One argument I've come across in the past couple of years is the battle between cross country and track. We group people into essentially three distinct categories: a true cross country runner, a true distance track runner, and a true mid-distance track runner (I'm obviously excluding all the other track events, but I'm just focusing on distance running right now). We get the idea that it is incredibly difficult to have a mixture of any of the three above. As they say: some people are just track people, or some people are just good at cross country. I have this argument internally quite often, because even though I love cross country, it's pretty clear that I do much better comparatively in shorter track races like the mile and 1500.
Oddly enough it kind of reminds me of something that I learned in my History of Math class (just bear with me- I promise this won't be as boring as you may think it might be). We were talking about famous mathematicians and scientists who could prove theorems and do math across all the spectrum: geometry, algebra, calculus, etc...and when we started getting to the 1900s each topic got so incredibly deep and diverse that it had become impossible for any single person to be well-versed in all of the topics, and this becomes more and more true each year. The question I wonder to myself sometimes is: have we become too specialized in cross country and track?
What spurred my interest was a comment thread I was reading about Chris Derrick. He is one of my current favorite runners, because he is DOMINATING the USA XC scene right now, and I have always considered cross country to be about as pure as running gets. He crushed the competition in the 12k US XC Championships at altitude in Boulder, CO this weekend and won by 30 seconds over other acclaimed professionals. This was all great, but in this particular comment thread, I was reading about people saying how cross country is just his way of hiding from the real competition on the track because he doesn't have a good enough kick. Nobody good runs cross country, they say.
And they may actually be right. Kenenisa Bekele is widely considered one of the greatest distance runners ever, currently holding the world records in the 5k and 10k on the track, but some people forget that he was also a many-time World XC champion in the years between 2000 and 2010. He did it all in dominating fashion. However, since then the top track athletes in the world have rarely ventured on the cross country course, and the best cross country runners are not the ones you see competing for the gold medal in the Olympics.
Can cross country runners be successful in track? Can track athletes be successful on the track? There are obvious examples of where it can happen, as mentioned above (and Derrick dropped his 5k PR down to 13:02 last year, which is pretty darn good), but really think about this: where are the XC studs in track?
Another example: where were Colorado's distance runners at track nationals last year? For a team who has won the last two NCAA cross country titles, they don't seem to make much of ripple on the track. Why? Is the training too different? Are they burnt out from cross country? Do they not focus on track? I'll admit that I have no idea, but these questions have baffled me. In our post-modern society of extreme specialization in all aspect of life, does it have to be that way in running? Do we artificially group runners by their ability to kick in a 1500, outlast in the 10K, or push through an XC race?
I think that there is room for runners to be good at all types of races, or at least to enjoy them. As I say all the time, I love training and racing in cross country, but I also can't shake the feeling of throwing on those track spikes and flying around a 200m indoor track. I know this post is probably 100% mindless ramble from me, but the main point I'm trying to get across is: if you start labeling people as a certain kind of runner, that's what they'll become. Try all kinds of distances/types of races, and see what works best and is the most fun! It'll be worth it!
Nate
As always, let me know if I have woeful inaccuracies in here or if you completely disagree with me.
No comments:
Post a Comment