OSU men super long stride right before NCAA XC race, was this the secret to their incredible performance?

Perhaps Vasodilation?

For races that go out that fast (like NCAAs), getting your body prepared for that feels a bit weird when you do it. In your head, it's like "why am I doing a hard effort" but when you start racing it's nice because you don't have go into oxygen debt so quickly. Then, after you start doing this in practice before hard sessions, it just further builds up your tolerance for it. If you build up to it, I recommend it.

Any idea how hard they were they going?

We saw a team do a pretty long stride at d3 nationals. I commented on it. I've done that a couple times before. Nothing wrong with it.

I think the secret to their amazing performance is that they're super talented and worked really hard.

I think people underestimate how quickly you can fully recover from strides and a single hard 400, particularly when you're in post season shape. Guys have it in their heads their legs need to be "fresh" in order to run fast, this is simply not the case.

They usually do a 400m stride before races. They hit like 60-61 typically.

Obviously the start of the race was much faster, more like 54/55 (up front).

54-55?? That seems like a recipe to go lactic and die. Does anyone actually start that fast? Like low 60s make sense, but anything faster doesn’t

They went out that fast yesterday. It’s hard to believe, it is indeed crazy. Did you see how downhill that start was? They went through the first 1k at 2:29 and they clearly settled in…on a non downhill start they normally get out between 56-58 at this level at NCAA’s. The first 200m obviously being the fastest. This is why so many teams die hard or get out “slow” (meaning 58/59 vs 56/57)…you are indeed very lactic. The winners are just practically world class.

Leaders were sub 4 pace for 1st K.

Perhaps an explanation?

there's no such thing as "oxygen debt," but without explaining that, what's going on with long fast warmups is to get the muscles more acidic. Which has the effect of vasodilation, as someone else mentioned, but you need low muscle pH to get oxygen in there quickly.

It's also good to make your nerves stay in control, as they may lose it and feel weak from pre-race adrenaline. Give them something to do while they are trying to freak out.

Ok boomer

FWIW, I ran *one* of my best track races ever when my track coach made me do something similar. although it was probably 10-15 min before the race

perhaps it is something that should be experimented with.

Do you ever feel like you "run your best race in practice" though? Like, at the very end of your repeats, your running really fast? Like, when I get reeaaalllly warmed up, I'm running my best.

Was this La Crosse? I recall back when they were winning national championships they were doing a 10-12 min tempo prior to races. Wonder if they still do

Wartburg (D3) does this before every race and I think it helps them feel too good and go out too hard at big meets.

I was considering asking the same question. I had a great view of the start for both races, and both the OSU men and women did a stride out to around where the mile marker was (probably around 400m). Both times the group was a little broken, but people all stopped at the exact same time, while looking at their watches, so it was definitely a certain amount of time. I was really curious because A.) I've never seen runners do that long of a stride-out in warmups and B.) no other team was doing it. I would love to know why they're doing it, and why the other teams are not.

Also, while we're on this topic, did anybody else notice how seemingly every guy in the guy's race had a nasal strip on? Is there noted performance benefits from those?

Saw the Carleton team do multiple of these, fartlek style, at d3 this weekend also. Maybe 20-25 minutes before hitting the line and winning the title. Something to be said.

There's interesting research on priming efforts. But everyone here already knows this, right?