In a sport built on progression, Lily Alder is playing the long game.
If you watched high school national meets this year, you saw Lily Alder. You might've seen her in the lead pack at the Woodbridge Invite a year ago, or close out a mile title at Nike Outdoor Nationals. What you didn't see was what built those moments, and why she's nowhere near finished.
Alder trains in Utah, where altitude and excellence meet. It's the same environment that produces Olympians and national champions, and her former teammate Jane Hedengren, who just authored one of the greatest seasons in high school history.
She already trains where the pros train. She already races like one. And with a mindset built on effort, Lily Alder isn't chasing the next big thing.
She's becoming it.
Learning From the Best
Training with Jane Hedengren has also shaped Lily's mindset. While Jane was setting national records in the mile, two mile, and 5K, Lily was paying attention to the process.
"She was just my teammate. Like, that's just Jane. I didn't even internalize it," Lily says. "But watching her break it down in the process of where she'd said she was gonna do it, and then she'd actually do it... I felt like I could just kind of do the same thing."
Lily has adopted that same attitude for her senior year.
Building With Intention
This summer, Lily has been methodically building her base. With her track season ending in mid-June, some runners had already taken a post-season break and started summer training. Rather than try to play catch up, Lily has stayed patient, let her body recover, and started building on her terms.
"We started off with a base, just slowly adding more mileage because I wasn't super high during the track season," she says. "And then slowly we started adding in one workout, and then two, and now I'm up to about three a week."
That measured progression has capped her mileage at below 50 per week. This is by design to ensure that she can still stack quality workouts for months at a time without burning out.
She's also added more terrain work into her routine, embracing every aspect of cross-country. "Right now we're really trying to get used to running on grass. So, we're doing a lot of grass loops and hills, just to get used to terrain."
Even with more aerobic development in her week, Lily still maintains her speed identity. "I'm still very much a speed-based runner, so I'm making sure that I'm adding some speed at the end, whether that's 200s or just quick strides."
Training to Peak Later
With her season finale still over 3 months away, Lily's sustainable method of training is a necessity. Part of that sustainability is limiting her competitions. While it may go against the grain of a typical high school season, it is key to letting her peak at the end of the season.
"We're really trying to focus on the national meets," she says. "So my coach is having me race pretty sparingly. I think I only have about three more in Utah and two more just over in different states. Just trying to save my legs and my effort to go towards December instead of right now."
That shift has required a change in mindset. Where she once felt pressure to chase new PRs each week, she's now learning to stay patient through training blocks.
"This year, my coach has really made me stop and do quality stuff over a ton of work. There's progression throughout the season instead of peaking really hard in the beginning," she says. "Last year I found it really hard to be patient. I just wanted to run my fastest and PR again and again. This year my coach has really pulled me back."
The limited race schedule still includes a few local meets where she can run freely. "Those meets are so fun because I can just truly let loose," she says. "And then, obviously, with the bigger caliber ones you have to be a little more precise and it's more calculated when we taper into them. But I don't think I would change it."
A Path of Her Own
Despite her wins, Lily still feels like there's more work to be done.
"I'd love to be a pro runner," she says. "But just remaining healthy is honestly the most important thing."
Her goals are time-based, not medal-based. And that's what makes her dangerous. She expects to win, just like anyone who is a part of a successful program. Beyond that, she wants the time to show she did her absolute best on raceday.
"I don't really have definite goals," she says. "I just hope to finish off my senior year with as many PRs as I can get, and then a good outlook to college."
In a sport built on progression, Lily Alder is playing the long game.
If you watched high school national meets this year, you saw Lily Alder. You might've seen her in the lead pack at the Woodbridge Invite a year ago, or close out a mile title at Nike Outdoor Nationals. What you didn't see was what built those moments, and why she's nowhere near finished.
Alder trains in Utah, where altitude and excellence meet. It's the same environment that produces Olympians and national champions, and her former teammate Jane Hedengren, who just authored one of the greatest seasons in high school history.
