Posted In: Sprints
I need a fall sport to do, and have been looking at cross country. Our school's head coach is saying that I should do it to keep in shape and that it will make me better at the 400m, but our sprint coach says that cross country makes you a slower sprinter and that it will take some of the "spring" out of my sprinting ability.
What are all your opinions? (I also run the 100 and 200, in addition to the 400, and have even been known to do hurdles…)
it can, but it kind of depends.
XC consists of lots of long slow runs and way too much Int. Tempo. If you don't play football then I'd recommend you do some sprint training on your own including tempo, hills, weights, and a little speed work. Then come track season you'll be good to go.
The only time I say a 400m runner should run XC is if you double up in the 800m. If you just do the 100-400, stay away from XC.
im in the same exact situation as youre in right now. i asked around for advice, and i found out that doing xc was good. doing long runs isnt the reason u get slower, its doing long runs instead of doing speed work. if u work in some 60s and 30s every week, u should be fine. also, work in some weights.heres what im doing for xc over summer:
Saturday-Thursday: base mileage and weights
Friday:MaxV 60, 30,60 with full rest
A 100-400m sprinter doesn't need any "base mileage" at all. All that base mileage does is enlarge type I fibers while at the same time screwing up stride (try maintaining stride for 3 miles 😛 ).
If you want the same benefits of an aerobic workout, do ext. tempo. Mix in some Int. Tempo, hills and one day of speed work and you'll be much better off than any modified XC work could get you.
Well, I guess my bottom line question is this: would doing cross country actually be worse than doing no sport at all, even if I would come out of it in better shape/more muscle than doing nothing?
And, if so, would not any negative effects that kind of sport would have on sprinting be negated by having 3 or so months off in the winter before track starts?
…I'm not trying to argue with anyone (it's not that I don't believe that more training can actually have an adverse effect), I'm just trying to get all the information to decide whether I want to do this.
Thanks for the advice. I just discussed this a little with the xc coach (who also is one of our track coaches) and he decided that I could do a different workout each day with the one other sprinter who is doing cross country, where I would run a mile less than everyone else, and use that time to do certain speed work.
Last year and most of this year of high school I'd run solely the 100 and 200, until our league meet this year when our coaches decided to throw me in the mile relay just to get our team some points, and I ran a 52.0 second split as the first leg, after which our coach walked up to me and told me 'you just ran your way into the 400'…
So, I think since my focus apparently now has shifted to the 400, cross country hopefully won't affect me like it might if I were only a 100m runner.
The effects of endurance training will definitely interfere with your progress as a sprinter. As was said earlier though it would probably be better than sitting on a couch.
ELITETRACK Founder
Exactly HOW would it interfere the progress of a sprinter?
Not to mention slower neural conduction velocities.
ELITETRACK Founder
I highly doubt XC will affect your motor patterns for speed. If you ran at world record pace for 5K you still have to run under 60 seconds for each 400 meters. In fact most WC 5k runners can run the 200 in under 24 seconds. Not to mention run sub 50 400’s. The mileage will give you leg strength. At 31 I can still go out run an 8K XC race in sub 8 pace and drive 3 hours to an indoor track meet and run under 26 seconds for a 200 after completing an 800 at sub 2:10 without any speed training or real distance work. Why can I do that? all the damn miles I put on my legs thinking I could lower that 15:15 5K time, 3:05 Marathons, and various triathlons while I was 18-20 years old. PR’s for 100 10.7, 200 21.3, 400 47, 800 1:58, 1600 4:35, 3200 10:05 . I can guarantee you I did not run 10.1, 20.1, or 45.1 before that time. Too bad I did all of these after HS and in open track meets. What was the difference? The almost 6000 miles between 18th and 20th Birthdays, why cause I had the leg strength to do the work required to do attain those numbers. In my years since, the kids who are active or have done XC get hurt less, complete more hard workouts, and complain a lot less. Not to mention they are the fastest runners on the team sprint or distance.
[i]Originally posted by danimal9[/i]
I highly doubt XC will affect your motor patterns for speed.
The training of past and present top level sprinters as well as physiological data would indicate otherwise.
ELITETRACK Founder
Mike:
My god, you are unreal. I must have ruined WC sprinters by using your frame of mind, because my XC runners are faster than my sprinters. The whole sports enhancement world has ruined more than just a few good sprinters with this philosophy.
Device or anyone else:
Next time you are at a meet ask one of the kids who runs on your XC team to point all the kids who run XC for other teams in 200m thru 800m. Then answer the question for yourself.
[i]Originally posted by danimal9[/i]
Mike:
My god, you are unreal.
Thank you.
I must have ruined WC sprinters by using your frame of mind, because my XC runners are faster than my sprinters. The whole sports enhancement world has ruined more than just a few good sprinters with this philosophy.
As stated before please give examples of those who have achieved high levels of sprint success while running large amounts of steady state aerobic runs. I’ve never said doing so would ruin anyone, just that it is far from the best way to train a sprinter.
Device or anyone else:
Next time you are at a meet ask one of the kids who runs on your XC team to point all the kids who run XC for other teams in 200m thru 800m. Then answer the question for yourself.
I don’t understand what I’m trying to answer. Please clarify.
ELITETRACK Founder
You are answering if running XC is going to hurt you.
I can’t become a chicken by sticking feathers up my a$$.
In the running world, everybody knows – it’s one or the other, cause you Can’t be Both.
Maybe like 800/1,600 or 100-400.
Not: 200/3,000.
Please, do give Me some examples Danimal 9.
I am less polite than Mike is.
Everybody knows that if you want to be Fast you have to Train Fast.
This is a quite simple science.
Train slow, run slow – Train fast, run fast.
If I am a sprinters I wouldn’t want to build up a bunch of slow-twitch fibers in my legs – adding useless weight in slow-twitch muscle, now would I?
P.S. – rule #1 on Elitetrack –
Respect.
That’s why Shawn Crawford & Justin Gatlin, Maurice Greene and All the PRO’S run cross country!
:cul:
I ran XC my senior year of highschool because I needed some PE credits, and my 400 time wound up dropping about 4 seconds that year. I’m not saying that XC is gonna make you a much better 400 runner, but when we were doing workouts my endurance was apparent as I was able to do more repetitions than some of the other athletes. I feel that running XC benefited me in that I was able to train harder and longer once track season came around.
That being said, I’m not sure if it was running XC that helped so much as just being active during the fall (I’d stopped playing football a few years prior). I think that at the 52.0 second level, running SC will not be seriously detrimental to your performance because at that level of competition the 400 is a mix of both sprinting ability and endurance ability.
tkelly you hit nail right on the head. My focus here is not the Elite athlete level, a majority of the runners in high school do not have enough activity and most football programs are bad enough when it comes to conditioning that a mediocre 400 runner in high school will benefit from running XC. That 52 second 400 is about right on. It will win and score points in most meets, big invites it is just a run of the mill 400, but if you are a 23 or better 200 runner and you run 52 seconds your endurance is lacking, because at 23 seconds you should run 50 seconds or better. Which is not a run of mill 400 at most big invites, but it’s not state champ material either, what it can be with 3 other guys doing the same is a contender for a medal at almost every state 4×4 race.
Big 10 champ
all those runners you speak may have never ran XC, but none have done a 400 lately either, but they all do base work in the winter time.
