Preseason Training Blog: Jamestown's Meghan Ford


Jamestown (ND) High School junior Meghan Ford is ready for a massive year in cross country. North Dakota's defending Class A champion in cross country, she scored two outdoor state championships in the 1,600 meter (4:55.24) and 3,200 meter runs (10:38.12) this past spring and was on the cusp of qualifying for Foot Locker Nationals and Nike Cross Nationals in 2018. With her season debut looming close in a few weeks, Ford is focused on training with purpose. Check out what her workouts have been like recently.

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Week 1 - Week 2 - Week 3 - Week 4

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Week 2 (August 12th - August 18th)


Monday, August 12th- Two-mile time trial

Today was the first day of cross country! Every year on the first day we run a two-mile time trial on the track to see where we're at and to set a basis for goal times for our workouts until our first meet. We did warm-up drills like we do every day before practice, then ran a mile warm-up to the track, ran the time trial, and then ran a mile cool-down back to the high school.

It rained the entire practice, which wasn't fantastic. I didn't feel that I did as well today, but it's just a time trial and just the beginning of the season so I didn't worry about it too much. After practice, I stretched and did some core work. 

Tuesday, August 13th- Lifting + 5 miles

At practice, we lifted at the high school and then I went for an easy 5-mile run. Afterwards, I rolled out and stretched.

Wednesday, August 14th- Hilly interval workout + easy run (5 miles)

In the morning, we did some intervals around the reservoir and through the trails. There were more than enough hills (!!) to run. Overall, I thought it was a fun but challenging practice. We didn't time each interval, and instead ran based more on effort. Our distance by the end of practice was around 3 miles. Later in the afternoon I went for a short and easy 2 mile run from my house at 7:20 pace and then did some yoga.

Thursday, August 15th- 10 miles and lifting

This morning we went out to Pipestem Dam, which is a place that has a ton of trails to run on--and with really pretty scenery. We ran 7 miles at 7:10 pace. Of course, it started raining immediately after we started, so by the end the trail was so muddy. At night, we had lifting and went an easy 3 miles from the high school. 

Saturday, August 17th- Inter squad race (6 miles total)

At the end of the first week of practice, we ran a little 3 mile practice "race" to go over our pre-race procedures. We did a 2-mile warm-up at 8-minute pace and did our warm-up drills. In past years, I changed into spikes for this race, but I decided to wait until our first official cross country meet to wear them. I improved my time from last year by 22 seconds, so I thought it went well. On our cool down, we went a mile and a half at 8 minute pace and then rolled out and stretched.

Sunday, August 18th- 8 miles

I usually do my long runs on Sundays, but I didn't go quite as far this Sunday. One of my goals this season is to actually run my easy runs and long runs slower, so today I ditched my watch and ran based on effort. I ran a hilly 3-mile trail loop at Pipestem to keep track of my distance. Not keeping track of time really helped me listen to my body instead of my watch, so I'm definitely going to try this again. After the run I stretched and did some core work.

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Weekly Total: 42.5 miles



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