Originally Posted by
CatSkratch
Yeah Andy is right, cross has many ups and downs, unlike most running or many bike races. You really need to prepare for the high intensity and plan to spend more time above your max than you can possibly train for.
Cross races are short and there are NO sections of races where people cruise and recover.
Its evil like that.
paraphrasing Allen Lim "if you cant do it in training you cant do it in a race."
If you are not looking for areas to get a bit of recovery you are not doing it right. High speed areas should be used to drop below FTP, and slow areas are where you should be going above FTP.