If an NCAA D1 athlete just trained for the half marathon…

Yes but conversely, i think the college ranks could produce some seriously good half marathoners too. Meaning disregard XC and go straight to the roads during college.

Might be an issue of cardiovascular underdevelopment at that age, but feels like someone could emerge from the pack.

My impression from my XC country years is that many of the best XC runners train somewhat like half marathoners. A 10k on a tough course is a much stronger test of strength than a 10k on the roads or the track.

College 10K XC training v. 1/2 Marathon training:

College XC runners may log 105 miles per week. Pro 1/2 Marathoners may log 115 miles per week.

College XC runners may do one 6 x 1/2 mile workout on rolling terrain per week. Pro 1/2 Marathoners may do one 6 x 1/2 mile workout on road or track every two weeks.

Not much of a difference. Some athletes would train nearly exactly the same for the two events.

tlm1959 wrote:

My impression from my XC country years is that many of the best XC runners train somewhat like half marathoners. A 10k on a tough course is a much stronger test of strength than a 10k on the roads or the track.

That’s my idea for XC too. I think the hills and the unideal surfaces, along with the racing style benefit those that are moving down in distance to run XC rather than up. I’d like to see distance dominant types hit the road instead of the track in the spring. It’d be cool if colleges could branch out and train half marathoners and marathoners instead of forcing pure slow twitch guys to run 5000 and lower for the most part

CopperRunner wrote:

tlm1959 wrote:

My impression from my XC country years is that many of the best XC runners train somewhat like half marathoners. A 10k on a tough course is a much stronger test of strength than a 10k on the roads or the track.

That’s my idea for XC too. I think the hills and the unideal surfaces, along with the racing style benefit those that are moving down in distance to run XC rather than up. I’d like to see distance dominant types hit the road instead of the track in the spring. It’d be cool if colleges could branch out and train half marathoners and marathoners instead of forcing pure slow twitch guys to run 5000 and lower for the most part

At that point, there's no need for a person to be on the team. He can do his own training, some of it with the team, and run whatever marathon he wants.

6x800 ???

Try 10x1000 for the pros or more