Track times are much faster. Track races start much slower.
Do any coaches out there advise their teams to get off the line slow?
Different teams employ different tactics. For example last year NM was 17th at the nominal 1K split to eventually finish 2nd. But they had a pack that could kind of run together. Many teams do not want to have to play catch-up so they try to get runners up front. It can depend on the specific runners. It can also depend on the course, for example the VA course this year is a little more narrow than the OSU course, at least in a few places, and has a botle-neck point about 600 m into the race so it can be tougher to move up.
Cross country is about POSITION when determining who is the best. You want your team in before everyone else if possible. On a course with potentially hundreds of runners you can jam a little on the first part to get locked into a better spot.
Good luck waiting in the back and grinding through hundreds of runners with sharp elbows and bad breath.
In HS if you get caught up in the wash you are doing a lot of running around slower runners trying to make your way up to the front. You waste a lot of energy and run farther. At that level there are A LOT of kids going out way way way too fast and they clog up the course as they fall back over the first mile to halfway point.
In college I think you can sit back more and move up because runners are more aware of their pace.
Track times are much faster. Track races start much slower.
Do any coaches out there advise their teams to get off the line slow?
Different teams employ different tactics. For example last year NM was 17th at the nominal 1K split to eventually finish 2nd. But they had a pack that could kind of run together. Many teams do not want to have to play catch-up so they try to get runners up front. It can depend on the specific runners. It can also depend on the course, for example the VA course this year is a little more narrow than the OSU course, at least in a few places, and has a botle-neck point about 600 m into the race so it can be tougher to move up.
Yup. So many courses I ran on started in a wide open field and funneled everyone into a narrow passage.
Whatever helps you run as fast as possible will help your team all the more. I always started conservative and breezed by so many people throughout the race. It's one of my pet peeves when people go out too fast. Time can be saved and positions could be found if you just pace yourself properly.
Getting out hard/fast for position is way over-rated and most people overestimate the importance of "getting in a good position."
We won state while being near last place and 200 points behind first at 1km.
There's nothing better than running through the field. You get increased motivation as you pass runners, who are running 30 secs/mile slower than they otherwise would if they'd gone out sensibly.
A cross country race is still about getting from point A to point B as quickly as possible; and if you crater - because you've gone out way too hard - then it doesn't matter how great the position you've achieved in the first 400m, a fresher runner is gonna step around you.
In HS if you get caught up in the wash you are doing a lot of running around slower runners trying to make your way up to the front. You waste a lot of energy and run farther. At that level there are A LOT of kids going out way way way too fast and they clog up the course as they fall back over the first mile to halfway point.
In college I think you can sit back more and move up because runners are more aware of their pace.
I was injured in college at the beginning of my last XC season and my roommate, who was slower than me, beat me in some XC races when I started coming back. He acted a little smug about it and I couldn't help but notice that he always went out under control. I figured I would take away his edge and tried it, and it was a great strategy. I started employing it each race from that point on.
Come NCAAs the field went out ridiculously fast, and out of my peripheral vision I could see the last three runners were me, my roommate, and Ed Torres. Torres finished 27th and while my roommate and I weren't as fast over 10 km. I still ate up 100 or so places.
When I coached high school XC later, I tried to get across the importance of going out under control. One year at state my runners took it a little to the extreme and had trouble working their way through the crowd on a tight course. To a certain extent it depends on the experience of a runner and on the type of course (IMO).
Getting out hard/fast for position is way over-rated and most people overestimate the importance of "getting in a good position."
We won state while being near last place and 200 points behind first at 1km.
There's nothing better than running through the field. You get increased motivation as you pass runners, who are running 30 secs/mile slower than they otherwise would if they'd gone out sensibly.
A cross country race is still about getting from point A to point B as quickly as possible; and if you crater - because you've gone out way too hard - then it doesn't matter how great the position you've achieved in the first 400m, a fresher runner is gonna step around you.
XC team races are pretty much won and lost in the first 1000 meters. have a good start and surge to the front you can control the tempo and conserve energy for the kick. have a slow start you spend the entire race burning energy fighting thru hundreds of runners.
NAU has won 6 of the last 7 XC Championships. all 6 of their wins they had excellent starts. their only loss they had a horrible start and couldn't recover in time.
Getting out hard/fast for position is way over-rated and most people overestimate the importance of "getting in a good position."
We won state while being near last place and 200 points behind first at 1km.
There's nothing better than running through the field. You get increased motivation as you pass runners, who are running 30 secs/mile slower than they otherwise would if they'd gone out sensibly.
A cross country race is still about getting from point A to point B as quickly as possible; and if you crater - because you've gone out way too hard - then it doesn't matter how great the position you've achieved in the first 400m, a fresher runner is gonna step around you.
Cross country- mile splits 5:30, 6:15, 6:30 (except for the last 100 meters being about 17 seconds)
Mile in track- 72, 80, 85, 79
Once folks get smarter and more experienced you start seeing more even paced and negative split races in track and xc. However, even the most experienced can get excited and go out way to fast sometimes.
Cross country- mile splits 5:30, 6:15, 6:30 (except for the last 100 meters being about 17 seconds)
Mile in track- 72, 80, 85, 79
Once folks get smarter and more experienced you start seeing more even paced and negative split races in track and xc. However, even the most experienced can get excited and go out way to fast sometimes.
You have certainly been there! The best answer in this case is "it depends." What if the race starts out going downhill the first mile? What if it ends with a hard 800 meters to the finish? I know of a kid who was the #7 runner on the team and he beat everyone on his team simply because the course was REAL CROSS COUNTRY with rocks, trees, and other things to jump over, land on, or go around! I took a team to a race where no one had ever run before and the ground was incredibly rough. It was not much fun. Unfortunately there are situations where you must go out fast and others if you do that you are stupid. I argued with an athletic director about getting early to races. Even if you have been there before you do not know what you do not know.
In HS if you get caught up in the wash you are doing a lot of running around slower runners trying to make your way up to the front. You waste a lot of energy and run farther. At that level there are A LOT of kids going out way way way too fast and they clog up the course as they fall back over the first mile to halfway point.
In college I think you can sit back more and move up because runners are more aware of their pace.
Thank you for commenting as a registered member. I think you are right but in both high school and college there are exceptions to probably every rule. There is thinking involved in distance running as far as the race strategy and your race day plan might have to be changed at the last minute.
Running farther is a huge problem even at the international level. Those folks want to avoid tripping but wind up running 40-80 meters more than anyone else and losing by 2 inches!
I had a runner who finished second at our conference meet. It was his best race ever. During that race I had to run quite a bit to slow him down early because he started in dead last and was attempting to pass all the runners by the mile marker or sooner. The next meet he was going to do it again but somehow I got jammed by some fans and could not get to him earlier and he accomplished the goal of passing all of the runners by the mile marker! He finished ninth and did not make it to our state meet. All because the coach could not get there? Yes, that's why.
(I did want that runner to "start slow and build" but I could not get him to do it the best and most efficient way.)
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