Will sprinting for track help during cross-country?
In a way yes, and in a way no. Think about it- when you do a 100m race in a meet for track, you’ve probably haven’t run much before that, if at all. You feel more fresh and full of breath than you would if you just ran 2-3 miles. In track, you will rarely find a sprinter who also does long distance. That’s because you use two different types of muscle fibers- slow twitch and fast twitch. As a cross country runner, you use slow twitch. As a sprinter, you use fast twitch. So yes, you may get your 100m time faster, helping you in the end of your cross country race, but if you really want to improve time, what you need to do is practice running long distance, and build up enough endurance to run the last 100m quickly.
