So, it sounds to me that your mental limiter is more powerful than any physical limiters right now. What are you afraid might happen if you really push it, Renee? I always suggest my athletes go beyond that line at least once. Usually they surprise themselves -- the world doesn't end.

Think of it this way. If you push more to hang with the leaders, what are the possible outcomes? One, you could blow and not finish with the leaders or maybe DFL. Two, you could be in a world of hurt but still hang with the leaders. Three, you could hang and still have a little something left in the tank for the sprint finish.

You don't know what your limitations are until you really push to find them.

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Training. Since I'm doing run intervals (short), I don't need to do short intervals on the bike right now. My bike intervals are longer (20 min). If I weren't running, I'd probably add one day of short bike intervals. But, everyone is different. I raced non-stop from October 2005 to August 2006. I don't recommend that for most folks, but I had some special circumstances going on. I needed a break from the bike and wanted to run and lift, so that's how I developed my training for this fall. My goal races for cross are in December so I'll pick back up on the bike in November. It's strange not to train 15-20 hours a week, but it actually works well with my work schedule right now because my workouts are shorter and my total training time is only about 8-10 hours a week. And I can see huge improvements in my strength and running already.

If you need to improve your power on the flats, I recommend resistance training along with TT-type intervals (2 x 20s). You could do these on the road or even better, on the dirt on your cross bike. One of the hardest challenges in cross is still powering when you're bouncing all over the place. You'll notice the best racers keep their speed/momentum up on the bouncy flats while the more novice races coast a lot. You need to learn how to ride it out.

The other thing that really helps in cross is to optimize your accelerations out of transitions. So short intervals are good too (15 sec, 30 sec, 60 sec). For example, you scrub some speed to make a technical section but then you need to get back up to speed really quickly.

If you can't run, could you get a non-bike high-level cardio workout on an elliptical? That might help with the intensity.

Then again, I think the real answer is your fear to push yourself to the edge. You should try it sometime. Pick a throw-away race and just see what happens. You might really surprise yourself.