UKC

In a belated and probably futile attempt at introducing some steel into my running it seems that I'm doing a cross country series this winter. The last cross country race that I ran was 30 years ago.

Hot tips?

In reply to Mark Torrance:
Get a decent pair of shoes.

In reply to Mark Torrance: Are you the Mark Torrance that I ran against 30 years ago?

In reply to Mark Torrance:

None that I am qualified to give.

Throwing the ball back, for similar reasons I have entered a 10 mile fell/cross country race tomorrow and on the basis of this weeks running, feel like withdrawing. How bad can it be? Only 20 others have entered, which makes me feel very exposed.

In reply to mbh:
Go for it mate, top 20 almost guaranteed !!!

In reply to mbh:

Notice you're in Cornwall, so where's the race tomorrow? I did Sourton Tor a few weeks back in a field of 25, so felt similarly exposed. Plenty of slower runners from the club that organised it there, so I ended up coming 5th rather than back of the pack where I'd expected. So entirely unqualified advice from me would be just go for it

In reply to Tom Last:

Hi Tom,

I did Sourton too, and chatted to you briefly afterwards. I came 11th, after failing to run downhill with any semblance of speed.

The race is the Bovey Beauty, here http://fellrunner.org.uk/races.php?id=2623

In reply to:

Ross: done

Al: No. Not unless you went to the same school as me.

mbh: (a) it can be very bad and (b) get your own thread

All: So, given that I have appropriate shoes, am I guaranteed success?

In reply to mbh:

Oh, and (c) looks like a good race, and (d) have fun

In reply to Mark Torrance: I'm a shit XC runner.. no idea why. Guys I beat or race with on the road are just 1-2 mins ahead.. Being from the fells I should have the strength to do well but just never have. They are now much tamer than they used to be course wise.. basic laps of pitches.. but you get some good battles.

In reply to Mark Torrance:

Given (a) I am not sure that (d) is likely, and given (b), (i) shan't, but that's enough about me, and (ii) Good luck with the CC.

In reply to mbh:

Aha yes, of course we did. I thought I recognised you on the day, so maybe we've met climbing before?

Give me a shout sometime if you want some company on the moor winter evenings - I can get you lost then as well as me!

Good luck tomorrow - sounds like a great race, I wish I wasn't working.

Cheers!

Apologies to OP for hijack, count it as a bump

In reply to Mark Torrance: It's worth finding out what the courses will be like before hand as there can be a lot of variety between different series.

My club is in a league that has mainly trail like races, with woody and rooty sections which are reasonably technical, but relatively little gloopy mud.

More traditional courses seem to be dominated by churned up mud, especially by the time of the senior men who are normally last to go. In some ways these are less technical but more exhausting. The Northerns last year were on a relatively flat course but deep snow on thick mud made for very heavy difficult running conditions.

Strength on one type of course barely transferred to the other type. One asked for fast light footwork, the other a powerful running style.

In reply to Mark Torrance: agere with above. I always forund paralympiske hill hellish and remember another National down south bear the costs that was so wet i didn't beileve i could run 15 mins let alone 15k. Northern courses were quite soft but always cold

Tips.
Know the course. How many laps? Jog a short lap as warmup.
The proper shoes are always spikes. I always preferred track spikes to Xc ones for a lot of good reasons. Don't worry about tread - if it's muddy enough to need it, it will just gum up anyway.
Shorts and vest only. Never tights. If it snows wear gloves

Prepare to go pretty hard.

Best of luck, have fun. Xc is really good value

In reply to Mark Torrance: parliament hill in the above. A Norwegian autocomplete makes my life hell and my posts gibberish.

In reply to wbo:


Thanks. This is all helpful. I think (not sure) that the courses are pretty much the run-round-a-field variety. So muddy grass. As someone who is happiest on flat tarmac, but with some fell and trail experience, this is a serious challenge.

Probably an unanswerable question, but I'll try: Assuming a relatively flat but muddy 10k course, how would your time compare to flat 10k road? I want to try and pace the first one sensibly and really have nothing to go on.

In reply to Mark Torrance: 5-10 minutes?+

In reply to dale1968: If its not too boggy then just a few minutes.. 20 seconds a mile slower is 2 minutes. They are normally about 10km.. but normally just below so I find my time around or just above my 10k time.

In reply to Mark Torrance: this is a bit late now but while you shouldn't be so much slower (5 - 20 seks per mile) if you get the shoes wrong and you're skidding around things can go badly wrong.

In reply to wbo:
5 seconds a mile? Clearly I'm doing it wrong

In reply to mbh:

That isn't cross country.

In reply to Mark Torrance: My opinion is that they are the most important races to pace evenly. Try to run a negative split so that you are able to slowly move through the pack. You can't go off too slowly, but don't go off to fast.