Hey Jonesy and Sair, I agree with Sair on the advice about taking it out a bit faster. As I recall, I never could go out slow and make up lost ground. For me it was sink or swim with xc. In addition, it seemed to make no difference with respect to pain. It hurt just as bad or worse to run a 28-29 as it did to run a mid 26. Hopefully, I'll run a low 28 this weekend. Border War course is supposed to be rolling hills. Regarding the warm-up, this is something I've found when doing workouts... It seems that the second or third interval can be better than the first one as if the first one pre-charged the engine. Warming up during the race seems not to be the way to go. There's simply no time to do it.
Thanks for the report Sair. You look like you're doing much more running these days. Todd, good to see you racing.
Jonesy, take care of yourself on the IT band. Hope it's a mild flair up. I'm nursing a small problem too... It seems that I've bruised or inflamed the sesamoid bone on my right foot. During these xc races I've found I'm running more on the ball of my right foot than letting the heel strike first. Early in the season at Miner Invite I had a spike in my shoe located under that area and its now giving me a bit of grief. I've since removed the spike, but the area is still sensitive. Interestingly, the foot doesn't seem to bother me during road runs... only after a xc race. I'm taking care of it by ICING a lot.
If you get a chance, check out flotrack's coverage of 8K cowboy. They do a good job of showing the course as they're leading the runners and providing commentary.