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?

Did you have learned something about air resistance?

Runners are quite narrow minded when it comes to physics, but we have supershoes and we have still the air resistance. Of course it is easier to run not in front at the same speed, because of that!!

It's a race.

XC is the great equalizer, use the course to your advantage to break her. Learn about the XC course before the race. Find points in the race where surges can put a gap on her and she has to work hard to get back to your shoulder. Doing it 3 or 4 times in a race usually breaks the follower. (You can also use this in practice, but if you want it to be more effective in the races. Let her run on your shoulder in practice, and don't apply tactics, so she won't be expecting it in the races and won't figure out what you are doing in the race.)

Making moves at the top of hills and or after a sharp turn can surprise your teammate and allow a gap to occur. She then has to work harder to catch back up to you. And if you can make a move before a hill, where she has to work harder on the hill to catch you and then follow it up with another surge at the top of the hill. you will soon find that she gives up.

It sounds like she is in your head. Now you need to use race tactics to get her uncomfortable and guessing at what you will do next. I had teammates like this and as soon as you make them uncomfortable or have to guess what you are doing it breaks their focus and stresses them. They soon don't want to run with you anymore.

If she's a sprinter, go out really fast the first mile and burn her out. She won't follow you again.

Repeating what many people have said: it's you. Don't be so fragile mentally. The answer isn't training or anything other than be tougher in the head. Don't be so self-centered that you think the world should bow to your wishes because the world just doesn't give a crap what you want.

I can think of two suggestions. The first is to try to "jump" her kick. She is probably blowing you away with less than 100m to go. So, next race, with about 300m to go, kick hard, like 90% of what you have left in the tank. Your goal is to get ahead of her enough that she won't even try. I tell this to all runners -- especially HS runners, who almost always start their kicks too late. Start it with 300-400m to go. Typically what will happen is you will pass 5-10 people and 2-3 of them will get you back. An entire team that does this gains like 30 points.

The second way would be to "ratchet" the pace. Go through the mile slightly slower than usual. Then, slowly but surely increase the effort over the next two miles. This is the classic way to get rid of a kicker -- get the kick out of her before it even starts. By the two mile mark, in your head you should be thinking that you've got to get away from her.

Finally, while the last 100m is not ALL mental, a lot of it is. Fight her for all you are worth if she comes alongside you.

Run faster and take her with you. You are competing against other teams and not your teammates.

Pretty easy solution. Go to lane 2 and slow down and then get behind them. Not too hard. If you run slow enough for 1/2 lap they will move on!

It's so unfair when other competitors are better than you and beat you. They should stay behind you, because you don't deserve to be passed at the finish.

Well timed laxatives.

Or surge hard mid race.

I raced competitively from 1957 to 1990. After that I got old and then for fun. Back in my day, there was a 'Racer's Code'. One important code, especially in distance races was that you changed off who had the lead to another runner who was drafting like in cycling except near the end of the race.

Because I was taller, especially if it was windy, I usually had two or three tailing behind me. My best tactic was to move much farther to the right or left. If they followed me over, then I slowed down a lot and rested. If they still stayed behind me, I would walk. That worked every time, especially when they gave up being behind me and went past, I would tell them then about the code.

If they followed me too closely, which might cause me to trip, I would lash out back with one leg. They usually got the hint. If they did not, I would stop right in front of them and confront them. Yes, my race could be over or the win not possible. but a direct confrontation always resulted in them not doing that again. I was extra hostile if it was one of my teammates.

Those kind of tactics are appropriate for competitors from other schools but not a teammate.

hasn't the teammate already broken spades? it's like my house used to be the pickup b-ball house for my friend group. one day a guy i was less friends with down the street showed up. he seemed to be in some sort of mood and played hyper aggressive defense. it's amusing to hear that sort of thing re-framed as the home-court kid being the one with the issue, or it being strictly mental. she could be tougher mentally and lose again. i would be more concerned with the tactical response -- learning racing and dealing with different opponent times and situations -- than lame notions of toughness which don't help you fend off anything practically.

for example, "toughness" does not meaningfully address my neighbor being a jerk that day. it was going to be tough as long as i stayed out front and played. he brought that. whether i psychologically cope, so what. but whether i win is a separate question involving practical responses and tactics. do i get more technical? do i get more physical? do i call fouls? etc. to me just being tough is "his" game. my goal is to win and make him regret the tactical choice.

the tactical offerings are far more useful with one big caveat. always always always remember it's a 100 person race and not just a 2 person one. however big the field is that day. your goal is to run a good time and beat the most people. personally i would try to deal with the teammate issue in practice as i don't want to waste my race time or placements dealing with a dumb teammate issue. and i would deal with the issue in a way that resulted in your best race overall. run your own strategy and hope that it's not even an issue. if it comes up, be quick about the response and solve the issue then get rapidly back to your race. or do your race but just try to run it such there is no value and potentially getting stuck behind for drafting.

personally i wouldn't elevate it above any other H2H in a race. but if it comes down to you two again i would have a different response. use blockers, use pace changes, use the course. either force an earlier move then draft her, or punish her on finish for deliberately sitting back.

to me the big picture lessons are more useful here than this person. learn the chess of it. and then in the offseason get to training where maybe when you meet again you're not same ballpark to have this issue. but for now, chess.

At the end, when your annoying teammate goes to pass, speed up so that you stay ahead. Then, stay in front of your teammate (by running faster) all the way through the finish line. When you do that a few times, she will likely stop using you as a pacer. What's more, you probably will no longer care if she tries. You're welcome!

Sounds like this person is really in your head. I remember in high school I would worry too much about beating a specific person which would cause me to change my race strategy to beat them instead of running my own race. Focus on executing a race strategy that is independent of this other person and let everything else take care of itself.

She's probably using you to block wind, our coach makes me and another guy of a similar speed do this in longer distances for track. He has us switch each 400 during track season, as the person behind has a much easier race because of the wind block. You could also just find another teammate or two that are similar speeds but slightly faster, and try to stay with them for the first however long until you build the endurance to run at their pace for the entire race, which is what I'm guessing she's doing with you.

As David Goggins once said, "Stay hard"

Run together, compete against other teams, and enjoy.