Once kids are in high school, it’s OK for them to become more serious about competition. By this age, they’ll be able to understand what training is and how sometimes you have to suffer in the present to have a better future. Racing might still be frustrating (it is for everyone at some point), but if they’ve freely chosen to compete, then a few bad experiences probably won’t sour them on running for the rest of their lives. Also, by this age, their bodies can handle the training better. Training for even the longest distances usually offered in high school (5K for cross-country, two miles for track) involves a lot of short, fast speed work, usually on the track. By high school age, more runners are going to be able to do this type of training without breaking down. Most children who race the mile or two-mile in outdoor track are going to top out at about 30 miles a week. Anything more than that, and I’d get a little wary. Certainly, some teens can handle more running than that, especially if they started when they were younger. But even in high school, I think it’s worth erring on the side of caution.
Some coaches are going to encourage members of the team to run more. It’s not unheard of for cross-country team members to run 70 or so miles a week. Whether that’s a good idea is going to be a judgment call. If a high school runner is doing that kind of mileage and understands why, then it can be OK, so long as the runners on the team are progressing and enjoying themselves. But if most members of the team aren’t progressing, then the coach is trying to use methods that might work with older, more developed runners on younger ones who aren’t ready yet for that high of a level of training. Because most high school runners are new to the sport, they should see steady progress in bringing their times down. If they’ve plateaued, it usually means that they’re doing too much.
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