Cross country is well established as one of the most grueling and challenging sports out there. But junior Josh Singh makes running blazingly fast times all season look scarily easy. Now an integral member of the Boys Varsity Cross Country team at Arcadia High School (AHS), Singh has been running for four years already, starting officially training in eighth grade at First Avenue Middle School (FAMS). Since then, Singh has established himself as a talented runner, even placing 13th overall in Pacific League finals and 97th in the Division 1 state meet. 

Singh’s personal records (PR’s) are also a sight to behold; he ran a time of 15:28 over a three-mile distance, and a 16:25 for five kilometers. Singh also has other outstanding times under his belt, including a 4:42 mile run and a 9:53 3200 meter run.

To achieve these times and even better future ones, Singh and his teammates have been training hard in 2022 and 2023 so far, grabbing personal records all through the cross country season. Singh, his coaches, and teammates are also anticipating solid improvements to come for the team in the 2023 track season. 

“I really think that all the mileage and quality workouts the team and I have been putting in all through the summer, cross country season, and off-season will translate into doing well in the upcoming track meets,” said Singh. 

That training Singh mentioned is unquestionably tough; he and the rest of the Varsity squad are currently on a high mileage training plan preceding the advent of the 2023 Track and Field season, meaning upwards of 80 miles a week! 

Singh expanded on this high intensity training program specifically designed by the coaches that he follows each week: “On Monday, I typically front load the week with a high mileage run, with somewhat lower mileage in the middle of the week, in addition to workouts. The cherry on top of the week is a long run on Saturday or Sunday, usually around 14 or more miles.”

While the sheer volume of the running that Singh is doing each week may seem like the bulk of the training load, many of the true improvements can be made on workout days. A cross country workout, however, is not what first comes to mind for most people at its title. Instead of weight lifting and gym cardio, think rigorous timing, intense intervals, and all-out running efforts. A workout for a runner means a specifically curated run, either repeats of one specific distance at a specific pace, a “tempo run” speeding up slowly over a longer distance, or any number of other types of runs designed for specifically taxing speeds and distances. 

“A workout in cross country is basically running faster in a particular way,” explained Singh. “For example, a 6-ish mile tempo run where, pace-wise, we start nice and easy at 6:20 mile pace and build our way down to about 5:30 pace toward the end. You can basically think of it as a progression.”

Paces that quick may seem near impossible to the average person, or even an average runner, but are almost natural to Singh and his teammates at this point in their running careers. However, even then, it’s impressive for a junior to be accomplishing such tough workouts. 

“Josh really is a standout runner on the team, and he’s been surprising everyone for as long as he’s been running,” said senior Mason Temple, a fellow member of the Boys Varsity Cross Country team. “But in addition to that, it’s even more impressive to the rest of us on the team how well Josh is able to balance the hard work he puts in with supporting his teammates, and just being a role model on the team.”

Truly, the team environment that students like Singh and Temple help create is a valuable one. 

“Besides my family and coach, my teammates are some of my biggest motivators. I know they’ll always be there to support me and cheer for me on a hard day, and that’s really valuable to me,” said Singh about his motivations in the sport.

“In fact, I would probably say that the most important thing to know as a cross country runner is the value of a team. It may seem like [cross country] is an individual sport that requires a lot of individual training, but really everything depends on the team,” he added. “Of course we get our place at meets through our team score, but having a strong bond and supportive teammates to run and race with is definitely just as important.”

It’s clear that everyone can learn the value of dedication and hard work from Josh Singh and his accomplishments; Singh really is an inspiration at AHS, and we can all be proud of what he has and will continue to accomplish in cross country and track. Go Josh!

Photo by Ainsley Najafzadeh