EHMS Cross Country
What Is Cross Country?
Cross Country is a distance running sport on natural terrain that can be ran individually or as a team. In cross country at the middle school level two teams will meet at one of the teams' courses. There are a few exceptions where more than two teams will meet such as Panther Fest and the League Meet at the end of the season.
How Is Cross Country Scored?
In Cross Country the Boys and Girls run separately. Cross country is scored by adding up the places of the first five runners on a team. Then both the boys and girls score is added. The team with the lowest score wins.
When Does The Season Start And End?
The Cross Country session starts in the beginning of the school year and usually ends sometime late October. During that time period the first two or three weeks will be just practicing. Then after that races will start with one or two races a week until the season ends.
Summer Training
Summer training can begin whenever you like but it's recommended that you start in the beginning of August. You should always stretch before a run to lower your chances of an injury or straining a muscle. When you first start out running you should push yourself to see how far you can run. Then you should try to maintain that distance throughout the first week of training before you start running farther. If you keep adding on to how far you run everyday you should be able to run a little over two miles a day without stopping by the time school starts.
Injury Prevention
The simplest way to prevent injury during the season and while training in the summer is to take it slow and not push yourself to much. If you do feel sour after a run then you can take the next day off. When the cross country session starts many people will start to run farther and at a more strenuous pace than they were training for in the summer. When this happens often times it will result in injures in order to prevent this you have to make sure you stretch well and have a decent running form. Some other ways to prevent injury is to make sure your wearing proper foot wear that covers your foot or even buying shoes specifically for running.
Benefits of Cross Country
Participating in Cross Country has many benefits such as improving your mood, mental acuity, strengthening all major muscle groups, improving balance and coordination, decreasing stress level along with increasing self esteem.
Some Suggestions
Before you run you should make sure that you haven't eaten anything an hour prior and that you are hydrated. If you do eat before you run or you are dehydrated you can get a cramp while running. When training during the summer it's also important to develop a habit of running at the same time everyday preferably the morning because it coolest then.
Places In Town You Can Run
-Airline Trail
-High School Track
-Main Entrance of Sears Park to Stop and Shop Entrance (½ Mile)
-Start of Tarragon Dr To End (⅞ Mile)
-Sherry Dr To End of N Maple Street (½ Mile)
-Start Of Summit St To End (¾ Mile)
-Start Of Walnut St To End (⅝ Mile)
- Start to End Of Comstock Trail (1 ¾ Mile)