Running for 'Cross

“If you want to become the best runner you can be, start now. Don’t spend the rest of your life wondering if you can do it.”
- Priscilla Welch (won 1987 NYC marathon at age 42)

I've been running a little to get ready for 'cross. My right IT band is still bothering me after a while, but it seems to be improving. I've seen some discussion online about whether working on running is really helpful for 'cross. People who make the argument that it isn't cite that the total amount of running time per lap is usually really short, so improvements in running don't translate into noticeably faster lap times. My theory is that it does help; if you've been doing your (running) sprint training, when you have to run in a race, it doesn't push you as far over the red line. So ,you recover more quickly on the bike and can begin to pedal harder sooner. The ability to recover quickly and pedal hard should, I think, translate into noticeably faster lap times.

I'm now into the second half of my season, where the focus has shifted from mountain biking to cyclocross. I have a mountain bike race this weekend, then I'm switching to the skinny tires. I'm starting a new training block today, so I've been reviewing the notes I made about my goals, strengths and weaknesses from the beginning of the year.

My goal for 'cross season is to race well enough in the C category that I feel ready to move up to the B's for next season. That means being on or near the podium pretty consistently. Based on 'cross practice last week, that may be a tall order, but it's still too early to tell.

My perceived 'cross weaknesses from the beginning of the year were time trialing and technical riding. I'm not sure that "time trialing" is the best way to put it, but I'm talking about that more-or-less steady, but hard, pace where you spend most of a 'cross race. For me, working on time trialing still largely involves improving the force I can apply to the pedals. The technical riding point is interesting because, while I still need a lot of work on this for mountain biking, my technical riding seemed to be a strength compared to some of the other Rhinos at the 'cross workout last week. Most of the 'cross racers in the club come from a road background rather than a mountain bike background though.