You see most the kids in XC they are 120 lb 5'6 guys that can't bench 90lb or do a 95lb squat. Usually most young runners that just start have weak sprints and coordination(unless they played another sport.) For these types of people wouldn't you recommend a couple months of overall athletic work? Like maybe an hour of running with strides in the morning everyday, then weightlifting for mass and strength 3x a week, and doing a couple tempo runs and intervals here and there(maybe 1x a week.)
Wouldn't this make better runners? I mean look at most your high school's XC team we are weak and not very gifted at sprinting. If a runner took on this schedule assuming he could handle it what would happen?
Monday: 60min morning run + 6 strides getting faster and weights in the afternoon.
Tuesday: Same but no weights and yoga or some light core work and calisthenics
Wednesday: 45min fartlek morning + 3 strides getting faster and weights
Thursday: 35min E + 35min easy and 3 strides in the afternoon
Friday: 60min morning run + 6 strides getting faster and weights
Saturday: 30min morning run + swimming in the afternoon
Sunday: 75min run.
If your typical 5'11 143lb 14 year old did this(he can handle the volume) what would happen?