inclination wrote:
Not necessarily. I don’t have a “serious disability”, but I can’t go over 50 without getting hurt.
How can that extra cross training not make you a better runner? Sure, in terms of being biomechanically efficient I can see why, but wouldn’t the increase aerobic fitness benefit you?
"Aerobic fitness" is not generic. It involves specific muscle groups doing specific workloads over a specific amount of time. If this were true, then the best swimmers would also be the best runners, because swimmers can train for 5 hours a day whereas runners cannot. But this is not true because the activities are very different -- you can be be a very fit swimmer and a terrible runner and vice versa. Not saying don't do cross training as pro runners do it to maintain some level of fitness while injured, but it's not as good as and doesn't replace running.