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 3 (August 19th - August 25th)


Monday, August 19th- Lifting and 5x1000m repeats

We woke up bright and early today for lifting at 6 a.m. I went back home afterwards to do some stretching and take a nap before preparing for our second practice of the day. At 7 p.m. we met up for our workout, which was 5x 1000m repeats with equal rest around the soccer complex. I felt very strong today and was consistent with my times throughout. I was happy with how it went considering it was my first interval workout since track season. We ran a 1000m cool-down and I went home to stretch and do some core work. 

Tuesday, August 20th- 6 mile recovery run

We had another super early morning practice today. I had an easy 6-mile run at 7:13 pace from our coach's house. Since our workout was just last night, my legs still felt pretty tired and stiff at the start of the run, but by 3 miles in, my legs felt much better and loosened up. For our night practice, we all dressed up crazy for a fun game of cross country football. Sadly, I still can't say that I have been on the winning team once in the 5 years that I've been in cross country ...

Wednesday, August 21st- File and Wheel, lifting, and 3 mile run

Our early morning practice today was a file and wheel. We were put into small groups of 6 to 8 and ran 2 miles worth of alternating files and wheels. It was a fairly easy practice but I still did some stretching afterwards. At our night practice, we had a pretty hard lift and then went for a 3-mile run. I rolled out, stretched and went to bed extra early because tomorrow, sadly, is the first day of school.

Thursday, August 22nd- 5 mile tempo

Today was the first day of school, so that was a bummer. I counted down the hours until I could leave and go to practice, which was a 5-mile tempo on the very hilly north ridge trail! I think I paced myself better than I did on last week's tempo run and I was happy with my overall average pace at the end. I jogged a mile for my cool-down to get 6 miles for the day. I went home and stalled doing my homework by taking an ice bath, stretching, and rolling out. 

Friday, August 23rd- 3 miles easy and striders

We went out to our cross country course for practice today and ran the course and set up for the season opener tomorrow! After our run we did some striders and I rolled out and stretched a ton to prepare for tomorrow's race!


Saturday, August 24th- Race day

Our season opener every year is at our home cross country course in Jamestown. I ran a two mile warm-up and did warm-up drills with my team before starting the race. The weather today was not ideal; winds were 20-30 mph and it was very hot outside. I didn't really have many expectations for myself going into the race other than to not go out to hard. I failed that miserably. My legs didn't feel fantastic from the start, but I still started out way too fast. You know you have messed up when you hit the first half mile in 2:34... I slowed down a bit after that but it was very difficult to recover from going out too hard. I had a pretty rough first race of the season (Editor's note: Meghan finished in first in 18:31.09), but I have many more chances to redeem myself so I'm not going to beat myself up over it too much. After the race, I did a two mile cool-down and rolled out and stretched. My total mileage for the day was a little more than 7 miles.

Sunday, August 25th- Long run

Sundays are my favorite day of the week (other than race day of course) because I get to do my long run! Today I ran a 9-mile loop from my house towards the gravel roads outside of town and back. It was easy at 7:14 pace. The weather outside today wasn't good, so I had to coordinate the time of my run so I didn't get caught in a thunderstorm. Thankfully I didn't get struck by lightning and I made it home so I could take an ice bath, stretch, and roll out. I am super excited for my workout tomorrow, 400 repeats, one of my favorites!