Packing up with a teammate or two during the early to middle stages of a race will be helpful for all of you, and a few words of encouragement to a teammate during a difficult part of the race can be very effective. Most successful cross country teams try to pack up a cluster of some of their seven runners together in order to keep their overall team score low and drive their opponent's team score higher. Please remember that the farther that you get into the race the harder you will breathe and the more difficult it will be to get out even a few words if you are laboring. I'm not a big fan of verbal taunting between runners like you see some sprinters do during big track meets. It rarely works on distance runners and sometimes can motivate your opponent to want to beat you more.
Results always speak louder than words.
The proper hill-running technique. Craig answers a question about whether running style may hinder performance. Inc. All rights reserved.