Race Fast—Run Evenly
Spring is in the air. For MCRRCers, it means it is time to put away the running tights, get off the treadmill, start speed work and enter some races. Each of us enters the spring with different hopes and dreams regarding races. For some, it is a PR at Pike's Peek. For others, it may be a marathon. For those old war horses like myself, it is may be simply getting back into racing without completely embarrassing oneself. Whatever your goal, your best bet for attaining your race goals is to run an even effort during the race.
The most common mistake made by runners in any distance race is going out too hard. There are several reasons why folks do that, but in each case it is a poor strategy for maximizing performance. I will address each reason below:
Money in the Bank = Fool's Gold
Some runners figure that they need to go out fast to put "money in the bank" in order to have a cushion to allow for slowing down at the end of the race. I started coaching a runner whose goal was to average 7:30/mi for a 10K race. His strategy was to go out as hard as he could for the first two miles in order to build a large time reserve. The problem with this strategy is that he never averaged his goal pace. His race splits would look like this: Mile 1 (7:10); Mile 2 (7:25); Mile 3 -6 (7:50). What was happening to him is that he ran the first mile on primarily on adrenaline but by the end of the first mile he was in oxygen debt and lactic acid was pouring into his legs. The only thing one can do in such as a situation is slow down. Once I convinced him to change his racing strategy, the results were impressive and he was able to average 7:28 in his second race in which he ran the first mile in 7:30 and then ran between 7:25 and 7:32 for the next five miles.
Ignore Your Competition
Another variation of going out too fast is when you are trying to keep up with a competitor. Another runner whom I coached thought that she had to keep up with her competitor (one of relative equal ability) who used the "money in the bank" approach. She believed that if she let her competitor go ahead that she would lose contact and never catch the person. Instead, she was blasting out her first mile and then holding on for dear life as each mile got slower and slower. We tried an experiment in which she ran her own race, not paying attention to her competitor. After a 10K race, she came up to me bubbling over with excitement. She had blown by her nemesis at the 5 mile mark and ended up beating her by 30 seconds. She also ran one of the fastest races in her life.
Know Your Pace
The final reason many runners go out too hard is that they do not have a realistic assessment of their current level of fitness. This is particularly true of runners not used to racing and those trying to get back into shape. I recommend going to the track and run some mile repeats at 80-85% of maximum heart rate to get a benchmark of current fitness level. This will help determine goal pace to avoid going out too fast.
Take my situation, for example, where I have done little racing in the past couple of years. I know that I am not the same shape that I was three years ago when I broke 40 minutes for the 10K shortly after my 50th birthday. My mileage is significantly lower and I stopped doing consistent speed work. My Pike's Peek preparation will include six weeks of anaerobic threshold (AT) training running three times a mile at 80-85% effort. I have no choice but to accept the results of the AT workouts in setting my goal pace even though the message I might be receiving is that I am much slower than I used to be. I plan to race Pike's Peek at 10-15 seconds per mile faster than the pace of my last AT workout. I cannot ignore the results of the AT workouts because facts are stubborn things. Otherwise, I will be running down Rockville Pike in a world of hurt watching the entire world run by me in the last couple of miles.
A final word about not going out too fast. One of the
most exhilarating feelings in a race regardless of where you finish is to
be passing runners right and left in the past couple of miles. It feels much
better than be the one who is struggling in the last couple of miles while
runner after runner passes you. The bonus is that you will have run a faster
race.
Coach West is a licensed coach, affiliated with MCRRC, and available to coach motivated adult runners. A portion of his coaching fees for MCRRC members is returned to MCRRC. For further information about personal coaching opportunities, contact Coach West at kirtwest@comcast.net.
