Cross Country  Training for marathons

Planning to run a spring marathon?

Getting some cross country in your legs will have you in shape for 26.2 miles.

Likewise it will also give you the strength to put in quality middle distance training for racing in the Spring and Summer.

Taking on a spring marathon or half marathon will be at the top of many runners’ lists,  and many have already begun basic preparations for that goal next Spring.

Race day may still be some months off but there really is no time like the present when it comes to getting in shape for a successful run over 26.2 miles.

For long-term marathon preparation it is best getting off road for as much as possible and this will include regular cross country training and racing.

Cross country is the backbone of endurance running, it gives you the strength in the legs, it gives you the drive that you need and it’s all very much the kind of running that you need to be a marathon runner.

Cross country is the backbone of endurance running

Most decent good class marathon runners, will have come from a good running background which included  cross-country training and racing.

Very few distance runners I know that went on to be top class runners and champions, didn’t come from doing the mud running starting from a young age.

Our best marathoners from earlier years, Radcliffe, McColgan, Yamauchi, Yelling, RonHill, Martin, Thompson, Simmons, Adcocks etc and  a stack of other 2h10m or under men, all raced and trained on the country. Not many GB 2h10 marathoners around now ?

“It uses all the muscles in your feet and your legs – everything that you need to use, it strengthens. That’s why it’s important to do cross country – especially for endurance runners.”

Most of the time It isn’t necessary to purposely train for the season, just get out off-road regularly and may be run some key event specific sessions in a park or golf course, leading up to your main goal cross country races. That’s largely because staying off the road should be at the heart of your training all year around.

Regular off road training

Cross country should always be what endurance running is all about for you, It makes you a proper runner, training on golf courses, parks, river trails, country footpaths, hills and fells.

Key Hill and long tempo rep sessions in which to practice the skills in the parks and golf courses.

“I was always up and down on any grass that was available to me, even running to and from work, long grass islands between roads, shortcuts across parks, water parks, rivers & brook paths, cemeteries etc

“You’ve got to be careful of the impact and stresses that road marathon training will have on your legs and people forget that there are a loads of green areas all over Britain and your local area, where you could really benefit from doing fartleks, hill running and barefoot running. 

Which I did a lot of, and I used to do grass reps at Crossford Bridge barefoot, I even won a Cheshire clubs cross country Championships at under 13, in Woodbank park when my new ripple shoes kept getting stuck and slipping off,  so I finished barefoot and won by 20 seconds.

After a Sunday 20 mile steady run on the Mersey banks, Bill Fox and I would drink water, do a few basic stretches, then run 5 strides barefoot on the grass.

Cross country has always been what endurance running is to me.   This includes trail running in the hills too.

There are so many elements that you can do other than just getting on a road or treadmill and running for two hours, because that’s not what marathon running is.

When you do a marathon, you’re running anything from about two-hours plus, to four hours or so, and you’ve got to prepare your body for that muscle trauma laiden ordeal.

I used to run 3 hours plus in the hills of Lyme Park and  the Gritstone Trail or the Bollin Valley, country parks and farm paths near the airport, Styal woods, Mobberley, Ashley, Sunbank Hale Barnes, Dunham Park and farm trails, Carrington Moss and Mersey Valley. muddy canal  and trails to Lymm etc

Cross country enables you to do that – with a bit of a safety element involved too because it is on a softer surface, it is challenging but it really does develop good strength and the stabilising muscles which help marathon running.

Strength, mobility and injury prevention

When you sit down to do your planning and say ‘what exercises do I need to do in a to replicate that?’ then the experts would tell you ‘you need to do squats, you need to do lunges…’ well why don’t you just go run up a hill instead?

Cross country conditions are different from year to year and season to season, mud, puddles, snow etc, so there’s always something that challenges the body and I always think that, “no matter who you are, you always have some sort of weakness that you have got to try and strengthen”.

Anyone that takes up running, seriously and wants to improve their racing ability and bring down times,  should strengthen their structure before they can progress fully to reach your potential.

If you don’t do any strengthening work, eliminate any of your imbalances, you’ll just get injured and you just won’t last long at the level you want.

So, for me, cross country ticks that box as well.”

Dave Rodgers 2017