The 10k even climbed around 300 ft. This xc course was relatively flat.
I get that it was my first race this season but it sucks. Anyone else have this issue before- running well before but not during xc?
The 10k even climbed around 300 ft. This xc course was relatively flat.
I get that it was my first race this season but it sucks. Anyone else have this issue before- running well before but not during xc?
That used to happen to me a lot during XC seasons. I would have a great base, feel supremely confident coming into the season, sometimes even setting a pr in the first meet.
Then, I would start going downhill. Usually 30 second off pace by nationals. What i found was simple. I was working out too hard. It takes a lot of confidence and maturity to slow down your tempo runs, or your intervals. But often that's what is doing the most damage.
Before my freshman year of college, I ran a workout of 5 miles out moderate, 5 miles back hard, with splits of 34:30/30:30.
I thought for sure I would be running 27:30 for 8K that fall. So most meets, I would run the first mile in 5:25-5:35. Even when I tried to go out "easy", I would run 5:40 for the first mile.
I only broke 30 minutes for 8K once that year because I ran like a fool.
I would give yourself midpoint goals that are super conservative. Run the first 3 miles in 18:30. If you are capable of a 37:10 10K, you should be able to run close to 11:00 for those final two miles.
Next time out, the first 3 miles of the race can be 18:00 and see if you can close the same.
The easiest way to see if you are doing it right is to identify your slowest and fast mile splits. The fastest split should be your last one. Your slowest split should be the first or the second. ANY variation from that, and you're doing it wrong.
So many reasons...
Did you workout like a mad man all summer or did you do a Summer of Malmo?
XC is about place not time. XC course distance measurements can be way off.
It is not all about hills. Even when perfectly flat, tracks are faster than roads which are faster than dirt which is faster than fairway golf course grass which is faster than a cut hay lot which is faster than mud.
Have you been racing your workouts since your team got together?
Some more background: I ran my peak mileage in late June of about miles, then moved to my college town to look for jobs and ended up riding my bike everywhere (car needed repairs), and got into cycling.
I started cycling more than running, partially just out of necessity. Running mileage prolly dropped to the 20s. Then early August saw a flyer for the 10k and decided to get off the bike and do more running, and ran that time.
-So no, i didn't run crazy in during summer.
-Not racing workouts; I've been doing most of mine on my own since my schedule is weird. I'm also the top runner on my (tiny, community college) team, so I have no one to run anything faster with.
Could be because your schedule is weird. If it is not consistent and you are running at odd times or if you have a lot of other things going on, that could be affecting your running. If you are in an intense part of your training and are racing on tired legs, that could be it as well. When I was in college, I would run fast at the time trial as it was early in the school year and there were fewer distractions, I would slog through the next couple of meets as the training was intense and I was running a lot of races on tired legs, and then when conferences and regionals would come up, I would be fresh and fit as we would taper before the meets and I would run good times. Typically, I would never run close to PR pace until late in the season, which is when you want to be running fast anyhow.