Why in a race do I always do worse than a training run?

Well Hadd ur right about the HrMax it isn't 206 and is 201. (My bad) Yes I can hold a 6:40 pace at an avg heart reat of 155 to 165 with the last mile really pushing it with a sub 6, Hr of 175+ (also the last mile of all my runs at home have a 800m of a nice steady incline).

Now what the problem is when it comes to a race somthing goes wrong and I end up sucking the big one. I had a race 2 days ago and ran a 17:39. I fell 3 times because the course was a mudd pit and part of the course was under ankle high water.

That race was my second best for xc this year. I was really happy with the time.

Hey dude, thanks for bumping this. I wondered what had happened to you.

Right up front, if you can go from 19.11 to 17.39 there is not too much wrong. Especially when you do the swan-dive THREE TIMES during the 17.39 run.

Already you should be comparing your pre-race week before each of those performances and trying to figure what exactly made the big difference.

Here's some stuff to think on:

1. Do not run at 5k pace or faster more than once per week, and you can even drop this session when you have a race at the weekend.

2. Work on yr LT more (see another thread about 5.00 for 5k by a guy called Bert on which I commented quite lengthily on this subject). This is where your race consistency is going to come from.

3. Stay off the plyos, drills, sessions faster than 3k pace. You don't need a zippy footstrike to run well in the mud. What you do need is the inevitability of a bulldozer. Head for the hills, but don't hit them TOO hard, no high lactate, burning legs. Take them easy, but lift those knees.

4. Go easier on the easy/recovery runs. For you, 150 HR is fine, with (carefully read the other thread) up to 170 for the low LT runs.

5. STAY ON YOUR FEET and you'll bust 17.00 mins soon for sure.

Good luck.

The silver backed glass serves as a sounding board for nothing else other than the truth; the truth springs forward to greet you and to shower reality upon your welcoming ears.To state the obvious, apparently your training runs are not accurately measured and can serve as no reliable basis for race predictions. Or you race your training runs instead of training to race your race. Or you are just a pansy. I suspect it is either 1 or 2 (not 3). Ease off and remember that when you train, you are training to race and that finishing well behind your peers in practice doesn't matter when you finish well ahead of them on game day.The truth is not grey; the truth is not bent; the truth is the actual reflection when reality faces the silver backed glass.

Still a Sad Sad runner wrote:

Well since am still in high school we have 2 meets a week, and always on the meet in middle of the week I always do better. On saturday however I usally do not do so great (i can see this from my training log).

I like ur race day stratgey. But how can u make it fit a day when u run anywhere from 9:30 to 11:00 am. And u have to get up around 5:55am to go to the school to catch ur bus to take u to the meet?