Cross Country Training Thread

(I ask this now, in December we might be abducting people from their homes to have a team of four)

RayCun wrote: »

(I ask this now, in December we might be abducting people from their homes to have a team of four)

It was teams of eight or ten last year I think. It's a major pain in the hole having to divide up teams

KielyUnusual wrote: »

It was teams of eight or ten last year I think. It's a major pain in the hole having to divide up teams

KU probably knows what he's talking about, listen to him.

I looked it up :eek:

seems to be teams of 8 for clubs (except for O65 masters)

RayCun wrote: »

I looked it up :eek:

seems to be teams of 8 for clubs (except for O65 masters)

They say team of eight and then they have 10 or 11 spaces when you are entering the teams on their site usually.

They've updated the whole system so it might be different this year.

Personally, I don't get why they limit the team size. Its just a headache for team captains and doesn't have any benefit that I can see besides an extra €50 in the coffers for Athletics Ireland.

HelenAnne wrote: »

Who's doing the Teachers' XC on Saturday?

I'll be there. First time in four years. Looks like we'll have proper XC conditions too

dna_leri wrote: »

I'm planning on doing a few cross country races over the next while, and looking for some advice on race strategy.

I saw the comment above about "Go out conservatively". I have got other input about going out hard and getting in a good position as you can get stuck in traffic later.

What does everyone think, how do you gauge how much effort to put in at different stages of the XC race?

To some extent it depends on the course. There are some courses where the route is quite narrow, or twisty, or there's a narrow bit that is much faster. If you go out slow on a course like that you will get stuck behind people.

And if you're not used to the muck it can be hard to judge your effort, so the only way to know if you're in the right place is to race the people you should be racing.

Plus, you know, back to basics, old school, no messing around with watches and GPS, no holding back, just get out and race it!

On the other hand, most XC races seem to be a mad dash to the first corner, followed by gradual, painful death, and going out a bit slower seems sensible.

All of that is just to say, XC racing is a good way to find out what your limits are

dna_leri wrote: »

I'm planning on doing a few cross country races over the next while, and looking for some advice on race strategy.

I saw the comment above about "Go out conservatively". I have got other input about going out hard and getting in a good position as you can get stuck in traffic later.

What does everyone think, how do you gauge how much effort to put in at different stages of the XC race?

I always say to first-timers to go out conservatively as I think that some people can be put off from having another go at xc if they get their pacing wrong and are suffering from a mile in. Whereas they'll probably want another go if they feel like they left something out on the course. And if someone can learn to love xc, they'll have a whole new world of running open to them, but that advice doesn't apply to you!

The optimal strategy is that your first mile or two will be your fastest and, from that point, the best xc runners will be better at limiting the fade.

And the rationale behind going out hard is due to the concertina effect that happens around corners, the further you are down the pack, the more you get slowed down by everyone slowing down to get around a corner. You can lose 20s in the space of a couple of corners due to that. And that obviously adds up.

Last year at the National Novice I went out hard and my race was over within 800m, worst race of my life. Last weekend at the Dublin novice, I went out too slow and I ended up running the last mile 20s faster than the first, which probably cost my team a few places.

My best country cross races have been go out hard (bit like a track race) but settle quickly and then work my way through the field. There's strategy involved dependent on the distance and the nature of the terrain but, like any distance or discipline, it can reward a variety of different approaches!

If you're a grinder, it's definitely possible to go out hard and hang on. I am not a grinder.

Wubble Wubble wrote: »

I'll be there. First time in four years. Looks like we'll have proper XC conditions too

I’m thinking of it. Do you need spikes for this? The ground is so hard at the moment I can’t see any need for them. I know it’s due to rain at the weekend so maybe things will change.

Despite the rain yesterday\today - I'd say spikes are definitely optional, the ground is still quite hard, its soaking up the rain pretty well

HelenAnne wrote: »

It's been cancelled

From their Facebook page:

BHAA
32 mins ·
*****Casteknock Cross Country****
*****CANCELLED*****
The college board have cancelled tomorrow's Cross Country due to Storm Callum.
It is hoped that the race can be rescheduled.
Will keep you all posted.


***

It can't be helped - hope they can re-schedule!

Boooooooooooo:(

Just wondering is the cross country course in Abbotstown open to the public? Was thinking of doing a recce this Sunday ahead of the open XC.

Cheers

Great, thanks for your reply

Swashbuckler wrote: »

After my first XC experience today this turned out to be very accurate.

Well done. Here is Kevin Dooney's 2nd place at last year's Senior XC:

https://www.strava.com/activities/1291770348

His is unusually even-paced but you can look at some of the other good runs there too, a lot of which consisted of a a strong pace for the first two miles, fade off that pace and then a kick in again at the finish. 20 seconds of a fade seems about standard for a lot of the guys who finished near the top - and were happy with their runs.