Who does bad weather benefit in a Cross-Country race?

joedirt wrote:

It typically favors CU. At least it has in the past.

^^^

The CU women displayed complete dominance in the snow last year at Nationals.

The CU men outperformed their #8 national ranking to finish 4th at Nationals and their top 3 beat NAU top 3.

Mud and rain may favor others but I would say Colorado benefits most when it snows

I would say it benefits the faster runner.

eggnog miler wrote:

The ones who drink the most eggnog.

This is the only acceptable answer

Higher calling wrote:

joedirt wrote:

It typically favors CU. At least it has in the past.

^^^

The CU women displayed complete dominance in the snow last year at Nationals.

The CU men outperformed their #8 national ranking to finish 4th at Nationals and their top 3 beat NAU top 3.

Mud and rain may favor others but I would say Colorado benefits most when it snows

Don't forget about 2004.

Garrett Heath

Rick Cheney wrote:

I would say it benefits the faster runner.

I disagree.... see my post above. Why has Heath beat the best track runners in the world in Edinburgh. Guys that have literally run 5 seconds faster for 1500m, 20+ seconds faster for 5k. He literally has no shot to beat any of those studs he beat in Edinburgh on a track or fast xc conditions but add some elements and make the course difficult and he now has an advantage.

While not absolute-I think being near the front in these races may have more merit than normal. The kids at the front will experience the course at its freshest before it gets completely torn up and turned into a mud apocalypse. If it already sucks because of earlier events, the lack of people up front means there's no one to throw you off your balance in the crappier areas of the course. It's less of a front runner advantage and more of an increased mid-pack disadvantage.

Limes wrote:

While not absolute-I think being near the front in these races may have more merit than normal. The kids at the front will experience the course at its freshest before it gets completely torn up and turned into a mud apocalypse. If it already sucks because of earlier events, the lack of people up front means there's no one to throw you off your balance in the crappier areas of the course. It's less of a front runner advantage and more of an increased mid-pack disadvantage.

Same with super windy conditions. If you get gapped your stuck with no one to break wind for you while trying to reel guys in.

Heel strikers!

being a toe/midfoot striker in slipery conditions is definately a disadvantage. This also might explain why mid distance/sprint guys suffer more.

Would you consider cold weather to be bad weather? The coolest race day we've had this year was 75F and on Monday our race is predicted to be 30F. I'm interested to see if the child changes anything.

Bigote wrote:

Garrett Heath

It sure beats putting a shotgun in your mouth. Where’s the trigger?

Limes wrote:

While not absolute-I think being near the front in these races may have more merit than normal. The kids at the front will experience the course at its freshest before it gets completely torn up and turned into a mud apocalypse. If it already sucks because of earlier events, the lack of people up front means there's no one to throw you off your balance in the crappier areas of the course. It's less of a front runner advantage and more of an increased mid-pack disadvantage.

definitely not absolute. 3 years ago, we ran states on a course that had 6 inches of mud the day before the meet. Overnight, it snowed and froze. So half the course was deep mud, half frozen,snowy tundra. My kid Came in ranked #12, ran in around 30th place through 1.5 of a 5k. Ended up in 6th.

I'm not arguing. What you are saying is logical.

Who does bad weather benefit in a Cross Country race?

BYU, NAU, and Colorado.

Bad conditions make it easier to screw up. You know what you can run for a 5k on a track or even the XC course. Through in mud, ice, water and so on and your pace can be off by 30s. Through in going out too fast because of this being the big race and you can get some blow ups.

Honestly I expect the conditions make almost zero difference. Some people end up with a good day and others bad and we give credit to the weather.

Anecdotal, but I was fairly large for a runner, had lots of muscle mass in my legs, and sort of plodded when I ran. And I sucked in bad weather, despite living and training in it my whole life. My teammates who weighed nothing and pranced when they ran excelled. I don't think it was a mental thing ... I just tied up badly in cold weather.

Generally, I have found that there are grinder type runners that usually do not excel in fast paces or furious finishes who do well in bad conditions. The 1500 toe runner loves a flat grass racetrack for CC. But make that a sodden mush field after a heavy rain and they suddenly have no bounce and their prancing style wears them out in about 4 minutes.

Cold weather: those with cold tolerance

Warm weather: those with heat tolerance

Humidity: the aerobic monsters