Should you do long runs in October?

Published September 28, 2025

The long run is a staple workout for cross-country runners during most of the year, providing significant fitness benefits from a weekly or bi-weekly long run.

However, as we head into October, this workout should be scaled back or even eliminated. Here's why.

When to Scale Back on Long Runs

A weekly long run, a long run every 10 days, is a fantastic way for high school runners to build their aerobic engines. And that's why for much of the year I want to see athletes do one.

Yet when an athlete only has three or four weeks left in their cross-country season the long run should not be a key workout.

“But don’t we need to stimulate the aerobic metabolism in these last few weeks?”

Absolutely!

But a long run isn’t the most effective way to do this when you consider the stresses from races and race pace workouts.

Your kids have a limited number of hard days they can complete in a week, and this work, which beats up their legs, often isn't the way to go, especially if their season ends this month.

What Can You Do Instead?

Progression Runs!

I love progression runs for three reasons.

• Athletes have fun with them.
• Athletes gain confidence when they run 20-30 minutes and feel fast at the end of the run.
• A controlled progression run advances the athlete’s fitness.

Adjusting the Duration For October

While I think older kids can handle 30-minute progression runs most months of the year, I’d consider just 20 or 25 minutes as the appropriate assignment this time of year.

The workouts both start with 10 minutes steady, then 5 minutes a bit faster, then 5 minutes fast but controlled for the 20-minute version.

For 25 minutes, simply tack on one more 5-minute segment in the middle, but again, that last segment must be controlled. The workout is 10-5-5-5 for 25 total minutes.

For both assignments, the athlete needs to be able to say: “I could have run 5 more minutes at that pace without any problem. And, if you told me I had to do 10 more minutes, I had that in me, but it would have been a race effort.”

Post-Run Work

Then you have them run easy for 3-5 minutes, before immediately going into the post-run work, to extend the aerobic stimulus. If the concept is new to you, read about it in A Comprehensive Cross Country Training Plan.

"What About Strides?"

Great question.

When I assign this workout, the athlete would have done 3 x 20-second strides at 5k pace in the first 15 minutes of the run for a bit of “engine revving.” (see full workout below)

Yet, if athletes are doing strides every other day that they run, then this is a day where they can go right into the challenging post-run work and get a longer aerobic stimulus, rather than changing into spikes and having their heart rate dip.

If you're not familiar with strides check out this article.

The Bottom Line

The long run is the cornerstone of my coaching in June, July, August, and some of September.

But in October, our focus is on racing and race pace workouts, with easy days that include strides and strength and mobility to maintain aerobic fitness and musculoskeletal strength.

When kids have just a handful of weeks left, keep the easy days easy, so they recover from races and hard workouts.

...and if kids love long runs, remind them that December will be here before they know it...

2026 Boulder Running Clinics

"I have been coming to the Boulder Running Clinic since 2019...and it has been the single greatest thing for my coaching career."- Coach Jake Hayes

Each MLK weekend high school running coaches from dozens of states meet in Boulder, Colorado for a coaching clinic unlike any other.

This year's clinic is Friday and Saturday, January 16-17 in Boulder, Colorado.

​Click here to get your tickets.

I've lined up three exceptional speakers, including Mike Scannell, the coach behind Grant Fisher's incredible professional career, yet he's also a high school coach, so his presentations will be applicable to you and your athletes.

The expertise and practical insights these presenters bring will give you tools you can implement immediately when you return to your team.

We'll almost certainly sell out of tickets this year!

We've been within a handful of tickets the last two years, and attending the Boulder Running Clinics has become an essential part of many coaches' annual professional development. The combination of world-class speakers, genuine collaboration with coaches from across the country, and workouts and insights you can use with your athletes creates an experience that coaches come back to year after year.

This year we're offering two ticket options.

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The clinic provides something you simply can't get anywhere else—a room full of high school coaches who understand exactly the challenges you face. While other clinics might feature college or professional coaches sharing strategies that don't translate to the high school level, our speakers get it. They know what it's like to work with developing athletes, manage large teams, and balance competitive goals with character development.

If you're curious what the clinic is like if you've never been there, here's what Coach Vernote had to say after his first year attending the clinic.

"This was my first Boulder Running Clinic and will definitely not be my last.

I have attended many other clinics, but this was amazing. Sometimes other clinic speakers are collegiate or professional coaches that do not have the same difficulties we experience in high school.

Coaching high school is a different set of challenges and I feel the Boulder Running Clinic is geared specifically for us. Each speaker brought a different set of experiences to share, making each presentation thought provoking and full of ideas to consider. I feel I improved as a coach just being there.

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I feel the videos are very helpful to review at a later time. Attending the clinic can feel overwhelming, but the reassurance that the content can be reviewed later is a big benefit."

I hope the season is going well for you and your athletes.

It's almost October, and all the work you and your athletes have put in needs to come to fruition. Consider doing progression runs this month to help the team race to their fitness level.

Also, consider joining us in Boulder this January to sharpen your coaching skills and position yourself for your best season ever in 2026.

Let's go!

Jay

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Progression Run Workouts

NOTE: Don't assign this work this month if you haven't done it so far this year, or done something similar, but rather study it to see how you can use it this winter in preparation for the track season.

Here’s how I assign this workout.

1. ​Dynamic Warm-up
2. 7 min of easy running, followed by 8 minutes with 3 x 20 seconds at 5k pace.
3. Then 20 minutes with 10 minutes steady, 5 minutes a bit faster, then 5 minutes faster but controlled. Run easy for 5 minutes then go directly into post-run work. Total run time is 40 minutes. (If doing a 25-minute progression run, then the total run time is 45 minutes).
4. ​Post-run work is “Hard” day. Use color progression or do the SAM phase.

One thing to remember with this is that if there is no break between the dynamic warm-up and the running, and no break between the running portion and the post-run work.

The total time moving is:

13 minutes – Dynamic warm-up

40 minutes – Running portion

20 minutes – Post-run work

With just a 20-minute progression run the total time moving is 73 minutes.

Finally, if an athlete can handle a 25-minute progression run, then they are likely doing 25 minutes of post-run work on their Hard post-run day. Thus, they get in 83 minutes.

“We measure stress, not mileage.” - John O’Malley at the 2018 Boulder Running Clinics. I encourage you to think along those same lines, and view the workout above as a significant workout, even though the amount of running is modest.