Wish me luck...

[Sage]

I'll be going off to my first Cross Country meet Friday afternoon (9/13). In fact, this is also the very first sporting event that I'll ever compete in too...

BTW, do any of you current or ex-runners out there have any last minute suggestions?

-yc

 

[StevieMo]

Good luck man

 

[Robin2]

good luck

im no cross country runner but pace yourself. if you do a sprint, youre basically rooted 10 mins in.

 

[Sk8rKiD]

Why run when you can walk?

 

[vat_man]

Originally posted by youth_cycler
I'll be going off to my first Cross Country meet Friday afternoon (9/13). In fact, this is also the very first sporting event that I'll ever compete in too...

BTW, do any of you current or ex-runners out there have any last minute suggestions?

-yc

I ran my first two competitive running events this year (not bad for my early 30s!) - the biggest tip I can give is be careful of your speed early on (especially if it's flat or downhill initially). Your adrenalin will be up and you'll be keen to get moving quickly, so just be careful of that.

As an example, my first event was a half-marathon (just over 21km), and I took the first 5km pretty easily, which set up a pretty strong (well, relative to my plodding pace, anyway) middle 10km.

In my second event, the famed Sydney 'City to Surf' which is 14.4km, but the back half of the course is quite hilly and steep in places. It's more downhill and gentler up-slopes early on. This event was the one I was aiming at when I took up running in January this year, so I was pretty keen to get out quickly - on reflection, too quickly - I had to walk the uphill sections from about the 9km mark onwards, just to keep my heart rate under control.

Good luck, man! I've got a 10km event this Sunday, and part of the course is over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which will be pretty cool.

 

[Jordan]

Whew...cross country is tough! Good luck!

 

[viperguy]

I've never been much of a runner, but my advice is to drink plenty of fluids before your race begins (Gatorade and Powerade are good energy-boosters).

 

[viperguy]

And don't forget to bring a towel!-Towelie

 

[Sage]

Thanks all!

BTW, it's actually not a very long race... "only" 3 miles. To some of the more training-obsessive schools in my area, that's merely a short sprint for their runners... meh... It'll be great meeting and competing against all of them though.

 

[vat_man]

It'll be well worth the experience, though. Do you have a target time?

 

[Saleen Man]

Here's a tip: Sprint as hard as you can at the end, but try not to throw up when you finish.

 

[Max Powers]

I guess I"m late, but I'm a CC runner, was 4 places off making states last year... take it easy the first mile, and fly the second mile. Most high school CC runners try to run the first mile too fast and die. good luck abd enjoy!

 

[Shannon]

Good luck.

I'm no long distance runner but I know that you don't go after 1st place right at the beginning of the race. I'm a sprinter and I know in sprints, you go after 1st place straight away.

 

[Shannon]

Oh. I'm a day late. :blush:

 

[Sage]

I'm back. Thanks again guys.

Anyway, out of 398 Freshman Boys, I placed 68th, which ain't so bad. However, I was so :censored:ed close to getting a medal... 65th place was the medal cutoff. Nonetheless, I still did pretty good, considering that but a year ago, my best mile time was a paltry 6:52 (my time for this meet was 19:53, over a 3-3.5 mile course), and of course asthma doesn't help much. But, other than a "I'm-gonna-puke" feeling that I got halfway into the race, I didn't experience any problems (though about 1.5 miles into it, the kid in front of me practically cut his speed in half, which obviously did me no good). It also didn't help that my running flats hadn't come in yet, so I was using my training shoes. Oh well... I have another meet this coming Wednesday, so maybe I'll do better.

 

[Cobraboy]

I hate asthma.....

 

[Vasco]

asthma I hate it too

 

[vat_man]

Well, I ran the Harbour Bridge run today, 10km event. I ran about 51 minutes event from the gun, but will find out the 'post to post' time next week - it took about 2-3 minutes to get to the start line because of the crowd.

They give you a timing chip which is small, just over an inch across, and you tie it up into your shoelaces - it's very light, so even me with my ultra sensitive feet forgot it was there.

It was pretty cool running over the Sydney Harbour Bridge though, even if it was very hazy - because of the drought, it looks like we're in for a huge bushfire season AGAIN this year, so they were doing backburning north of the city, and of course the smoke blew back into the city because of the prevailing wind.

 

[Vasco]

Yeh i was crossing the woronora bridge and looking across the river and everything was black... I went up to miranda today though, not to run. I can't be bothered. Stupid drought.

 

[viperguy]

droughts suck. we have 'em here too.

 

[Sage]

Oh boy oh boy, lucky me... I have yet another meet tomorrow (9/18), then one on Saturday (9/21)... I'll be pudding by the time CC season ends!

 

[Der Alta]

Congrats YC, and vat_man as well.

I used to run CC in country, now the best I can do is jog my memory rolling out of bed.

My boss is the runner in the office. He did hte Boston marathon this year. I'm still trying to accept the excessive vaseline use by marathon runners, much less the bloody nipple syndrome.

In High school I was always just behind the front runners, and just ahead of the middle of the pack.

I'll echo a few previous comments. CC running is a bit about patience, and a bit about speed. Start at your usual pace, and slowly increase speed through out the race. Timing it so you are a bit light headed at the finish line, and a few scant strides from heaving up lunch.

Many times, I crossed the finish line and took an abrupt left turn into the woods to heave up whatever was in my stomach.

AO

 

[Duke]

Originally posted by Der Alta
I'm still trying to accept the excessive vaseline use by marathon runners, much less the bloody nipple syndrome.

I'm more relieved than you can possibly image that I have no idea what you're talking about.

 

[bigwhlkid]

dont drink a lot of water at one time right before the race or you will get a cramp.

and remember no matter how bad your legs hurt or how tired you are you can always rest after you cross the finish line

 

[Sk8rKiD]

I dont run for fun...My idea of a good time is laying around in my big comfy chair and watching the A-Team or some racing(NOT nascar)...

 

[Der Alta]

Neon Duke:

marathon runner will often use vaseline on their thighs, sides of their chest, and frequently on the soles of their feet. Thighs and chest to eliminate chafing.

The bloody nipple syndrome is due to the physical effort, and the nipple rubbing on the back of the shirt. Rubbing it raw, to the point of it bleeding. Many runner will use bandaids to stop the problem.

Sounds sick, bt it's a side effect of the human condition.

AO

 

[vat_man]

Actually, I got the corrected time for my 10km - it took over 4 minutes to get to the start line!!!

My corrected 10km time was 47 minutes 8 seconds. I always aim for 5 minute kilometres (12 kmh) or better, so my top-end target was 50 minutes - running at about 12.7 kmh was very pleasing.

I'm also a big fan of the Vaseline - inside of the legs (although I usually run in mid-thigh length leggings), armpits, and a single line across the eyebrows and the bridge of the nose to direct sweat from my brow down the side of my face rather than into my eyes.

Must admit it was nice to give the run a miss this week and drag the pushbike out - a quick 30km on Sunday (and Sydney ain't flat!) and it feels like someone kicked me right between the legs (ahem... not kicking the equipment, that is).

 

[Giancarlo]

Good luck youth, and have fun.

 

[Sage]

So happy... I got my first CC medal at this last meet! 14th place... in Palmdale... oh man, was it hot...

I'll add some more to this post later. I have to do HW right now...

And thanks again for the support!

 

[whitez]

Palmdale? you live in Cali?