacing themselves either during practice or during a meet.

Training

Summer Training:You need to remember that what you do in the Summer will determine what kind of cross country season that you have in the fall. Experienced runners should be running 5-6 days per week, while new team members should shoot for 3-4 days per week during the summer. This is what I call easy conversational running, you do not have to worry about trying to run “fast”. We are just trying to get a base of running over the summer. I would rather you run for time than try to get in a certain number of miles. 30-50 min is a good reference point for most of your summer running. This is vital if you want to improve and you are not content with what you have achieved in the past! It is simple…summer running is one of the most important factors with regards to having a successful cross country season. To track your training using RunningAhead or the Google survey, this is a great way to keep a record of your efforts.

Summer Captains Practice are set up by the would be captains

Mandatory Practice can be found on the Calendar

Saturday Practice

Every Saturday that we don't have a meet during the season we ask that the high school runners do some running as a group or on their own. Junior High runners may run but ask the coach first.

Training Tip: While doing strength and core strength work, you should pay attention to making sure you are getting enough iron, potassium, and protein in your diet since these get depleted more quickly with this type of strength building. Drink plenty of fluids!

Race Day

(Notes on Nutrition)

Pre Meet Preparation — The coach will give instructions for the athletes. What parents can do before school meets is check with your child to see where the best place to watch may be or ask returning parents from prior year. Again, check with returning runners or parents to find out the best places to watch or take pictures from.

During invitational’s there are many races that will occur during the course of the meet. Most Saturday meets last about half a day to mid afternoon. It is important to find out what time your child is racing so you won’t miss the start of the race.

Once the coach has checked in the team a race number, number bid, and/or race chip for racing shoe will be distributed to each assigned runner. Usually before the races begin the team is allowed to walk the course to familiarize themselves with it. About an 45 minutes before the assigned race the participating team will warm up by jogging around the grounds and stretching. At the starting line the coach may give some last minute instructions. As soon as the team starts warming up it is important that parents and family go to cheer allowing the runner and coach to prepare for the race.

The Race – Unlike other sports, spectators do not stay in one place to watch the race. They usually move from point to point on the course and cheer on the team. Check with returning runners or parents to get an idea of the best place to watch your child’s race from. A quick note of caution: it is against the rules to run alongside a runner and pace them. You can also not give them any water while they are running the race. These will get your child disqualified.

End of Race — As a runner passes the finish line they go into a chute where they are line up according to the way they finished. The runner reports their race number or turns in their race tag to the people that are collecting it. It is the runners responsibility to make sure the tag is collected. After a race we have the runner hang out at finish to cheer on their teammates who are still finishing. The coaches will have a quick meeting with runners. When a race is completed the runners will warm down as a group and then go on to cheer their other teammates as they race.

Important Notes – It is common after a race is over to see runners weak in the knees, stumbling in a fainting like manner, overall weakness, glossy eyes, and nausea. These symptoms generally pass quickly. After a race is over it is a good thing for them to drink water or Gatorade. This replaces the lost fluids and the electrolytes that typically are lost during a race of this magnitude. It is not recommended to give them juice or soda for at least 15 minutes afterward completing a race because it sometimes can cause them nausea.

Lastly, during away school meets the coach is responsible for your child. So after the meet, please do not take your child without having talked with the coach and signing them out. MSHSL does not allow your child to ride home with anyone else unless you are present to check them out. At this point they become your responsibility again. Coaches will not allow a runner to ride home with someone else other than immediate family unless you are physically present to give permission. A note in this situation will not suffice. If other circumstances arise then arrangements need to be approved through our activities department.

Scoring & Awards

The object is to get as few points as possible. The lowest possible score in Cross Country is fifteen. In the race, the first place finisher is scored as 1 point, second place is 2 points, and so on and so forth. Scores are added from the top five finishers of each team even though teams have seven running in varsity and an unlimited number in other divisions. So if you have a large gathering of athletes where there are 150 runners or more, it’s not uncommon to see team scores well over 100 points.

Example 1:

Teal Team placed 1 2 7 9 10 11 13 (team score = 1+2+7+9+10=29)

White Team placed 3 4 5 6 8 12 16 (team score = 3+4+5+6+8 =26)

Team White wins 26-29

Example 2:

Black Team 1 4 5 7 11 12 13 (team score = 1+4+5+7+11 = 28)

Gray Team 2 3 6 8 9 10 14 (team score = 2+3+6+8+9 = 28)

When there is a tie in cross country you go the the 6th place runner. The team who has the best 6th place finish wins. So in the above example the winner would be the Gray Team because their 6th runner place 10th where as the Black Team's 6th runner finished 12th.

Awards — Medals and trophies are given out at a lot of our races. For most meets the awards conclude the finish of a race, but in some meets awards could be handed out at the finish line. In some meets the varsity runners of the winning team receives either a medal, trophy or plaque. Individual medals will be given out up to a predetermine placement such as the top 15 or 25. Each meet will list their specifications for giving out Awards.