Coaches?

Who do you mainly listen to when it comes to coaching?
On my XC team, we have a head and an assistant coach. The head coach tells me to only do the workouts we have at practice (6 miles at the most) and she tells me not to run any more than we do in practice and to be patient. The assistant coach tells me that I can do two-a-days, as long as the second run is easy. My assistant coach ran a 16:05 5k in college and was good friends with Ryan Shay. He also is friends with Brian Sell. I don't know who to believe here, so I've just been doing my own workouts.

Who do I listen to?

hmmm, if I were you I would listen to the assistant coach and then see what happens. Your assistant coach seems like they might have some background to know what they're talking about.

^ i agree....the assistant coach seems to know what he's talking about

Do two a days, but ease into it.

+1 to HXC.

With two well-rounded coaches, it's easy to encounter different ends of the spectrum in terms of coaching techniques. If the head coach has given you a summer workout, then chances are good that you will be building on that when you return to a regular season. If this is the case, then doing two-a-days at the advice of the assistant coach could be detrimental to your progress.

I might be inclined to request a copy of the schedule for the regular season, and work off of that instead of going in blind. If your head coach is into the science of running technique, then you may find yourself peaking too early or simply being out of step at the beginning of the season when you could go in strong instead. Or, if she's just afraid that you will get hurt, you may be losing a discernable advantage.

Tell your head coach what the assistant coach said. You don't have to use names, just give her the justification for doing two workouts each day and see what she says.

i dont have a real coach, which sucks.
so its up to me to make training decisions based on all the information i have ever read on running and combine it to what fits me. and i still havnt found a good system yet. i really need a coach. even a track coach that knows his stuff every spring. idc.

but i would listen to the assistant coach.

i really don't see how an extra easy run would hurt you. get in as many extra miles as you need to avoid getting 10 mpw below your peak summer mileage. for example, don't run 60 mpw in the summer and then run 25 mpw suddenly in september, you'll diminish your hard work by november by doing that. in that case you would drop down to 50 mpw by throwing in a few 2-a-days and maybe a 10+ long run on the weekend if your team doesn't do long runs.

Yeah, I really don't know what my coach is all about. I've known her for like 2 months and she doesn't really believe in high mileage. This season, she wants my longest long run to be 9 miles. I personally like high mileage and don't see any harm in it. So, I'm going to do a half-marathon in January with Team In Training, but I won't tell anybody on my team about it.