Although the high school cross country season won’t begin until August, training began in the spring.
That’s why the boys and girls teams at Deerfield and Highland Park are already logging plenty of miles on local streets, parks and trails. The Giants and Warriors have been on the move almost every day of summer vacation so far, and their offseason group training will continue all summer long.
“Your success for the season is defined by what you do in the summer,” Highland Park boys cross country coach Steve Buti said. “The team culture starts in the summer.”
The Giants and Warriors plan to run up to 60 miles per week, which could mean as many as 500 miles for the summer. Jose Reyes, a Highland Park senior-to-be and the defending Central Suburban North champion, said the summer workouts are also instrumental for team bonding.
At both Deerfield and Highland Park, the boys and girls teams meet with their coaches four days a week. Jeff Beaumont, who coaches the Warriors girls, said the IHSA limits coaches to 25 days of contact with athletes over the summer.
But those 25 days aren’t enough for runners who aim to be in top form by August. Deerfield senior-to-be Bradley Brodsky is among the leaders of the Warriors’ independent summer workouts.
Both Brodsky and Reyes said the experienced varsity runners collaborate to plan the independent workouts for their respective teams.
The Warriors usually can be seen running through the streets of Deerfield or on the Green Bay Trail. Sometimes, they add some fun to the workout by running at a predetermined point of interest.
“We get out the Google Maps and find a place that looks interesting,” Brodsky said. “One of us will say, ‘This place looks interesting. Let’s go to Cuba Marsh.’
“Afterward, we all went to Wendy’s for 50-cent Frosties.”
Reyes noted that the Giants’ runs are often fun, but there’s also a serious side to their workouts. Varsity athletes might run 15 exhausting miles at a time by the end of the summer. They also use their time together to talk about things that are important to them. Some of those conversations are topical, but others are quite personal.
“If someone wants to get something off their mind, we’re all there for them,” Reyes said. “We talk about how we feel about certain things. Someone may talk about a certain problem they’re having. They feel they can tell (their teammates) because everyone is open to everything. That’s part of our culture.”
One popular running spot for the Giants and Warriors is Park Avenue Beach in Highland Park. It’s a convenient site to practice running on hills, but there’s also some time for fun at the beach.
“When we’re done, we’ll all jump into the lake to cool off,” Brodsky said. “It feels great when it’s in the 90s. Someone will bring a football, and we’ll play on the beach afterward.”
Beaumont said that he does not plan the independent workouts for the Deerfield girls cross country team, but word of the Warriors’ whereabouts usually makes its way back to him.
“Someone is always telling me they saw the girls running on this street or that,” Beaumont said. “(The team leaders) are very good at organizing it.”
The Deerfield girls hope to cover 500 miles this summer. Half of that is running, and the other half includes other kinds of aerobic exercise such as biking, swimming or playing soccer. The Warriors consider 10 minutes of activity to equal one mile.
At Highland Park, Andy Butler is overseeing the girls program for the summer before he becomes the kinetic wellness chair and an assistant track coach at New Trier. He said he works with the team four days a week to stay within the IHSA rules, while the experienced varsity athletes lead practices on the other days. They too have fun.
Butler said Deerfield, Vernon Hills, Evanston and Highland Park will have a joint practice for two days this summer. One of the activities will be running the hills at Park Avenue Beach.
“They’ll go up the hills hard,” Butler said. “When they’re done, they’ll jump in the lake.”
