Distance Track is Better than Cross Country

Thanks for accepting asparagus21. For my first round of arguments I will be presenting 3 ways in which Track is superior to Cross.EFFICIENCYAnybody who is a serious runner will tell you that lowering their race times is their biggest or one of their biggest priorities. The best way to lower your time is to have a planned pace. For instance, if I want to run a mile in less than five minutes, I need to make sure each lap around the track (i.e. 400 meters) in less than 75 seconds, or I at least need to make sure my average time around the track once is less than 75 seconds. In Track, you are able to closely and accurately monitor your pace, and this lends unique things to a race in Track. The racing and the planning suddenly becomes much more scientific and detail oriented. Instead of measuring every mile like you do in a Cross Country race, you know can measure every lap. This is advantageous to a runner because it lets you know exactly where you start to slow down in your race. Knowing when you start to slow down, in an increment as specific as a quarter mile, really allows you to fine tune your racing.If you know from examining your past splits that your 5th lap in the 2 mile is the slowest, the next time you're running the 2, you can focus on your stride more, to ensure you don't start slipping behind. Cross Country does not provide this kind of attention to detail. Your time can only be taken at every mile, so that leaves you with only 3 times to examine. Bear in mind also, that these times are for a much bigger chunk of distance. Cross Country simply can't provide the same kind of precision oriented racing. And we shouldn't be dismissing out of hand the benefits of precision racing and precision planning. To put it simply, every time you get your time taken, that's like a wake up call. It lets you know if you're still on pace or if you're slowing down, and if you are, it lets you know by how much. You get less of these wake up calls during a Cross Country race, and therefore you may end up slacking off more, meaning Cross Country racing leaves one more prone to less efficient racing than one would see in Track. I don't want to continue harping on this for too long, but you can take the precision racing even further in Track. Go back to the trying to get under 5 in the mile example. If you're aiming for a 75 second quarter, you can measure your pace before you even complete a lap. The quarter, halfway, and 3 quarters parts of the lap are clearly marked. So if you're aiming for a 75 second quarter, you can make sure you're on pace by checking to see if you're running a 18.75 second quarter lap and a 37.5 second half lap. As I hope I have made clear, Track provides a much more controlled and calculated running environment, and thus gives you more opportunities to fine tune your race, and make you a more successful runner.VARIETYAs I stated in Round 1, there are quite a few races in Track. For those of you who aren't aware, in Cross Country (high school) there is only one race, and that is a 5k, or 3.1 miles.I'd contend that Track has another leg up over Cross because of all the options you have for racing. The options available really do provide unique kinds of races. For instance, the 400 meter is short compared to the 2 mile, but you are going balls to the walls the whole way. When you compare it to something like the mile or 2 mile, given the pace and distance, they are completely different races. And given that they are completely different races, they require very different runners. This is nice, because it allows runners to really feel like they've found a niche on their team, one that they are particularly suited for. I do things in the 2 mile that the more muscular runners in the 400 would completely balk at, and vice versa. This idea of specialization can also lead to greater successes for runners. Some people are more suited for middle distance (i.e. 400m, 800m), and during Cross Country they might be good, but they certainly aren't the best on the team. I know a guy on my team like this. He is moderately successful in 5k's (and that's not for lack of work I assure you), but when goes in the 800 with all the guys who beat him in 5k's, he can smoke them. Track affords this guy a greater sense of success, by providing him more options, bettering his opportunities to find an event that he excels at.VARIETY PT. 2When variety is provided, it does more than give someone a race that they are particularly suited for. If a coach knows what he's doing, he knows that occasionally putting runners in different events will make them better in their usual event. I'll take myself as an example.My second most previous meet I ran in the 2 mile relay, which means I ended up running 800 meters. I did well enough, 2:16, and then my most previous meet I had a massive 24 second PR (personal record) in the 2 mile, a 10:55. Putting runners through different speeds and distances makes them stronger and more versatile. Having the ability to mix up distances like that in the middle of the season is something that Cross Country can't always afford. Once the season gets started it gets somewhat harder to do different speed and distance workouts at practice, because you have to be careful to not tire yourself out for a coming race (there's always one around the corner). Track gives coaches the ability to mix up your speeds and distances in the middle of the season because you can do the mixing and changing at the races themselves. To summarize: Once you get into the middle of both seasons, you can see that Track provides one with more opportunities to train, because training can take place by mixing up what races you do at a Track meet, whereas in Cross Country you're stuck with a 5k at every meet.MORE EXCITINGThis will be a short one. I have two reasons for why Track is more exciting than Cross.First, the way a Track meet goes, there are a ton of events, and it is a several hour event. In Cross, there are usually four races for your team (Guys Varsity, Guys JV, Girls Varsity, Girls JV). With only four events in Cross, you don't get to see a running score develop. The only time you know the score is at the end when they announce the winner. But in Track, given how many events there are, every once and a while you hear the score. This can add more importance to the races as they go on, because a bad race could lose you your team's position in the standings, and a good race could increase your team's rank in the standings. This means that everyone gets really into the final races. The 2 mile and the mile relay are usually heavily cheered for, as those runners are the final few who can affect their team's scores.Speaking of cheering, the way a track race is set up, it is far easier to get a crowd that'll cheer people on. In a 5k race, runners are running throughout a course. This means that fans would have to run from one spot in the race to another to cheer people on. Normally the only people who really go to these lengths are the parents of the runners, or coaches. This means less people will run around to find and cheer on runners, because not everyone's kid is in the same race. But with Track, there's an oval track in between (normally) sets of bleachers, that can be filled with people cheering you on. As the races are much more accessible to fans of all kinds, a runner is far more likely to receive more cheering in a Track race than a Cross race.Thanks for reading.