With all this talk about NXN and how some runners have an advantage on muddy courses I've heard the phrase "strength" runner come up alot.
What the hell is a strength runner?????
With all this talk about NXN and how some runners have an advantage on muddy courses I've heard the phrase "strength" runner come up alot.
What the hell is a strength runner?????
Big engine and square wheels
Just guessing until someone chimes and in and says I'm wrong....
"Strength" guys can hold on to hard pace with great consistency and duration.
"Speed" guys are really fast but might run inconsistent splits and don't do well with endurance races.
"Endurance" guys can just run forever and ever...but don't have a lot of speed.
It refers to the biomechanical efficiency of their stride:
Efficient runners are those that can capture the ground-reactive forces in their tendons et al and transfer that into their running motion (~they capture 'free' energy')... they tend to do better on tracks/harder surfaces, b/c muddy conditions throw off this kinetic chain and they become very inefficient.
Strength runners are relatively lacking in the mechanics/physiology to do this and they rely on their muscles to do more of the work...they are hindered much less in x/c conditions/soft surfaces and they do relatively well compared to the 'non-strength' runners.