Hi guys.
This year we have new coaching staff. I'm a 4/8 guy and the only 8 runner that doesn't do cross country. (D2 school)
I haven't done sprint training like this since middle school when everyone did the 100m or something. I'm a junior in college with a PB of 50.5 and 1:56. We've got plenty of 400 guys under 50 seconds, I don't see why it should be a priority for me to train with sprinters. I get that my 400m is slightly better than my 8, but I just started running the 8 this year (2021) after being moved up.
At least 95% of the current track team are all sprinters. The reason I don't do cross country is because I am god awful (for collegiate standards) with a 5k PR in the 18:30s. I broke 2 in the 800 around 15mi/wk. I don't respond well to high mileage. We don't really have a middle distance group. They're all short sprinters and 5k-steeple dudes.
Their reasoning is for me to be trained as a 1/2/4 runner until mid season and then move up to the 8. Does it make any sense? I feel as if I'm losing aerobic strength. Our warm ups and cool downs are not even half a mile long. I'm just not physiologically built to sprint like this and I'm worried about being injured. I think I have grade 1 strains in both my hamstrings. We're doing a lot of 60m flys and 100m repeats. I don't see how this would help me for the 800.
I'm going to talk to the coaches again, but if anyone would have some type of insight I'd appreciate it.