After a race in Belgium that required her to endure repeated acceleration out of corners, U.S. Under 23 Women's National Champion Katie Kruse is readjusting her body to improve endurance as she prepares to compete for the U23 title at the UCI Cyclocross World Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, next week. She is reconditioning her body to increase her endurance.

While European courses typically feature tight, tricky turns and sharp climbs, the World Championships course at Centennial Park is wide and has large curves that will keep riders on the gas for the entire race, making endurance more important.

After Herentals and Kraus returned home a week ago after the Hulst World Cup, she and Jim Lehman added rest and endurance training as the US national team chose to return home.

"We came home about a month before the World Cup and took that week slow to recover from Europe and take a short rest," Krause said in an interview with USA Cycling.

"I had a lot of races coming up, so I didn't have a lot of time to do long rides.

Speed and intensity followed as the final preparation for the World Championships, but Kraus believes an additional base of fitness will help.

"There are several long climbs and long straights, and you have to keep pedaling even in some of the corners. Especially if it's muddy," said Klaus, a winter rider for the Cannondale Cyclocross Worlds.

So far, the weather forecast shows little precipitation before and during the World Championships, but Klaus and her teammates were expecting mud: a heavy storm dumped a lot of rain during the October World Cup, making the course much harder than the Europeans expected. American elite women's champion Clara Honsinger made the podium, while Kraus finished 18th.

"I want them to be in the mud. The Europeans know how to drive in the mud. If the course was fast and dry, the European girls might have an advantage because they are used to speed."

"Mud makes any course more interesting and makes for better racing. If it is muddy, it will be a great course for Clara."