The XCTS added an element of "armor" to our team. While all of the post-run work took additional time and our average practice time increased, the athletes were more engaged and we had no injuries (except for what a couple boys got on their summer vacations and lasted into our xc season). 

Every single one of our athletes ran PRs, our top boy won at region and ran his race fast, faster, fastest just like we practiced. 

The XCTS helped the teams build confidence in their abilities as well as speed, strength and mobility. 

I coach at a smaller school and at first I felt the cost for the XCTS was higher than we could afford. Our budget is small and we fundraise for most of what we spend on our program. I have always believed the money was best spent directly on the kids. 

If you're a new coach this could save you hundreds of hours of stressing over whether you're implementing the right program for your runners. 

If you're experienced, you can see the value in having a professional coach who has spent years coaching coaches and runners and organizing the Boulder clinics putting together a program specifically for multiple levels of high school athletes and you can integrate the best of what you do into this program to make your practices the best possible. 

 

The program is well laid-out with easy to follow printable schedules. Once I learned the program, it was easy to implement some of our favorite routes/games/activities into the scheduled runs so we could make the best of XCTS and the 10 years experience of coaching. (HINT: invest in late spring/early summer!! You'll want the time to watch all the videos and begin learning and implementing the new routines.) We trained our captains on how to do the post-run work and gave them the handouts with QR codes provided in the XCTS and had them lead the new routines and demonstrate how to do the exercises that were new to the team. 

 

If you're on the fence, just do it! Don't wait until summer's mostly over, start your summer training off right away and build those runners you have into their best selves. Use the "down time" you have during summer training to teach new routines and think how this program can integrate into the best of what you already do as a coach. This program can stand as it is, you don't need anything additional, but if you've got team favorite practices there's room in the program for you to adapt them to fit. 

XCTS is a winning program for coaches who want the best for their athletes.