Photo by Victah Sailer
In an era when more and more runners seem eager to test themselves at new distances and on new terrain, there is no one in these United States who can rival Max King, a mountain running world champion who also placed sixth
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in the 3000-meter steeplechase at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Track Trials a few months after running 2:14:36 for 19
th How to Watch the NCAA XC Championships.
King will run the USATF 50K Trail National Championships in his hometown of Bend, Oregon, this Saturday, and then quickly fly to Utah for the XTERRA Trail Run National Championships, a 21K, on Sunday. That’s a daunting task, but he tackled it in 2011 and won both races. And the next two weekends won’t be restful for King; he’s got a 100K in Virginia on September 29 and a 50K in Tennessee on October 6.
The question needs to be asked,
Results: 2024 NCAA DI Cross-Country Championships, how and why Max King embraces, successfully, such a range and frequency of races. “It’s all running and if you do the right stuff physiologically (threshold, VO2max, endurance) then you can go back and forth between different distances and terrain. Of course, each discipline takes specific talents so those need to be developed separately,” King explains.
“I’ve run trails since I was in high school and I really believe skiing and mountain biking help with trail skills. I spent years developing speed on the track and road in order to be successful there, and now I’ve been working on my endurance threshold for longer ultra races for several years,” notes King. “It’s tough, but these special skill sets take years to develop, but once they are there developed they come back pretty quickly after a few specific workouts. Seems like it’s just like riding a bike.”
On the trails, especially, proper form is essential, and on those surfaces, King tells us to “stand up straight, keeping your hips/pelvis tucked under you and head upright. Keep your stride short, high cadence, and land on your midfoot to stay balanced and ready to react to the changing terrain.”
