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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why hasn’t she been running all summer? It’s incredible that people think they can just go join a team with no skill. [/quote]

To be fair, we're talking about High School XC here, no skill involved.[/quote]

Have you looked at the XC teams around here? There is definitely skill. And while the teams might be big only the top 10 compete in the invitational races[/quote]

You are confusing athletic skill with work/training ethic, baseline genetics and capacity to suffer and push through discomfort, which is what is needed for HS XC.

At the base level for the vast majority of HS XC there is no skill involved except for a select few at the very top who understand how to race and utilize race strategy.

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The top level in XC have both real talent and strength. Decidedly so. Even track focused guys can run three miles in XC very fast. On flat courses the per mile pace for boys in XC is 4:30, and you need wheels to do that. My late brother was a 4:05 high school miler in the 70’s, disliked XC, ran only 40 miles a week, and ran 14:05 for 5k in XC in high school. On that same 40 miles a week won a major college D1 XC championship (10k). This while running the school’s All American 4 x 4 in track. 46 second 400 talent is rare for a middle distance guy. He had no XC race strategy, other than to float along and on the right course for him you didn’t want him anywhere near you in the last 400m. Like Alan Webb, having speed and talent is a big advantage and guys like this are in no way just hard working grinders. In fact, limiting their mileage is often a success factor.,

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Yes, as I said, no real skill, mostly work/training ethic, baseline genetics and capacity to suffer and push through discomfort at the HS level.  Sounds like that was your brother.

[/quote]

My brother ran a 4:10 mile at age 15 on 20 miles a week. Not a 1600 - a mile. No super shoes - poor single mother home. You have no idea what you are talking about. Query what your experiences were as a D1 scholarship athlete? When you ran in the NCAA’s, what was your experience in terms of competing against real talent? I remember running against Joaquim Cruz and just being astonished at his speed and power. My brother was a low mileage guy and a NCAA All American in track. He chose the school because he liked school - a 4.0 phi beta kappa in math and Phd in Econ. He won his Power conference in XC one year, beating 3 foreign athletes over the last half mile. They knew darn well the level of his talent - surprised they didn’t push the pace.

In grad school he was tested at the Olympic development facility and they concluded he should have focused on the 800. This would have meant a lot of non running strength work, and he wanted to finish his PhD program in four years.  He had talent. Don’t pontificate over matters over which you have little knowledge. I was trained by an Igloi disciple - a name if you know the sport is self authenticating. My god parent was the first to break four minutes indoors in the mile (on a lousy track). He had outrageous talent and was not a grinder. Of course your experience may inform differently. [/quote]

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