I am a junior. I have been working on the CFA because I am going to USNA Seminar in June. I am having a hard time with endurance because I worry I am not going to get a good time so I run faster, but then lose energy. Any good tips for endurance? I did a lap w a 1:50 time and was huffing and puffing. If you're talking like a 9-10 minute mile I could do it no problem.
Please help!
XC runner here. I'm not sure what the max score for girls is as far as a mile, but if you run 1:50 a lap that should be pretty good. However, this'll feel pretty hard considering you've already done all the other exercises. Interval training will help, upping the mileage per week will help, stretching, drinking water, training, everything really.
As a general rule, or at least, what we do is 3-5 miles per day. You can allocate these miles differently for each run. For example, say you're doing a speed workout and you're only really running a mile or two as your actual run. Up the warmup and cool down time to maybe 10-13 minutes each. If you're doing a 4 mile distance run, 800 for a warmup suffices (I wouldn't do less than an 800 though, or else you wont stretch out enough).
DO NOT forget to stretch and hydrate, this is really important for running fast. It'll make you feel a lot better. The placebo effect is real, too. So if you have some kind of lucky socks or something, definitely wear them.
As far as the psychology of the run, think of it this way. Your first and last laps will be the fastest laps by default; mentally you're already pushing yourself to go faster. The second lap is where you fall into a groove. Now, the third lap will be the hardest one. You have to mentally tell yourself to bust that lap, because while you may feel like you're going the same speed, you're actually slowing down. So mentally you have to go faster to keep up your speed. Basically, don't worry too much about your first and last laps, as these ones'll be the ones youre already going to bust out fast because they seem the most important. The second lap isn't too much of a problem either cuz you still have gas and youre kinda falling into a groove. It's the third one that's important to push on.
The above posters already gave advice as to workouts and runs to do, so I just gave some input as far as race attitude and such. Good luck!