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?

Run a lot faster, or a lot slower. Or yell at her to do her own workout/race.

Just train harder and run faster then she won't be able to keep up.

Call her out on it. Demand that she take a pull. Pro cyclists do this all of the time. Or, as someone else pointed out, run faster or slower. Throw in surges to get her off of you. My guess is that if she sucks as bad as you say she does, she won't be able to hang if you run your uphills hard.

a lot of runners seemed to be mentally hard wired to either set a pace, or run on somebody's shoulder. you can try to slow down and see if she will take the bait and go in front of you, but chances are it won't work. you are always going to find your way to the pace that works for you, and she is going to continue to have the sense that you are a really good person to work off of.

both of your natural instincts are at play here.

This is a very common thing in bike racing-called wheel sucking. what you do is surge at random times. My recommendation is to use any disruption in pace as a chance to surge. One really great trick - go into a corner or choke point in the front of a group (larger is better) slow waaaaay down coming into it - like almost walking, then on the exit sprint out - this created a slinky effect that makes the runners at the end of the slinky have to run both faster and for longer to get back on the pack.

Do you have people on the team you do enjoy being around? Make a point to stick by them and run with them. If she wants to hang at your back, at least you'll have a friendly face there too, and a distraction.

As for racing, it doesn't seem like a beneficial race strategy for her, because it sounds like she could probably go a lot faster. But if she can't then you have to change up your paces. Go really slow, and speed up. Throw her off your rhythm.

You also mentioned she hates you. What does she do that makes you feel that way? Keep in mind that bullying isn't always name calling. The silent treatment, backstabbing, and these sorts of mental games count too. I know "tell her mommy" was a cheeky comment above, but you should tell your coach if you are being mistreated.

If she ran her own race I always beat her but when she sticks to my shoulders I lose my strategy, get distracted, and as a result I slow down. She could go her pace and I could mine. We could both get good times and I would be happy for her. But here she is basically making me slower my sticking to me

That doesn’t make any sense. Someone behind you can’t slow you down. Their gain isn’t your loss unless you are racing.

I mean I get nervous when someone runs at my back idk why. Tell me why I beat her on races where she paces herself then ?

Draft off her?

Go faster so she can 'pace' off of you

Are you two finishing 1st & 2nd in XC races? If so, talk about sharing pacing duty. If you two are finishing 51st & 52nd in XC races, don't worry about it.

Okay I gotcha.

This feeling is something that you need to work on. Talk to your coach about it. You don't have to mention your teammate specifically, but hanging on someone's back and letting a person "pull" you is a race strategy many people use. I did it with a rival, and I remember the coach yelling "DON'T BE SO ACCOMODATING!" to the girl, and I kinda chuckled to myself.

Part of the reason why other runners hang on their competitors backs IS to throw them off their game. All is fair in a race.

So talk to your coach about how having people hang on your back throws you off, and what you can do mentally to focus on yourself. You can't expect competition, be it from teammates or rivals to be...accommodating. You need to show them it doesn't impact you.

Some runners are just mentally weak and don't think they can hang on mid race only to come up with a huge kick in the last 200m. My guess is that your teammate falls into this category. Mentally, she knows she can hang with you but is uncertain that she can go up the road on her own. It's super frustrating, I know.

Maybe take some satisfaction in the fact that you're likely helping to pull this girl along to faster times and higher finishes than if she had to go it alone. Then again, if she's outkicking you for the win (as per 600m man's post) in every race.....that sucks. At that point, you should try some of the tactics mentioned above: surging, slowing down, etc....

Yep, I did this ALL the time! I was a 400m runner who also did XC. I was never in the lead pack, but I always would sit and kick my mid pack teammates. I never thought about how they might feel about it.

Get faster

Might be best if you practice ignoring her unless she violates your space-then ask her politely (at first) to respect your space. Part of the game is handling weird competition, whackos, and psych-out moves. Put on yr invisible shield!

Put a fist under her nose and ask if she wants a bunch of fives. If she says “No”, say “Get off my behind you dumb harpy.”