In a sport which requires competitors to be in constant motion, the LSU cross country teams find their season at a screeching halt.The Tigers and Lady Tigers are amid a three-week break in the schedule after posting their best finishes of the season at the LSU Invitational on Sept. 26 — third and fourth, respectively.The teams travel to Fayetteville, Ark., on Oct. 17 for the Chile Pepper Invitational before heading to the Southeastern Conference Championships on Oct. 31.LSU sophomore Cullen Doody said the runners are spending a lot of time during the break training in preparation for the stretch run at the end of the season.”When you race a lot, it breaks up your training,” he said. “So you just rest up and put the training in to get ready for the big meets at the end of the year.”Doody paced the Tigers in their two previous meets of the season, finishing No. 44 at the Crimson Classic and No. 16 at the LSU Invitational.Sophomore Lady Tiger Jenna Henssler was blunt about her approach to these three weeks.”A lot of training,” she said. “I’m going to put a lot of two-a-days in.”LSU isn’t the only SEC school out of action this weekend. The No. 3-ranked Alabama men take a break in action until Oct. 17 after winning the Bill Dellinger Invitational last weekend against the likes of then-No. 1 Oregon and No. 8 Portland.Chile Pepper host No. 25 Arkansas also takes this weekend off before competing against LSU and other schools.”That’s my favorite cross country course outside of our home course,” said LSU coach Mark Elliott of the Chile Pepper Invitational. “The competition is the best you’ll face, so you will really know what kind of team you have.”Elliott said the break in competition gives the runners time to recover from any nagging injuries. It also allows senior Katie Hamel a chance to get over an illness that caused her to miss the LSU invitational, he said.The 2009 schedule is no different from previous years, which consists of five regular season meets. This year, however, the Tigers dropped a meet when the season opener was rained out.”We had a perfect schedule that includes Texas A&M,” Elliott said. “But because that meet got canceled, it kind of puts you one meet down.”Elliott said he didn’t want to find another meet to fill the schedule because the break was planned from the outset of the season.”You can’t race every weekend,” Doody said. “It takes a toll on your body.”—-Contact Jonathan Schexnayder at [email protected]