MORE INFORMATION TO COME…

We are pleased to introduce our newest Athletic program: Saints Cross Country! Thanks to the wonderful Mrs. Amy Kwilinski for coaching our Saints cross country team!

Please find the game schedule here. All communications will go through JupiterEd.

Coach Kwilinski has put together a rigorous pre-training program. Please see below for a schedule, directions for each exercise, and a few important notes from our head coach.

O when the Saints go running In…

Welcome to the inaugural Chesterton Cross Country season!  We hope to grow a program of stoicism, virtue and hard work!  Below I have listed a suggested weekly training for summer. I look forward to developing your running stamina this fall when we gather.  You are joining the ranks with many ancient traditional people, from the classical Olympics to the Tarahumara Indians.  Running is a pure sport— you and your body, pushing to do your best!

To begin, you need the following: running shoes, water, and willingness to work.  Regarding shoes— there are many theories out there: minimalist, maximalist, and I’ve lived through so many of these phases.  Essentially, wear what feels comfortable.  High schools students rarely need stability shoes unless they have a bigger frame, but I suggest you do not order online because trying them on is essential in determining comfort.  Once you know, you can always continue to order that type online.  Go to Dick Pond in Lisle or the Naperville Running Company, try some on, run a little on their treadmill, etc. 

A watch with GPS is nice, but if you just have a watch which acts to record your time on a stopwatch, that’s enough.  Or, you can carry a phone with mapmyrun app to keep track. 

Pre-Training Program 

Stretching Beforehand: DON’T!  Warm up easy, and run.  Static stretching is a thing of the past.  Older people may tell you that they always stretched… ignore them.  We will do a combination of strength and functional movement stretching and drills together as a team which you can use on your own after that to increase your agility and strength.  But static stretching can tear muscle fibers, a half hour afterwards.  Chocolate milk is a really fun hot weather post-run drink which offers some protein and not just carbs.

Easy means easy.  If it means walking 30 seconds a couple of times, that’s fine.  I’m assuming most are starting from zero and building their base this summer, so it will take a few weeks to be comfortable. 

 Tempo Runs: trails or woods if possible.  Begin easy, after warming up 10 min go faster for 5 or 10, then hold that another 5 to 10, slow down (when the run is 5 minutes to finish time) and finish with easy jog. 

 Intervals on Tuesday:  faster repeats on track or on your block if you don’t have a track nearby, after WARMING UP for 10 minutes easy.  For 400s jog 400 between each one, for  600s just jog 200 back to the top so it’s even and begin again.  3 minutes walk between 1000s which means the repeat is the important part.  The KEY is to attempt to run them evenly, so keep track in your mind at least of the pace and see if you can do that each time or a bit faster.  If you can’t go the same pace, you know for next time how to pace yourself a bit better!  They are not supposed to be LOTS faster than you’d run a 2 mile race.  They are just race pace, a bit faster than race pace.  For now, you will see that this doesn’t feel like you’d expect to run a short interval, but when they add up, you’ll see how they can tire you out.  Don’t try to do them as if you are racing an actual individual 400, 600 or 100 meter race itself, by itself.

 Fartlek: playing with speed.  Don’t pay ANY attention to the distance you’ve gone (you can look at the end).  Pick a tree or a hill.  Jog a bit to warm up, then pick your mark and speed up like you’d pass someone on a race, then taper down to a relaxed easy run.  This helps you practice surging.  The distances can be short, long, whatever you feel like.  Change pace several times to enjoy this day.

Long Runs:  Building your base.  Don’t stress over the time or distance, but do try to get it done.  Keep the pace such that you could chat with a friend comfortably during the run.  If you have to walk at the end, you likely went too fast, so keep in mind for the following week.

Rest: either no run or an easy run, or something else to relax such as a walk, bike, etc.

If you begin later than mid July, no problem, simply begin with Week 1 and proceed!  Don’t jump ahead quickly in mileage, or you risk injury.  Follow an incremental and slow increase.  We will all see a great increase in endurance as the weeks pass.

This is not easy to do alone… however, this is the challenge and adventure of running.  Do not let the perfect be an enemy of the good— if you miss a day, either switch around with a rest day or continue on.  (If you miss several days, bump down to the previous week levels so as to prevent injury from increase in mileage too fast)!  I caution you, though, that things will be much harder in fall if you miss very many days, so be diligent!  If you’ve already been running, feel free to bump up to a week further along.

High school XC teams typically have to spend a lot of time developing diligence on their own.  The true grit is determined by your willingness to get up and out the door while the weather is still cool, or to make yourself get out there in the evening and make sure to hydrate.  Ask a friend to run.  Or ask a parent to ride their bike or drop you at a nice trail.  Use a GPS watch, or a stopwatch and then the app mapmyrun or a similar program to determine mileage.  Keep track for your own benefit, but be sure to record the 5k times which I asked for, thank you! Again, this can be done anywhere and you can use a phone or watch to record distance. Best of luck to all runners!