advice

Question
QUESTION: i just started cross country and this is my first year doing it and i know you have to pace yourself when running especially cross country do you have any tips for me because i don't seem to pace myself  and i wear myself out easily

ANSWER: The key to running for the longer distances of cross-country is to learn how to 'dial-in' on your hard, medium, and easy efforts.  I would label 'hard' efforts as close as you can to an all-out sprint, such as the effort you'd need to finish a race and pass a few runners for your team.  "Medium" paces would be ideally a pace that is 'comfortably hard', meaning that its taking some effort, but you're able to handle it and keep it going.  This is the toughest pace to get used to, as beginning runners get caught up in the big dash at the beginning, and get spent too quickly in the first 1/3 to 1/2 of a race.  Then they will struggle with the final 1/2 just to finish.

An 'easy' pace would be your training pace for most runs in practice, where you simply go out for a set amount of time or a set distance for the day.

Your speed workout days in practice would be your ideal time to practice your 'race pace' feel for a medium pace level of running.  You want to go comfortably hard on these types of runs.  I don't know what your coach does, but my team I coach will go 1000m, 500m, and 333m runs in repeats on our speed days.  My favorite is a 500m looped course I made at a city park, which has hills and flats built into it, so its like a mini-race-course to work on our racing skills.

Over time, within 4-6 weeks, I'm sure you'll be much better at gauging your ability and endurance capability for races.  The important thing too that most athletes overlook is proper rest, refueling, and recovery.  Get plenty of sleep, a good 7-8 hours is ideal for most youth.  Eat well and clean, meaning keep the junk foods to a minimum as best you can.  Stretching gently at night can also help out in getting faster recoveries from your workouts.  Athletes of mine who stretch at night, nice & easy (not to any points of discomfort or pain), they report less soreness and an increase in 'freshness' of the legs when they wake up.

A simple tool to use for gentle massage is taking a rolling pin gently across your thighs, glutes, and calves.  This acts as a great warm-up and cool-down technique, too.  Foam Rolls are also a great tool, you can find a much cheaper version of a Foam Roll by getting a thicker swim noodle toy from the toy section at like a Kmart or Wal-Mart.  I got mine from Kmart, and it cost around $7 to get, its a great rolling device to roll your legs and back across.  Do a search on Foam Rolling Techniques through Google, and I'm sure you'll get some articles on this technique.

I hope this helps you, if you have any further questions, just email me again.

Coach Karboviak

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QUESTION: I try to run what i think is my race pace but i don't know what my race pace is i run a 6:46 mile could you tell me what my race pace is. ive looked at other websites but they don't have the tool i need to know my race pace.How can i start the race slower instead of like almost sprinting the first part of the race?
ANSWER: A 6:46 mile would put your race pace about between that pace and 7:00 minute miles.  This would be about a 17:30 4000m time frame.  Usually mile paces are used, so if you know that, I'd try to aim for that type of effort for your race paces.  
The tip on starting out slower instead of 'almost sprinting' at the start, it is hard to visualize until you do it and practice that skill to develop it. When you do your mile runs in repeats, try to work on this aspect.  If you think of 'almost sprinting' as a 90% effort, tell yourself to start out at a 70% effort, and build up to an 80% effort in these runs.  This should help keep you 'in reserve' so you don't go out so fast.  One of the troubles of going out too fast is getting out of your rhythm, which disrupts your ability to really get focused on your race pace feel while in a race.

Think of it in terms of doing math homework: if you try to rush through your math homework, you will most likely get a few of the first questions wrong because you're focused on finishing it too fast, instead of doing it right.  Then, since you're in such a rushed mode to get your homework done, you stumble through the final problems, and make some mistakes on those, too.  In the end, you have a not-so-great homework grade.  This is like running too fast, struggling to catch up, and 'tanking-out' at the end of a race, and getting a not-so-great time you expected to get.

The main thing to learn is that this is something you might not get right away (like math homework, again!), but over time, you'll learn how to do it right with practice & focus.

I hope this helps you well,
Rick Karboviak

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QUESTION: that helped but whenever i run i skip a breath for some reason i don't know why and i try to breath in a pattern or beat but that just made it harder to breath for me
ANSWER: The "In 2, Out 2" approach seems to work well for most runners.  Its breathing in for 2 steps (think 'left, right'), then breathing out on 2 steps.  "In 2, Out 2" lets you fall into a rhythmic 'beat'.  If you know anything on music, a 4/4 beat is a pretty common musical beat for most songs, and its also been shown that a 4/4 beat is mostly a soothing, calming & relaxing beat for most songs that are 'catchy'.  I did some papers in my college music class and discovered this back then.  The 4/4 beat is a common beat used in most great musical periods.  In fact, the Baroque period of classical music, and the period of Heavy Metal music in rock & roll, both use a 4/4 beat pattern.  Anyways, the 4/4 beat follows this '2 in, 2 out' approach to breathing, and might be a key factor in helping you breathe better on your runs.  I know some experts have you breathe in through your nose or mouth, and then breathe out of your nose or mouth.  My logical feeling is your mouth is the biggest hole for inhaling and exhaling, so just breathe the best you can from your mouth.  You can take in more oxygen this way, and expel more carbon dioxide this way.

I hope that helps you well,
Rick Karboviak

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QUESTION: i have chondromalaica in my left knee and have had it since November now that i have started cross country my other knee has started to hurt to what do you think i should do? Do you think a 26:35 5k in good for a ninth grader? thanks

Answer
I don't know how to tell you if 26:35 is 'good' or not for your 5K time as a 9th grader, the best I can tell you is just try to improve upon it.  Each cross-country athlete has their own capabilities & talents, its why not everyone is a 16 minutes or less 5K'er.  If it was that way, there would be a LOT of people finishing close to each other at the finish line.  From what I see, short, skinny runners typically have more capability for the faster times, than longer, bigger runners do. It is mere physics that explains why that is.  It takes less energy for a 100 pound, 5 foot runner to run a mile, than it does for a 150 pound, 5 foot 7 inch runner to run it.  It might take 70 calories for the 100 pounder, and 100 calories for the 150 pounder.  Add that up, and its about 210 calories to complete a 3 mile run for the 100 pounder, and 300 calories for the 150 pound runner.  It takes the 100 pound runner 30% less energy to run the same distance.  And if their lung capacity is greater than the 150 pound runner's is, then they have even more of an advantage.  So, what I'm saying is do not get discouraged, just do the best with what you have.  I am 30 years old and have been beaten by a 50 year old guy by over 2.5 minutes in a local 5K race.  He's the parent of one of my athletes, but he's also got about 40 pounds less than me, and over 35 years of running in him.  I have basically 10 years worth of running experience, and I weigh 180 pounds with my frame.  He can do a 17:30, I am bested at only a sub 20:00 5K time.  I won't win the race, but I at least got a personal best, so I was happy with that. I at least won my age category. :)

I don't know what to tell you about your knee issues, other than try to have an athletic trainer look at them, or a doctor who specializes in sports injuries.  Even a chiropractor may help in assessing any abnormalities you may have in alignment that may be causing it.  I don't know, but ask your parents what the best route is on their end for medical help in dealing with it. Sometimes an athletic trainer may have the answer for you, too, if your school provides one for your school's athletic department.

I hope that helps you,
Coach Rick