Expand Lung Running | Exercise and Fitness

010.03.04 Expand Lung Running

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Expand Lung Running

Hi at the moment i am a hurdler and 100m sprinter and i wanted to know could i become a cross country runner?

and what exercise/diets/workouts and footwear i would need i currently can hurdle in 14seconds and run 100m in 13seconds without any special coaching/clothing or trainers i've always wanted to do cross country running and alot of people have told me skipping/swimming are excellent ways to expand my lung capacity take in mind im year/grade eight and im slim build and very tall about 5,4-5,5

The problem with participating in cross country is that the training is much different than your sprints. At this moment you should be say, Well, um, duh.

Your muscles are made of muscle fibers. The main two are Type I (slow twitch) and Type II (fast twitch). Slow twitch fibers are basically our aerobic fibers which are used for long distance running, long distance swimming, etc. Fast twitch are for our anaerobic actions (sprinting, sports with short bursts, etc). There is some recent research that shows that people are born with all fast twitch fibers. (this has been done with research on identical twins). Fast twitch muscles can be converted to slow twitch. There is very little evidence that slow twitch can be converted to fast twitch.

So the more that you train for cross country, the more that you are changing your muscle fibers to slow twitch reducing speed muscle fibers that you need for track and any other sport that you do. You would be surprised at how many athletes and coaches do not realize this is happening in their bodies and train themselves to be slower! If you really love cross country, then this is not an issue. If you really love track and other sports (volleyball, tennis, soccer, basketball, baseball, cricket, ultimate, etc, etc, etc) and you want to take it to the highest level that you can, then you should put your cross country aspirations on hold and focus on improving your sprints.

You can definitely improve your endurance without running long distances. I focus on improving running mechanics with my athletes and they have great improvements. Then everything else falls into place. For you I would then train you in proper starting techniques (there is a ton there esp in blocks), hurdle technique, sprinting techniques, etc. You can reduce your times easily.

Feel free to contact me with specific questions.

Good Luck!

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