RunningAHEAD - Topic: how does X country times compare to road?

Eddy

Slow-smooth-fast

posted: 7/19/2007 at 5:18 PM

I have not done many races, but my latest I did tonight was a tough X country and I shave 35 seconds off my PB. It was 10k over an undulating course, a toughy for me. I did it 46:14. The thing I want to know is what are your thoughts on how fast I will be able to do a 10k road race compared to this? Is there any general sort of rule, knock x amount of minutes off or something? BTW, the course record was broken also tonight by 2 minutes. He did it in 34:24, outstanding!

"I've been following Eddy's improvement over the last two years on this site, and it's been pretty dang solid. Sure the weekly mileage has been up and down, but over the long haul he's getting out the door and has turned himself into quite a runner. He's only now just figuring out his potential. Consistency in running is measured in years, not weeks. And over the last couple of years, Eddy's made great strides" Jeff 14 Jan 2009

sheil2009

21:00

posted: 7/19/2007 at 11:32 PM

For 5ks there is usually a two minute difference, at least for most of our team;For a 10-k I would say there is a 4min diff. probably-you would run 4 min faster.

Da Big OJ

posted: 7/20/2007 at 12:26 AM
modified: 7/20/2007 at 1:28 PM

I think ithe two bigest factors that effect race times are the weather and elevation changes. I dont think running on diffrent surfaces effects your times as thouse other two. The fastest place you can run is the track, but i believe thats more because it is flat then anything else. I don't agree with sheil2009, in my experiance my 5k times on the track were only at max 40 seconds faster then my xc times. All my best XC times were run on hilly coruses in New England. What was is the elevation change of this tough course compared to the elevation change of the next road 10k that you will run? On the coolrunning web site thier was a really good link that discussed the effect of elevation change on race times. It was base on that every 100ft change it effected your pace by seconds. I think this is the best way to compare race times between courses, but its not exact because of all the other factors.

Orion Goals: 5k 18:30 10K 38:00 Marathon 3:10

Eddy

Slow-smooth-fast

posted: 7/20/2007 at 7:07 AM

Quote from sheil2009 on 7/19/2007 at 11:32 PM:

For 5ks there is usually a two minute difference, at least for most of our team;For a 10-k I would say there is a 4min diff. probably-you would run 4 min faster.

Most people who I have spoken to say 3-4 minutes, and this correlates to the mcmillan calculator. The next 10K road race I do will be moderately flat so I should be able to give it a good go. Correct me if I am wrong Da big OJ but you put it that you were slower on the track than in XC?

"I've been following Eddy's improvement over the last two years on this site, and it's been pretty dang solid. Sure the weekly mileage has been up and down, but over the long haul he's getting out the door and has turned himself into quite a runner. He's only now just figuring out his potential. Consistency in running is measured in years, not weeks. And over the last couple of years, Eddy's made great strides" Jeff 14 Jan 2009

Da Big OJ

posted: 7/20/2007 at 1:28 PM

ment the other way around.

Orion Goals: 5k 18:30 10K 38:00 Marathon 3:10

m_fetro

posted: 7/20/2007 at 3:41 PM

No x country course is the same, in my opinion the softness of the ground, length of grass, type of trail, ect. all factor into your time. All these factor into how fast your pace will be. Usually the softer the ground is the slower the time. Long grass and short grass is a huge difference, the same can be applied to soft sand and very hard sand. And of course running up hills will always slow down your pace. In general the more cushion the harder it is to push off the ground. And I find it almost impossible to compare times from one coures to the next, because each course is different. Even if the compared courses are both flat. The scenery of a course and the pace of other runners are also a factor.

pRED

posted: 7/20/2007 at 5:36 PM

Using the runningahead race time predictor calculator based on your latest race at 4 miles, you should come close to running a 43:33 for the 10k (pace: 7:02). This should be doable. Wink

Ricky

—our ability to perform up to our physiological potential in a race is determined by whether or not we truly psychologically believe that what we are attempting is realistic. Anton Krupicka

jcasetnl

posted: 7/22/2007 at 2:27 AM

Quote from Eddy on 7/19/2007 at 5:18 PM:

I have not done many races, but my latest I did tonight was a tough X country and I shave 35 seconds off my PB. It was 10k over an undulating course, a toughy for me. I did it 46:14. The thing I want to know is what are your thoughts on how fast I will be able to do a 10k road race compared to this? Is there any general sort of rule, knock x amount of minutes off or something? BTW, the course record was broken also tonight by 2 minutes. He did it in 34:24, outstanding!

About the only thing that's likely is that the road course will be faster. Some CC courses are highly technical. We tend to downplay the CC aspect, though, when it comes to running, but consider mountain biking vs road biking. Which is faster? Road biking easy.

Run To Win

#2867

posted: 7/24/2007 at 1:16 PM

It depends upon the course. If you are running a cross country race on a golf course, then your road time will be comparable or slightly quicker. If you are running a highly technical or muddy trail race, then your road time is going to be quite a bit faster. This is assuming that all other things are equal, such as preparation and weather.

Run to Win
25 Marathons, 17 Ultras, 16 States (Full List)

Run To Win

#2867

posted: 8/16/2007 at 10:53 AM

I did one of the races in the Back Cove 5k race series in Portland, and the Run to Win team was there for the race. One of my former teammates was asking what he could expect for a time on that course (not that it is really cross country) and I told him that if he added 30 seconds of what he does on the roads then he'd be about average in terms of extra time. He was exactly 30 seconds slower than he'd have expected to run on the roads, so he felt happy knowing that he didn't have to beat himself up for a slow race. I realize that that is course specific, but I thought I'd share the short story on it...

Run to Win
25 Marathons, 17 Ultras, 16 States (Full List)

how does X country times compare to road? (Read 932 times)