I have a teammate who uses me as a pacer then passes me at the end of a race. How to make them stop doing that?

Back in HS, I was a sprinter but still decent in XC, but I couldn't run more than 2 miles by myself. Even today, I cannot run more than 2 miles by myself. I need pacers.

the people saying "get faster" to someone asking for XC suggestions end of october are fairly obviously silly. that'll take weeks/months and is a future response. she wants a present response. to me what you need to work on is match race style racecraft, something like what the people mentioning cycling are getting at.

i agree with the people saying change of pace, particularly in practice where there is no harm to your own race. particularly i would suggest "brake checking" as opposed to trying to go faster. equivalent of hitting the brakes or slowing up when someone tailgates. guy once got a yellow card out of me in soccer by getting behind me on a play then just stopping as i raced to get back goalside. ran right up him, almost like a football tackle. free kick, yellow card.

i would also consider using other runners as moving "picks" or "blockers," where you have someone else alongside you and it's harder to just go around. or orient yourself towards obstacles where someone drafting you and trying to set up to pass you had no space. literally blocking someone is illegal but who is going to protest when it's your teammate. i think you need this racecraft anyway.

one time a relatively famed local coach one lap was telling his runner to get by me, he's nothing, put him behind you. next lap he started kind of pushing from an angle behind on a series of small hills. when he leaned into me on a compression i soccer shouldered him to the ground then smiled at his coach.

ideally do it without contact but you want to create a price and/or obstructions for riding your tookus in an unwanted fashion. you want to sit behind me then kick, fine, we'll make a line of 3 runners with another team in your way. we'll make your race harder. to me teammates don't roll that way. teammates help each other. a teammate to me would be saying, come sprint with me, if they wanted to kick finish like that. or they'd stay by your side during the race and at least ask. to me this is not team behavior. i would try some of the match racing ideas on here and if you get push-back from her, then you have your come to jesus talk where it annoys me what you're doing, who does that to a teammate, run with me like your buddy or go on by. you wanna be my teammate? great, act like one. if not, if you're gonna do this stuff, don't expect favors or relaxed pace work.

During the race alternate the pace, similar to a fartlek, or Pre's 30/40 workout. Throw in a some crazy fast surges, then slow, similar to some Kenyan's during the race. This will require you to be a stronger runner, but will throw her off her rhythm.

Wrong, both scientifically and psychologically. Of course someone behind you slows you down, just like on a bike or in a car. Look it up.

this is a psychological effect, not a performance factor. Improve mental toughness and ignore everything going on. Don't worry about what others are doing.

You can also try, like I said earlier, alternating the pace, during the surge you will create distance...then when you slow she will run faster to catch up to you...as soon as she catches you, put in another surge. so you are resting while she is surging, eventually this tactic will wreck her will to keep going, however to do this does require you to be a stronger runner.

Workouts:

On some intervals, especially longer ones, when coach says go, count 1001. 1002, than go so she is not able to heel suck off you. Subtract 2sec from your time. If you can, pass her by the end so you show her you are the faster runner. On other intervals, just go a but slower and kick the last 300m. Try to dominate her in practice. You will both learn that she can't hang with you. Then you own her.

As someone else said, use race choke points (narrow sections, hills, turns) to slow and surge. Do your best to focus on beating other runners and ignoring her.

I had a HS teammate like this. I learned to do a 2 tier kick from 600, then 300 to the finish. It broke him, and a lot of others, enough that he changed tactics and started latching on to others.

Good luck.

You look it up. You are incorrect when it comes to runners.

i think it's a more reasonable suggestion to a HS athlete probably going fast as they can to briefly brake check or use other runners/onstacles as blockers or do things in practice. telling a HS athlete getting passed at the end to throw in a fast chunk is asking them to blow up. telling them to train different is a 2024 strategy for a 2023 problem. you won't know til you both show back up for TF how you stack in the spring. you might have a week or two left this season. this is you have to come up with some sort of chess game stuff that doesn't involve over-taxing yourself to deal with one problem.

She’s a sprinter too, that’s why I can’t just randomly accelerate. But I was able to increase my pace untill I lose her

You don’t have exclusive rights to the pace that you run? She can run whatever pace she wants.

I’m guessing your real problem is that she beats you. If you beat her every time, you wouldn’t have a problem with her strategy.

toughen up

I'd say you have to work on changing your mentality. This is a standard strategy. it's mentally challenging to have someone sitting on you when you know you are pretty equal to her. It has made me nauseous to be in this situation. But you have to talk yourself into having the confidence to pull away from her. If you can master this with a teammate, it will put you in better shape when competitors start doing this to you.

What does your coach say? Does your coach want your teammate to run with you?

When you say, "when she stays away" you mean when she runs in front of you? Or when she just jogs behind you not trying her best.

10/10 on the trolling you've gotten a lot of responses and pretending to not understand is clearly irritating people. One of the better letsrun trolls I've seen so far. Good job.

sit and kick on them and don't lead no matter what

I had this with a teammate. They were stronger than me in the middle section and I had to hand on for dear life. If I was still there with 500m to go then I knew I had him. However, unlike you, and your teammate, we were good friends. I knew I was on a good day I if I was anywhere near him after the first 1/3. We had different strengths. Play to yours. Run your own pace and start the kick for home from a long way out or try a mid race surge or two.