Not running is not an option. Unlike almost all team sports, cross country runners can't afford to not practice. Football only practices as a team five months a year. For basketball, it's more like four. If you don't play soccer for three months, you don't have to re-teach your body how to kick the ball or make slide tackles.
Athletes can lift weights and do other things to get themselves in shape.
Or they stop. There's no in-between. We know Cypress is out there doing the same thing. We have to go out there and work just as hard or maybe harder than they do. This isn't jogging, either.