Run-Down Forums

[megaman]

When there is a large # of runners at the start of the race, is it better to start off in a sprint so as not to get caught back in the pack?

[Dan]

Depends on a lot of factors: the size of the pack, how quickly the course narrows down at the start, length of the race, opportunity for passing later on, and the athletes' goals relative to the rest of the field. If you expect to be one of the top few finishers, then it's probably wise to get out front early and avoid the stampede, especially if passing later on is difficult. If you expect to finish in the middle of the pack, then sprinting out front early will only tire you out and probably not have any positive impact on your eventual placing.

Dan

[Hammer]

Also remember that the early sprint (2-7sec) of the race is generated by ATP. If you don't use that energy it is wasted. You can't save it for the last 100 meters. You might as well get out good (strong start for 50-100 meters) and then settle into your pace. But you must practice what you are going to do in a race.

[Dan]

Agreed, except that 50m is the absolute maximum that approach should be applied for. Any longer than that is almost certainly dipping into the next phase of energy reserves for all but the top athletes. Even with your high end figure of 7 seconds (which sounds about right), covering 50m in that time would be on pace for a near world record mile, which I dare say is faster than most people can maintain for a XC race.

Dan

[Hammer]

Starting out fast (5-7 sec) Usually leads to a period of transition (going from 400 pace to +-3k pace) the total race start usually takes 50-100 meters.

The first 5-7 sec. is a quick burst of speed. The next 30-45 sec is spent attempting to get position. In that time the good runner will remain running relativly fast (in comparison to their 5k pace). By that time the runner has probably found the group of runners that he or she will be running with for the remainder of the race.

The runner who does not use their ATP will use up energy in another way. At about 30-90sec. in the race that runner will begin to move up in the field. Using energy to "jocky" for position.

[Dan]

I've got no quarrel with all of that, I'm just saying the 50-100m figure is dangerously misleading. To go 100m off the ATP system would mean running a world record 100 at the start of a XC race. I guarantee no one can do that. Even the 50m low end figure is more than most people can cover in the time allotted to ATP, so that's still a bit iffy.

I would put a safe distance at around 10 steps.

Dan

[Hammer]

I agree with your assessment of 10 steps.

What I am trying to say is that following those +-10 steps the runner goes into a period of change of pace. (400m pace to slower than 5k pace) That period can last anywhere from 100 meters to 400 meters. The longer the runner takes the more into dept the runner gets.

The start of a XC race must be practiced in interval workouts. And runners should not lose their ATP energy.

[Dan]

Ah good, we're in agreement. I just didn't want young runners to come along and read this and think they should be maxing out the first 100m.

The transition period is definitely important and should be developed, no argument there.

Dan

[Distance_Guru]

The thing to remember about racing in a large field (for x-c) is that the position you're in at after the first third of the race is pretty much where you'll stay. What I mean by this is how often do you see runners move up more or down more than 10 or so spots after this point in the race. Now obviously you need to be reasonable you can't go through the first mile of a 5k in 2 seconds slower than your PR for the mile and then expect to hang on, but the fact reamins that in a big field it is much easier to hold on to a position than it is to battle your way up through a crowd. So be aggressive.

[Dan]

[Distance_Guru]

The fact remains that is much easier to hold on to a place than it is to take a place away.

[Dan]

Actually, a fact has to be proven before it can remain as a fact.

If someone has the lead over another athlete and all else is held equal, then you are correct that it is easier to hold the lead than to take it away. However, all else is never equal in a race. Pace becomes a major factor, and quite often, the person with the lead did a poorer job of pacing and will be steadily reeled in.

Dan

[Distance_Guru]

[Dan]

If it were that simple, no one would pace themselves in races. People would just go to the front and run away with it, never to be challenged again! Pacing is the game, not just something people at the back of the pack do. I repeat, holding onto a lead is not easier than cutting into a lead if the pacing that led to that lead results in hitting the wall.

Dan

[Distance_Guru]

In 95%+ of all the cross country races I have ever seen the winner comes from the group of runners that were in the lead pack at the 1/3 mark of the coarse. And when you take into consideration the traffic that you have in a large x-c field it is much harder both to pace and to pass than it is in a small field, or on the track.

In big x-c meets the gun goes off and everyone has to either establish themselves in the pack or be washed out the back. If your in the lead pack all your thinking is this is where I want to stay, and you work your tail off to hang in that group, that will put you into position to make a push late to the front and hopefully to the win. Otherwise you hang in there as long as you can and by the time you're droped you're out of reach of almost everyone. If you're somewhere in the pack then you'll find yourself in one of the groups that form in these races. If another group catches your's then you try to join that group. If you as an individual get out of a group you're in trouble, either you surge out of your group or you fall out the back of a group that is surging in either case you find yourself stuck in the no-mans-land between groups. And if you're out of a group it is very difficult to run down an entire group of runners pushing each other by yourself.
Particularly young runners often find themselves lulled by the size of these fields, they feel like they are running hard and they've got people all around them but in reality they can be 30-50 place farther back than they think, and the longer they stay in a group going too slow the farther ahead of them everyone else gets.

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