Body Types

Hi All,

It would appear that in road and track running, folks who have a mesomorphic body type simply cannot be competitive with their ectomorphic friends (all other things being equal). I’m wondering if this holds true for trail running?

I am a mesomorph and fairly fit (lean, muscular); so one would never look at me and say, ‘ah there’s a distance runner.’ If I look like a runner, I look more like a 200/400m sprinter. I do like sprinting. But I also love trail running. I’m also fairly competitive, so I like to be able to be competitive in whatever sport I take up. I ran my first 25k trail race (pretty flat, non-technical with some short i.e. 1 minute climb, very steep hills) in 2:13:30 to finish 4th in my age gender category. I thought this was decent for my first race, but have no idea whether this indicates if I’ve got decent potential to be competitive. I’m trying to choose between training as a 200/400m sprinter (with a club right now), or training for 25k+ trail races (with friends).

So my real question is: do people with a mesomorphic body type have any hope of being decently competitive at longer trail races in your respective experiences?

Thanks Katie