Petition to increase Ncaa women’s xc to 8k no 10k for men

Why do hs girls train less than hs boys when they race the same distance?

Coach of a athletes wrote:

Why do hs girls train less than hs boys when they race the same distance?

I ran more mileage than the boys on my HS team, and was one of the few to train year round. I was also much better than all of them relatively speaking.

On average, women/girls may have coaches that get this idea that mileage will give them stress fractures. But evidence does not support this - the most injured runners are actually mid-d runners. Furthermore, things like stress fractures are caused not by mileage directly, but are multifactorial - undereating for how much you're doing.

In my personal observation, all the low mileage women/girls I knew believed that they couldn't increase their mileage without getting injured. However, the reason for this was pretty obvious - they were all running much too fast on their easy days, so of course they would get injured when they tried to bump it up. They felt compelled to run too fast on their easy days because they ran too little mileage, and doing sub-tempo runs every day is a way to compensate for that to some extent (there are limits). I also note that a lot of these women/girls undereat to maintain "appropriate" body composition (which would otherwise be achieved by just running a lot), further compounding the issue.

They should train about the same amount in HS which means college women could run 8k because it would take about the same amount of time to complete as 10k for men.

Women can easily run 8km xc, 10km too.

In Canada the women moved up to 8km in 2018 (maybe 2017) and as of 2021 the men now run 8km in university. The biggest difference I've noticed is distance women are now racing better compared to mid-d women in xc. Really it shouldn't be a surprise given the years and years of mens results.

As for the men dropping down the only complaints come from Alumni like myself who rave about our "glory days" crushing 10ks. Results wise there is little difference between the 8k and 10k. Some 1500m athletes suffer for 6 minutes less. 800 specialists are still off the back as per usual.

One of the main drivers behind the change was to establish Male-female equality. Distance wise 8km is a good choice. Having 10ks for both seems fine until you consider the mid/back of the packers would run 37-39 miuntes for women (XC in Canada involves hills). The men usually run ~30 for top guys to 33-35 for mid to back of the pack. Time wise 9km for women and 10k for men would be very similar, however 9k is odd (pun intended). 8k and 8k is a good mix of long but not too long, since many teams still do rely on milers.

A couple years ago I jumped in a local university 8k and actually quite enjoyed being done in 26 minutes rather than 32+. For all you arm chair coaches if you really want a 10km hop in a road race.

a comment from the peanut gallery wrote:

fghrunner wrote:

It never made sense to me why men ran 8k all season and then 10k at championships, but I dont think racing 10Ks all year is the answer so a move to 8K makes sense.

I went to a school in the old days that ran 6+ 10k races within a 9 week period leading up to XC NCAAs. 10k is only 2k more than 8k but it breaks you down. I was never healthy by the time NCAAs came around. I endorse racing 10k only at NCAA regionals and nationals.

Agree-keep it the way it is now...yeah I remember 30 years ago doing 6 10ks in a season (in Canada) and I was pretty tired by end, but if you are doing 80 a week, the present racing regime is fine....

Why isn't it the same as men's. We're all complaining on this board about American and African athletes, hell I even saw a thread bi***'NG about womens half marathon results. Well maybe we can start at the ncaa, xc should be 10k across the board, there good start.

Went from racing 2 miles in hs to 5 miles/10k in college. I preferred 800/1500 in track as I was much more co.petitive at those distances. Still loved summer miles and road races of all distances from 5k to a full marathon.

It took 3 years of solid training without injury to adapt to 70-90 mpw for College XC while still competing 800/1500 indoors/spring. Still loved the grind and couldnt believe the impact the miles and strength gains of XC on my track results. Still not top 7 on the team until I bought all in at 90-100 mpw. We had a good team and qualified for NCAA D2 meet. 30:10 for 10k. Nothing spectacular but good enough to make our top 7 and finally contribute. Continued to sub 1:50/3:50 in the spring.

Without a doubt: XC made me better in track. Couldnt have done it without an understanding coach and my teamates dragging me along.

Fast forward about 6 years...... Still before the internet.

My hs girls team changed over from 2 miles to 5k in our state. I told them the night before their first race because i didnt want to lose recruits or scared veterans. They were mad at me but i reminded them of their summer mileage gains, their long runs up to 10 miles and the gut grinder fartlek, interval and tempo workouts we had done with many easy days in between. I told them they were ready for it and i was certain most others werent because they were already mentally defeated. My girls proceeded to dismantle the field in short order and continued to do so for the most part for the remainder of my time at that school. They were built tough and they knew it. It takes time to grow a garden but hard work still beats talent on most days. Patient coaches can teach others how to approach new challenges.

So yeah, maybe keeping 6k until regionals and nationals then 8k would work better for mai taining numbers and then let the true distance athletes rise to the occassion. I was a Mid D guy that needed more time to prepare but I loved every mile of it. I stayed home a lot for 3 years and ran road races until I was ready but I finally got my chance. Hard work beats talent most days. Its those darned talented, hard working sorts that make up that top 10% that are just tough to get in front of.

There's always long winded explanations, this is the age of equalilty, no reason why the women should be running less than the men. It takes them longer who cares, I have two daughters btw, and they could probably beat your dopey ass sons up

Women have significantly lower bone density than men. The biomechanics of women's strides put them at a greater risk of stress fractures. Doing too much mileage can result in loss of period, which is very bad for women's health.

If women were to run 50 miles per week, it would take around 50 minutes LONGER than men running 50 miles per week. Mileage would be the same but women would actually spend more time training than the men because they run approx 1 min slower per mile.

There's a reason why WOMEN who coach women's sports were the strongest OPPONENTS of moving up to 8k when it came to a vote.

More vitamins, christ I can easily see myself becoming that doping coach. My question is how many of those chicks are starving themselves to look hot let's be honest. In my experience women that were fast were starving themselves, the early 2000s got too I doctrinated with abs and body fat bs. How about just eat what you want and run fast. and maybe you won't get injured. I'm pretty sure after a while you'll be pretty skinny at 150mpw. There's a disconnect between most white people and their minds. They let their minds run the show. Listen to your body bro. It's evolution. But yeah I got daughters and they're already running hills, their mama is a basketball phenom, but best belive I'm working these toddlers. No excuses. This western culture is so ready to employ excuses. Let the women run the same distance.

It should be changed so they are both equal.

How about 7k for women, or 6.5 k, baby steps guys, no need for a 25% Inc at once,

8K for men sounds good irrespective of the women’s distance. XC should have a different length than common track distances.

Hasn't this consistently been voted down by women's coaches? It's easier for the middle distance athletes which share scholarships with cross country.

dumb people here wrote:

Women have significantly lower bone density than men. The biomechanics of women's strides put them at a greater risk of stress fractures. Doing too much mileage can result in loss of period, which is very bad for women's health.

If women were to run 50 miles per week, it would take around 50 minutes LONGER than men running 50 miles per week. Mileage would be the same but women would actually spend more time training than the men because they run approx 1 min slower per mile.

There's a reason why WOMEN who coach women's sports were the strongest OPPONENTS of moving up to 8k when it came to a vote.

Increasing milage doesn't directly cause ammenorrhea. Rather, amenorrhea in athletic females occurs due to an energy imbalance. Amenorrhea occurs if females are getting enough calories and nutrients to support their training and body functions. In the absence of underlying disease, females who are getting sufficient calories and nutrients and have a regular menstrual cycle should have sufficient bone density to handle higher mileage.

Framer wrote:

More vitamins, christ I can easily see myself becoming that doping coach. My question is how many of those chicks are starving themselves to look hot let's be honest. In my experience women that were fast were starving themselves, the early 2000s got too I doctrinated with abs and body fat bs. How about just eat what you want and run fast. and maybe you won't get injured. I'm pretty sure after a while you'll be pretty skinny at 150mpw. There's a disconnect between most white people and their minds. They let their minds run the show. Listen to your body bro. It's evolution. But yeah I got daughters and they're already running hills, their mama is a basketball phenom, but best belive I'm working these toddlers. No excuses. This western culture is so ready to employ excuses. Let the women run the same distance.

Women can successfully train to run the 8K distance. However, many times their mindset and approach to training needs to be changed in order to do so. Rather than "I need to be a stick to run fast", females should think: "I need to be healthy to run fast because it will allow to avoid illness and injury which significantly impair my ability to improve. In order to be at my best, I must find a way to optimize my body composition without compromising my health". Unfortunately many athetes and coaches do not know how to do this. If you training a lot and intensively utilizing running, cross training and resistance training along with consuming a healthy diet with sufficient calories and nutrients, your body composition would be where it needs to be to preform at your best, without inducing RED-S.

homers121 wrote:

“The current 6km women’s distance is too close to the 5km distance that women run in High School. With the time gap closing at longer distances, women are unquestionably ready for the 8km distance. Women are ready for a new challenge.”

I don’t hate the idea but I don’t really understand the argument here…

Agreed. This argument doesn't make sense. It would make more sense to move both to 8k. The DI men already race the 10k at some meets, but it's too long to race all year, so moving to 10k doesn't make sense. Moving both to the same distance would be easier for coaches and meet directors and be more in-line with track where all distances are raced by both sexes. But personally, I would much prefer racing a 6k over an 8k, so I will not sign this. I probably would not have ran XC in college if we had to race 8k instead of 6k.

I think a 6k race is interesting because maybe someone at the shorter stuff can challenge up front & it forces true distance runners to show some speed. BUT the reason that they run 6k is trash -- that they couldn't run the same distance as the men years ago. I feel like the 8k would be a good compromise & that it would be good to have everybody run the same distance. If you're really into the 6k for women then why aren't you advocating for the men to run that distance too? It just doesn't make sense to have the women run a lesser distance. Training and recruiting will change a little bit. Things will be fine & it'll be a help for women's distance running. I'm into the 8k for everyone or the 10k for everyone. College kids race so much. A championship 8k would be fine.