Training sessions for Cross Country

pconn062

While I won't be at the very top end of the race like you guys, I'm still hoping for a good top 10 finish in our champs. Was talking to a few lads from the club this week and we decided that we are going to try and work as a group for this race. There will be one or two guys who will be ahead of everyone else but after that we are going to try and control the pace as best we can. There will be 4 or 5 of us all around the same so if we can share the work, it might work out better for us. Might mean running a little faster that optional and typically I like to sit back a little and push on at the end but will give this tactic a go for this race.

Not sure what shape I'm in, my fitness gauge race was last night (haven't ran a race since mid-July!) but had to sit it out to make this quad is 100% so I'm going in a bit blind. Hopefully the low mileage week this week won't come back to bite me.

KielyUnusual

Oh good. I'm not alone so. Very unsure about my level of race fitness so precaution would be sensible. Had hoped to run the Rathfarnam 5k but the All Ireland replay but a spanner in those works. Ran a 5 mile tempo on grass on the Saturday, where I was happy with the 6 minute pace but the effort was probably a little high at times.

Last session will be Tuesday and then probably a half session on Thursday. Been a long time since my last race (April/May I think) so I'm looking forward to this with equal amounts of excitement and trepidation. Always a good team atmosphere at these events, which makes it that bit more enjoyable than your average road race.

Some Kind of Wizard

If this good weather holds up a harder early pace may be wise. By the time Senior comes around most places will be fairly soggy and muddy and you can really be punished for too hot a pace early on.

Sacksian

Pacing for the novice is a conundrum alright!

I think you just have to run to your strengths, if you're a negative splitter, then you'll probably get your best result that way. If you look at last year's results, some guys in the leading group on the first lap went out the back of it, while there were others finishing in the top 20 who made up a lot of ground over the race. By the end of the 2nd lap, the top 20 was mostly settled (though there were lots of changes of positions within that). By the end of the 3rd lap, the top 10 was mostly settled. The top 5 were more or less there from the very start.

And even though it was a very fast, flat course, the whole field seemed to be completely strung out by the end of the second lap. All the real lunacy was in the first lap. There was a guy in the late 20s at the end of the first lap, who finished in the top 10. And another guy in the 30s, who finished in the 60s.

The final remaining issue is footwear: I think it's dry enough for racing flats. My xc spikes are much heavier than my track spikes or racing flats, so I'd really rather not wear them. And I think my track spikes are a bit too flimsy.

Anyone know who the individual favourites are?

KielyUnusual

Sacksian wrote: »

Pacing for the novice is a conundrum alright!

I think you just have to run to your strengths, if you're a negative splitter, then you'll probably get your best result that way. If you look at last year's results, some guys in the leading group on the first lap went out the back of it, while there were others finishing in the top 20 who made up a lot of ground over the race. By the end of the 2nd lap, the top 20 was mostly settled (though there were lots of changes of positions within that). By the end of the 3rd lap, the top 10 was mostly settled. The top 5 were more or less there from the very start.

And even though it was a very fast, flat course, the whole field seemed to be completely strung out by the end of the second lap. All the real lunacy was in the first lap. There was a guy in the late 20s at the end of the first lap, who finished in the top 10. And another guy in the 30s, who finished in the 60s.

The final remaining issue is footwear: I think it's dry enough for racing flats. My xc spikes are much heavier than my track spikes or racing flats, so I'd really rather not wear them. And I think my track spikes are a bit too flimsy.

Anyone know who the individual favourites are?

Looking at the weekly weather forecast last night, they are giving a lot of rain Thursday/Friday and in to the weekend so this might dictate the decision regarding footwear.

Interesting analysis of last year's race. I definitely went out too hard and actually dropped out. Poor decision on my part as I probably would have recovered somewhat after a poor second lap.

Don't know about the favourites but there's a guy from our club who ran 14.50 in Rathfarnam so he could be there or thereabouts.

Sacksian

KielyUnusual wrote: »

Looking at the weekly weather forecast last night, they are giving a lot of rain Thursday/Friday and in to the weekend so this might dictate the decision regarding footwear.

Interesting analysis of last year's race. I definitely went out too hard and actually dropped out. Poor decision on my part as I probably would have recovered somewhat after a poor second lap.

Don't know about the favourites but there's a guy from our club who ran 14.50 in Rathfarnam so he could be there or thereabouts.

Well, unless there is some really good junior, I'd imagine there are very few sub 15 runners still eligible for the novice!

Might have to invest in a new pair of spikes, based on your weather forecast.

pconn062

I think the weather gods are sensing that cross country season is coming, giving it get colder from today on with some heavy rain at the end of the week and stronger winds! Luckily where our novice is on the ground is really dry so a bit of rain will make no difference but the venue of the intermediate the following week is a different story, it's very wet and turns to a bog with even the mention of rain. Last session before the race tonight, just wish it was the weekend now!

ecoli

Last session and Gym workout in the bag and good confidence booster today, with the weather changing though plan to add a few strides in the spikes on grass just after next few runs just to get a bit more accustomed to but bar that its easy streak

Got a print out of the course today also and looks like we don't turn half way down the straight towards magazine fort as we used to but rather go the whole way down and around.

Looking forward to it now

ecoli

Twice a year you can rely on the weather in this country;

Sun the week of leaving cert and rain the weekend XC kicks off :rolleyes:

So much for flats

pconn062

ecoli wrote: »

Twice a year you can rely on the weather in this country;

Sun the week of leaving cert and rain the weekend XC kicks off :rolleyes:

So much for flats

Ha, nevermind just spikes, might be changing from 9's to 12's if this gets any worse!

ecoli

pconn062 wrote: »

Ha, nevermind just spikes, might be changing from 9's to 12's if this gets any worse!

Sure anything less than 12's doesn't warrant spikes

When you get to 15s you know things are bad (only ever had to go nuclear once:P)

HelenAnne

I wish someone on this thread was saying 'Haven't done any cross country-specific training as was just called up to make up the numbers.' I wouldn't feel so alone then

ecoli

HelenAnne wrote: »

I wish someone on this thread was saying 'Haven't done any cross country-specific training as was just called up to make up the numbers.' I wouldn't feel so alone then

Trust me there is more than you think they are just lurking, I can think of 2 boardsies as well as pretty much my whole team who were "roped in" by club captain

pconn062

HelenAnne wrote: »

I wish someone on this thread was saying 'Haven't done any cross country-specific training as was just called up to make up the numbers.' I wouldn't feel so alone then

I am the club captain for the men in my club so it's my job to ring round and convince people like you to run! I'm not too popular at this time of year!

davemcmahon

HelenAnne wrote: »

I wish someone on this thread was saying 'Haven't done any cross country-specific training as was just called up to make up the numbers.' I wouldn't feel so alone then

I'm only doing it to make up numbers. thankfully the Kildare Novices is only 3k.

TFBubendorfer

HelenAnne wrote: »

I wish someone on this thread was saying 'Haven't done any cross country-specific training as was just called up to make up the numbers.' I wouldn't feel so alone then

Happens to me every year, except for the years when I remember how much I suck at cross-country racing and manage to weasel out :rolleyes:

meathrunner

HelenAnne wrote: »

I wish someone on this thread was saying 'Haven't done any cross country-specific training as was just called up to make up the numbers.' I wouldn't feel so alone then

Im a worse fool in that I have no specific training done, have never done any cross country running before & I signed myself up for this hardship without any encouragement!!! Any advice welcome

pconn062

meathrunner wrote: »

Im a worse fool in that I have no specific training done, have never done any cross country running before & I signed myself up for this hardship without any encouragement!!! Any advice welcome

Try not to get too carried away at the start, the field will likely be smaller that you would find in a road race and it will probably go out pretty fast. Just stick to your own own pace, and maybe try and find a group running at the same speed. Cross country is less about times and more about position so try and pick off guys as you go and move up the field. Have you spikes?

meathrunner

pconn062 wrote: »

Try not to get too carried away at the start, the field will likely be smaller that you would find in a road race and it will probably go out pretty fast. Just stick to your own own pace, and maybe try and find a group running at the same speed. Cross country is less about times and more about position so try and pick off guys as you go and move up the field. Have you spikes?

Thanks for reply, that sounds like good advice. No I dont have spikes, was just going to wear normal trainers. Wanted to give it a go before I went out and made any purchase in case its not for me. That would have been fine of course if weather had not changed, what do you think it will be like underfoot in Stamullen on Sunday?

pconn062

meathrunner wrote: »

Thanks for reply, that sounds like good advice. No I dont have spikes, was just going to wear normal trainers. Wanted to give it a go before I went out and made any purchase in case its not for me. That would have been fine of course if weather had not changed, what do you think it will be like underfoot in Stamullen on Sunday?

You will be fine with runners, just watch your footing on the grass especially on the corners. If it's the same Stamullen where the Star of the Sea race was on last weekend then it's pretty dry ground and this rain shouldn't make a whole lot of difference.

meathrunner

pconn062 wrote: »

You will be fine with runners, just watch your footing on the grass especially on the corners. If it's the same Stamullen where the Star of the Sea race was on last weekend then it's pretty dry ground and this rain shouldn't make a whole lot of difference.

Thanks again for your advice. I will invest in spikes if I enjoy it this weekend. Yes its where Star of Sea had race last weekend alright. Will let you know how I get on.

pistol_75

meathrunner wrote: »

Thanks again for your advice. I will invest in spikes if I enjoy it this weekend. Yes its where Star of Sea had race last weekend alright. Will let you know how I get on.

A nice course to make your cross country debut :eek:

YFlyer

Was just thinking of somebody putting up on Boards their 'Garmin race profile' of some cross country race they did a few years back.

I asked why there was a spike in velocity during the race? He mentioned that he was chased by some swans

RayCun

Krusty at the intermediate? There's a short, steep downhill

pa4

Going to do my own Co. Novice at the weekend, no idea what sort of shape I'm in but I've a few solid sessions in me since the start of September. The sessions seem to be going well but I seem to be struggling on the normal runs so I'll see hw it goes. The standard is always fairly unpredictable for the novice. No idea who I'll be up against but I'll go out to win either way and we've a good chance of winning the team title too so I'm beginning to look forward to it

RacoonQueen

CROSS COUNTRY WEATHER!!!!!!!!!

Ceepo

pa4 wrote: »

Going to do my own Co. Novice at the weekend, no idea what sort of shape I'm in but I've a few solid sessions in me since the start of September. The sessions seem to be going well but I seem to be struggling on the normal runs so I'll see hw it goes. The standard is always fairly unpredictable for the novice. No idea who I'll be up against but I'll go out to win either way and we've a good chance of winning the team title too so I'm beginning to look forward to it

Best of luck PA,
Dave M will be a contender if he runs it

pa4

Ceepo wrote: »

Best of luck PA,
Dave M will be a contender if he runs it

He's not running it this year as far as I know, few others major challengers not running or injured so we'll see how it goes but to be honest if I'm not well up there I'll be fairly disappointed!

YFlyer

David McCarthy would have surely lost his Novice status.

RacoonQueen

HelenAnne wrote: »

I wish someone on this thread was saying 'Haven't done any cross country-specific training as was just called up to make up the numbers.' I wouldn't feel so alone then

For someone who was only in the team to 'make up the numbers' - you ran very well! You overtook me coming towards the end of the second lap and could see you taking out a load of girls as we went over the dips. Was catching a Raheny girl coming up to the finish but just missed her. Not sure it that was you or another girl?
Collapsed on the ground afterwards otherwise I'd have attempted to introduce myself.