off ice summer training

Question
QUESTION: Dina, thanks a lot for reading and hopefully answering my question. I have son who is very dedicated to hockey and loves the game. He will be playing AA/AAA midget 16U this upcoming season, and will do anything to reach the next level. This summer so far he has been using a hockeyshot.com trianing program and incorporates things like the slideboard into the mix as well. It looks to me like the program is very good and has a lot of explosive leg strength exercises in it. In addition to this training my son also runs for his school's cross-country team every day of the week except for saturday and sunday. They run a minimum of two miles each day. My question is, is running long distance monday through friday a good idea for off ice hockey condition? Is it good to do the running with the hockeyshot.com training program? And finally, my son likes running but would rather play hockey any day. So would it just benefit him to skip the long distance running everyday and focus on the quick explosive excercises from the training guide to help him get stronger for hockey.  Thanks a lot for reading this, and hopefully you can answer this question.

ANSWER: Hi Tom
I think that is awesome that your son runs! I think that is something hockey players don't do a lot of and if they do it's usually just short distance and not fast. I would continue running b/c it can't hurt. Shorter distances at a fast pace would be helpful, but so would plyometric type stuff and speed drills. Long distance is great for endurance and weight loss. What position does your son play? I think mixing it up a little would be great and minimize boredom.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Dina, thanks a lot for answering my question. My son plays center position
and will occasionally play wing.  As you mentioned in your replay long
distance running is great for weight loss and I agree. But, my son is still
growing and we are actually trying to have him gain some weight. So that is
another reason why I am not sure cross country with the hockey training will
benefit him. As long as he eats enough would it matter? If you could help
with these questions again that would be great. Thanks.

Answer
Nutrition: A bit trickier b/c I really can抰 help someone other than myself or someone trying to lose weight. Not knowing your son's eating habits and I assume he does eat some junk...he would want to eat several small meals a day and include a portion of protein, carb and good fat each time. I don抰 know what would be good serving size for him but I抦 guessing 5 oz of protein would be good and not sure on the carbs. So a typical day would be:

Breakfast: egg whites, toast, serving of juice (juice is not filling a 16 oz glass, it抯 prob 4-6 oz) and banana
Snack: fruit and yogurt
Lunch: Chicken breast, salad w/ lots of veggies, handful of nuts and piece of fruit
Snack: Protein bar or shake (let me know if you need advice on these)
Dinner: Similar to lunch
Snack: as before or something like English muffin w/ peanut butter
Using protein shakes like Myoplex or Metrx are good to add in nutrients. Also using a creatine powder helps build and maintain muscle.

This is the best I can do for an example.
I still think the xc running would be good for stamina, but I do understand your concern.

I have a great friend who is an also an allexperts.com lacrosse expert. I recommend him to you for nutrition and other ideas for dry-land. He was an established Youth goalie, but his real deal was being an US Olympian for luge. He was an all american lax goalie and is doing lots of personal coaching now. He would love to help out. I can give you that info if you want.