Is it just pure talent?
People who run around the same time as me barely did any summer base training for XC or cross training, which I did.
Myself and a few other teammates are the only ones who actually rest the set amount of time that we're supposed to during intervals. (i.e. Coach says rest 30 seconds between 400s; we rest actually 30 seconds and go into the next interval, everybody else rests for another 30 seconds or so). This is particularly frustrating because the people who don't train as hard and take the improper amount of rest on workouts are running the same time or faster than me. I have nothing against my teammates, but like I said, its just annoying. For example, I ran 50-60 mpw over the summer, and another teammate who ran 20-30 mpw over the summer is about the same 5k time as me, albeit slightly slower.
Has anyone had a similar experience? Any input is appreciated.