Cross Training Questions
Is cross country good training for track?
I joined my track team because i am pretty fast. My coach thinks I can be a track star. He thinks crosscountry is good training for track. He doesnt make us paricipate in the crosscountry races if we dont want to but he wants us to come to pracctice everyday. I dont have to come to practices during crosscountry season i could just wait until indoor track practice starts but he doesnt aprove of skiping crosscountry season. I do it and i can run 3 miles but i heard long distance training makes you lose speed. Is this true?? What should I do?
Public Comments
- Cross country is great for track, as it is harder work. Do the races as they are great practice for the track season. You will be strionger and fitter. Running long distances actually improves you speed, but the long distances need to be at least 75 mins+. All non elite marathon runners run their best 5k times about 8 weeks after their marathon. I'm in the middle of training for a marathon and ran my PB 5k last week. I am doing 16+ miles every Sunday 3 times a month.
- As long as the muscles you are using in one sports are the same as the other you are doing great. It wouldn't do any good to develop weight lifting muscle and expect them to cross over to tract. see coach Jack Medina http://www.jackmedina.com/
- I run Cross Country and the 400 for my track team. Run cross country to get your body into a "track running" shape. It will be awkward and tough to go from 5k to a few hundred meters but you'll be in really good shape for track season. And, i would go to a couple of the CC meets just to see the amazing shape those guys are in...you'll see many of them in at your track meets too. Most of them will run nothing shorter than an 800. I garuntee you the guys winning first in the mile and 2 mile will be CC runners.
- Yes it is! It helps you train for track by running longer distances!
- It depends on what race you run in track. I ran the 400 and 800 in track add was a sub 16 minute 5k runner. I didn't lose anything by running cross country. One question for you. Why do through the workouts all week and not get the joy of racing? Even if you don't win it can still be fun and heck you might help the team win.
- Yes. Its almost the same as distance running in track.
