Negative Splitting a Race, Published in Competitor September 2009, page 35

Negative Splitting a Race: A case of the Tortoise and Hare

 

With half-marathon and marathon season looming, and hours of training under your belt, you may wish to think about how you plan to execute your race.  The race strategy you choose will dictate not only your time, but also how quickly you recover, and whether you can use your race as a building block for future races.

 

Consider two equally matched runners, Harry and Tommy.

 

Harry is easily hyped up by start line nerves and takes off faster than his planned pace, approaching anaerobic levels through the first few miles. He feels that going out a little fast will put “time in the bank”, and that if he goes out too slow he will never be able to make it up. He settles into his goal pace through the mid part of the race. In the final miles Harry is in survival mode, running slower than race pace and feeling the effects of his fast start. He crosses the line exhausted, hits up the food tent and calls it a day.

 

Tommy remains calm on the start line, unaffected by the nervous energy of other runners. He starts with athletes slower than himself and builds into his goal pace over several miles, allowing his breathing to fall down into his stomach. He runs the middle miles at goal pace and as the race draws to a close he builds his speed, using the confidence he has in his abilities and the adrenaline rush he feels from passing other runners. Tommy finishes strong, negative splitting his race and quickly transitions into a two-mile easy cool down jog.

The race strategy that you follow will dictate how quickly you recover and provide  building blocks for future races

-       Negative splitting your race, and completing a thorough cool down will allow you to resume normal training

-       Finishing in survival mode will leave you drained for several days

-       Negative splitting provides a better platform for decreasing your goal pace in future races

-       Going out quickly in the beginning of a race in order to bank time will likely force you to take out double the dividends on the back end of the race.

 

Regardless of your fitness level, any runner can negative split a race. Here is an exercise you can complete to practice negative splitting:

 

Run 10 miles fast and record average per mile pace. For example if your time was 1:20 this averages to 8 minutes per mile pace.

Repeat the same 10 mile run the following weekend and execute it in the following manner.

-       For miles 1-2 run 8:20 pace

-       For miles 2-4 run 8:10 pace

-       For miles 4-6 run 8:00 pace

-       For miles 6-8 run 7:45 pace

-       For miles 8-10 run 7:35 pace

 

This may take a little practice, but learning this skill will take your running to a new level. Coupled with proper warm up, nutrition, and cool down will make your fall half-marathon or marathon a success.