Would it hurt a sprinter to do CC???

Question

ok, we have a couple of sprinters who want to do CC, but if there is a chance that it would make them slower then they won't do it. My coach has asked me to research into this and find out if it would hurt their 100/200M times because they are our best sprinters.

I want legitimate sources if you could provide them. Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

If your on the high school level it shouldn't hurt a sprinter that much .One kid on our team did cross country and he ran a 50 400m. Cross country helped him get a base and some endurance for the 400m.

Answer 2

How many people have you seen that are good at sprinting and cross country?  It's impossible to do both well.  One reason is because they require two different body types.  Sprinting requires a more muscular type, with the muscle composition consisting mostly of white meat, while cross country/long distance runners are very thin, and their muscles are made up of mostly dark meat.  White meat muscle fibers are good for quick twitch stuff but they have low endurance, and dark meat muscle fibers are good for steady repeated actions over long periods of time.  It would definitely hurt a sprinter to do cross country.

Answer 3

I can only speak from experience. I do not know about 100 or 200 meters, but me and my friend both used to compete in the 300 meter hurdles. We are both in 10th grade, going into 11th. He was better than me by about two seconds. This past year we both decided to do cross country. Now the differences come into play. I am not abnormally tall or anything, but I have more the build of a cross country runner. I'm extremely thin, and I have somewhat long legs. He was more the sprinter type with bigger muscles, shorter, and more solidly built. I destroyed him in every single meet we had for cross country but the real difference came in the past track season. In 9th grade, he beat me by two seconds at the least in the 300 meter hurdles. This year, after cross country, I beat him several times, but he also beat me. We were always within a second of each other. Clearly cross country helped me become better at sprinting as well as endurance. However, even the 300 hurdles requires some sense of endurance whereas the 100 and 200 are just all out sprints. You really have to decide for yourself if you think it would benefit you at all. Just for your information, if you live in an area with lots of nice landscape it might be worth giving cross country a shot for a couple of weeks.

Good luck, and hope you find out what works best for you and your friends. ;-).

Answer 4

No it wont hurt because because I do boath and cross country just helps me because it builds my endurance and stamina. I personally reccomend to do boath because it keeps you in shape all year long. If u are wondering what I run I run 100m and hurtles and do cross country. P.S i am the top runner for all.

Answer 5

I speak only from experience.  Our track team got a new coach who thought our sprinters should be able to do at least 5 miles.  While they, I quit, were able to get to that point, they did lose time and suffered all season.  Sprinters generally have bigger stronger thigh muscles for quick spurts of power, not the longer lean legs of distance runners.  Another drawback, was they were never able to overcome the "lead" factor.  In a 100/200m race, you fall behind, it is all over, in longer distances, you learn to pace, to trail, then sprint, our guys still kept trying to pass everyone.  Our coach left this theroy behind after two failed seasons.

Answer 6

im a sprinter and i hate distance running, keep workin on sprints

Answer 7

yes I did CC it a whole different ballgame