Your coach is an idiot. There are so many of this anorexic ungly bitches running nice times. Most of them don't menstruate. Look ugly. Real ugly. And most of them develop stress fractures.
You can how ever loose a bit of weight to perform better. For example after the winter.
But its better to eat right and train a lot to boost your metabolism. (Base phase)
I starve myself down from 142 to 135 lbs, not a lot but I feel better at that weight.
i also lose around 10 pounds each summer to get in xc shape as a guy. But thats usually cause I drink too much beer around the end of the school year.
shed the fat to run faster. Sad reality of our sport is the “weakest” people are usually the fastest
Was a pretty solid track and XC runner freshman thru junior year of college, super healthy and steady improvement. Decided to lose weight summer before senior year, lost 15 lbs adding in more training and cutting back on food. All PR’s in XC and track senior year, narrowly missed 2 national titles. Fell apart right after graduation, nothing but injuries and depression. 12 years later finally got through 1 year of low mileage with no injuries.
Tale as old as time. Don’t be an idiot.