How much time should kids take off after track?

Published May 17, 2026

Hello,

I do my best to serve you by sending an email every Sunday that is in sync with where your team currently is.

But this week it’s harder because…

• Some states have completed their season, yet others are getting ready for state
• Some athletes are running a post-season meet
• Some kids – like those I see on Instagram at some great school in Texas – are training for XC

Perhaps most important, you've got a lot of kids who are done for the season, but who are fired up to have a great cross country season.

With that in mind, here are three resources today for each of those scenarios.

Again, I know this is a hectic time of year, so if you don’t have time right now to check out these articles and the free course, make sure to bookmark this email.

Two-Week Break After Track

You can read the article here and then you can download the PDF to send to athletes – click here.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Athletes shouldn’t start summer training until they’re genuinely bored and “chomping at the bit” to run - mental recovery is just as important as physical recovery.
• A consistent 48-week training year means athletes can afford two weeks of minimal activity between track and cross country without losing fitness.
• Week 1: race Saturday, easy run + mobility Sunday, off Monday, four days of complete rest Tuesday-Friday, then outdoor activity (hike, bike) on the weekend.
• Week 2: three short runs (20–30 minutes) with a few strides at 5k pace, plus light strength and mobility work - total time under an hour per session.
• The biggest mistake motivated athletes make is not taking enough time off - they need to arrive at summer training fired up, not carrying fatigue into December and January.

It's worth a few minutes of your time to read the full article.

The bottom line is that athletes need some days off with no running, but they also don’t want to do nothing for two weeks. This plan has the right balance.

The only thing you might need to adjust with this plan is that if an athlete isn’t fired up to train after two weeks, give them one more week that’s based on the plan above – for a total of three weeks – to make sure that they are mentally ready to have a great summer of training.

Training Between the State Meet and Post-Season Meets

Here’s one way to approach this period of time. Obviously, you’ll need to adjust this to fit your situation.

​Click here to read the article.

And if you just want to learn more about how I think about training, this article gives you some insights into my thought process.

Summer XC Essentials – A Free Course for Coaches with Training for Every Level of Athlete

If your season is over, or if you've got kids who will resume training in a few weeks, here's a resource you can sign up for today - The Summer XC Essentials. Here’s what you’ll get when you sign up:

• 5 weeks of training for every level of athlete
• Videos and PDFs with all the post-run work your kids need to be doing this summer
• Video of a warm-up your kids can do before every workout
• Videos that explain every day of training, including the workouts
• Progression of strides PDF that – if you use it – will ensure your kids won’t have lower leg injuries this summer.

The Best Coaches Do This…

They take some time away from their athletes when the track season ends!

They don’t stress over the workouts they’ll be doing in week five of summer training.

They make sure to spend time with family and friends doing things they enjoy, things that they didn’t have time for in the middle of the track season.

And they trust that taking time away from the sport for a couple of weeks will make their program better come September, not worse.

That’s it for today. If your team is still competing, good luck this weekend!

Let’s go!

Jay

PS - We had our state meet this weekend and I'm going to give a shout out to my daughter, her teammates and her coaches.

On Thursday she anchored her team's 4x800m that finished 4th. The team competed so well, and ran 9:20. She split 2:14.2.

She went out hard the first 100m to stay in contact with Calia Vaughn - daughter of Brent and Sara Vaughn, who I had the pleasure of coaching back in the day - and the girls came through 400m in 62.0.

...so yes, that was a painful 72.2 for the second 400m!

She came back on Friday and ran 2:13.3 for 7th in the open race - a PR - then capped the day off with a 58-high 4x400m split a few hours later.

I'm so proud of her and her teammates, and so grateful for the coaching staff. These kids and coaches really love each other, and as a parent I know how lucky our family is for her to be a part of this.

And all four athletes on the 4x8 are back next year!

Pre-season cross country meeting is on Thursday, but she'll follow the two week break plan above, and possibly take off a bit more time. No need to rush things in early June.