Beginners....

 Beginners to the program

Dakota Ridge Cross Country and Track

As you begin in the sport of running at Dakota Ridge it is important to remember a few principles…

First and foremost this should be fun…if you start not having fun and end up miserable, please communicate that and come discuss with one of the coaches.

Always be smart with your efforts…it’s better to just follow the schedule and get things going and build up gradual until you can do more work.

Ideally you will stay injury free, but should you have an ache or pain please follow the “Injury Protocol” outlined in the document “Injury Protocol”.

We recommend a good pair of shoes to start

While it will be tempting to do more than what’s on the schedule below and jump in with folks who have already been running and training, PLEASE avoid overdoing it. Again, just follow the schedule and do what we have laid out in this schedule for you.

Weeks 1-3  

Based on where you are coming from we will get you going with a level of running that will meet your needs. For example…if you are a soccer player and are trying Track or Cross Country, we will be able to get you running a little more to start then someone who is coming out for the team that has never run or played a sport before.

For non-distance events we will get you going with technique and basic beginner workouts.

For distance and Cross Country In general the first three weeks we will get you running about 10-20 minutes 3-4 times a week and you will need to learn how to do strides and the Core routine that we have outlined for the team.

Weeks 4-6

We will start give you a little more running and working out to do during the next three week stretch and if we are in the season we will have you compete.

Distance athletes you can expect to start to push your longest run to about 30 minutes and if not competing yet you will do a workout or two.

You can expect to run a lot of simple easy runs/workouts to get you started in your running/track career. The most important thing is to stay in communication with the coaches on how your feeling.   


Here is an outline of what you can do to get started...

Weeks 1-3

Get three to four runs in between 15 and 20 minutes. Try to space them out. Go every other day.

Focus should be on getting out and performing the run and all that comes with it.

If you need to walk and run, try to run 4 minutes, then walk 1 minute and repeat this for the allotted time you intend to run.

What comes with it?

• Proper warm up, before run, muscle activation, leg swings, etc.
• Hydration before and after run. Have a water bottle for yourself, do not share it with others. 
• Following run, Core and Form work is very important
• Foam Roller work and some static stretching. 

Weeks 4-7

At this point you can begin to shake things up a bit, adding a fifth run and or a longer run and or workout all depending on your progression during the first few weeks. A typical week for these weeks should look like this...

Monday...easy 15 minutes

Tuesday...20-25 minutes of running, if during season may be a light workout involved. 

Wednesday...OFF

Thursday...15-20 minute run

Friday...30-35 minutes or 5k race if during season. 

Saturday...a 15-20 minute run if feeling good, OFF if your feeling crummy. 

Sunday...OFF

As always include the proper warm ups and post run activities (core, form, foam roller, etc)