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The XC thread

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SPR Feb 2024 2:42pm, 8 Feb 2024 43,598 posts	Quote Pin SPR I did find a replacement pair reduced elsewhere but based on the failures (a club mate had his fail at our last race on the first attempt) I think I'll just get a refund and hope a stronger version is made at some point as there seems to be little chance of them making it through a season, let alone multiple seasons. Shame as they fit me very well.
rhb Feb 2024 5:42pm, 10 Feb 2024 2,120 posts	Quote Pin rhb #runequal by stealth at Maccl Kenworthy fixture today. I thought 8km was a great distance and the extra mile wasn't missed. Fingers crossed the sun rises tomorrow though, a risky business this change thing is.
auburnette Feb 2024 5:58pm, 10 Feb 2024 2,235 posts	Quote Pin auburnette Any tips for getting better at xc specifically? I usually get beaten by people I would beat on the roads. Think I maybe need to work on my leg strength, hills, maybe also some faster trail running (all my hard efforts are run on the roads). It's not really a hill related thing, I just seem to struggle on grass (although I'm fine at parkrun, maybe I'm getting drawn out too fast at the beginning?)
rhb Feb 2024 6:45pm, 10 Feb 2024 2,121 posts	Quote Pin rhb auburnette all you mention Hills build strength, even if they're not the problem for you. Reps on grass too, hard laps of footy pitches with recovery between etc.. "maybe I'm getting drawn out too fast at the beginning" Do you find you fade during the race and folks pass you? If so try holding back fir the first half of the race then push on. It is a much nicer feeling picking off runners in later laps than dropping backwards. Do you track your hr during the races? How comfy are you at judging your perceived effort?
SPR Feb 2024 8:07pm, 10 Feb 2024 43,607 posts	Quote Pin SPR I was discussing how different people perform at XC with a teammate today and he brought up a twin he'd been talking to where both have similar road times but one does strength training and outperforms the other significantly at XC. Anecdotally I feel strength training helps (I haven't done as much as I should this season but I've done enough to help somewhat). XC always starts fast so IMO you need to be able to feel your effort level instead of just following. I actually went out a bit faster today as I had my eye on beating someone that I hadn't beaten at XC before but I'd been close to by the end of the last race. Even with that though I still wasn't ahead of him with my faster start just closer and at some point I had to listen to the effort signals I was getting to settle at the right effort as continuing to chase at what felt faster than sustainable would lead to a fade eventually. I don't train specifically for it but I'm sure that would help to train on in those conditions, especially muddy flat and uphill conditions for me where I could be more efficient. Downhill whatever the conditions are great for me. Today I felt the slip going downhill in the last muddy section into the hill to start/ end the lap but I trusted my spikes to grip and just kept the leg speed going. I think learning your strengths and weaknesses is useful. I've always tried to use the strengths I have (good downhill, on flat, short sharp hills and effort judgement) to good effect. Today for example on 3 out of the 4 laps, I dropped the group I was with on an incline that started steeper but tapered into a drag as I seemed to get the effort right on the steep section and then be able to keep going on the drag while they needed to recover as they overcooked it and faded on the easier part. On climbs of decent length, I try and maintain/ not lose too much and make it up on the sections I'm good at or I will hold back on my good sections to save something for the tougher sections (the holding back is something I've only really started doing this year). On 3 of the 4 laps, today I was trying to make up places on the downhill and then trying to hold on for uphill and muddy section. On the last lap, I was at the front of my group but didn't go as fast as I could on the downhill as I thought it was more important to save something for the tougher section going into the finish (made sure my breathing was relaxed) and it worked out well as no one in the group beat me (other than a club mate that's faster and had been taken it easy). Obviously the ideal is being good at it all, but even then, you may have relative strengths/. weaknesses to those around you.
SPR Feb 2024 8:14pm, 10 Feb 2024 43,609 posts	Quote Pin SPR Are you in spikes auburnette?
Curly45 Feb 2024 8:25pm, 10 Feb 2024 4,623 posts	Quote Pin Curly45 I'm much better on XC than road. I've naturally got what other women used to call "strong" legs and am also a very good uphill runner versus my flat speed. I save my efforts for uphills and try to mentally break others on them. I do strength work and also now live in a hilly place so that helps, but the courses are hillier of course 😂 To get stronger, I feel running hardish up long hills helps, but going off too fast is definitely an issue. Don't overestimate the benefit of passing people late on in XC. I try to go off far too slowly and catch people in miles 3-4.
Fragile Do Not Bend Feb 2024 8:39pm, 10 Feb 2024 12,004 posts	Quote Pin Fragile Do Not Bend I had my first ever XC race today and it struck me how much more I needed to use the strength in my legs than I would for a road race. Particularly in the very muddy bits - I could feel the extra effort needed to pull my feet up off the ground. I don’t tend to lift my knees up that much when running on the road.
SPR Feb 2024 8:46pm, 10 Feb 2024 43,610 posts	Quote Pin SPR What's your downhill running like Curly45? I remember doing one really tough XC where one of my clubmates who does fell running beat me even though he was about a minute slower over 5k. Thing is he was as good downhill as me so I had nowhere to make up the advantages he had on the tough sections. I generally run undulating routes even if I'm not doing specific XC training and I do road intervals that take in up, down and flat so training weaknesses and strength hopefully. Oh I did beat the guy I was targeting, just had to reel him in slowly, but got past with a couple of laps to go so fairly comfortable in the end (he possibly blew himself up as he was almost 2 mins back in the end).
auburnette Feb 2024 8:47pm, 10 Feb 2024 2,236 posts	Quote Pin auburnette I'm wearing mudclaws rather than proper spikes, I have decent traction but they definitely aren't as nice to run in as my road racing shoes as they are heavier and pick up mud. I'm definitely not as good at feeling my effort on grass. I think it's a combination of slightly blowing up because I'm starting too fast (because my HR is peaking in like mile 2) but also legs not being strong enough because analysed afterwards these HRs that I'm hitting should not be enough to force me to slow down, like I've raced whole half marathons at a higher average heart rate and with a faster breathing rate. I just don't seem to be able to push myself in the same way although to be fair I don't taper for XC races like I would for a half! I noticed on the most recent one I did that I was tending to gain on people in the more notable inclines but lose them in everything else (flat, downhill, slight incline). I've set off too fast and faded towards the end in every single one I've done!!