RACE WELL EVERY TIME

Some good advice from our friends at Runner's World...

RACE WELL EVERY TIME
Use these rules gleaned from elite runners to race well all year long.
PUBLISHED 01/30/2008

For a weekend of thrilling races in New York City last November, I had the best seat in the house: the sidecar of the lead motorcycle. I was a stride away when Ryan Hall surged to the front at the Men's Olympic Marathon Trials, crushing the best field ever assembled. The next day at the ING New York City Marathon, I watched Martin Lel sprint to an amazing finish. Here are the most important lessons I observed that could help you in your next event, no matter your pace or distance.

PLAN: Make it to the starting line healthy You are only as strong as your weakest link. Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi and 2:08 marathoner Abdi Abdirahman were favored to make the Olympic team, but Meb toed the line with a calf issue and Abdi had been plagued with a sore hip flexor. While these two powerhouses led early and battled hard, the stress of racing magnified their injuries. Meb fell to eighth place, and Abdi dropped out at mile 18.

ACTION: Know when to restInjuries happen, but by allowing ample recovery time during training, you can help avoid arriving at the start with aches and pains. Follow a hard day with one or two easy days, and a hard two weeks with an easy one (reduce mileage by 10 to 20 percent). Take a rest day at least every 10 days. And at the slightest hint of injury, reduce workload and intensity, or resort to cross-training, and seek physical therapy.

PLAN: Run your own race When the Trials pace picked up at mile nine, Brian Sell was left behind. But at mile 22, Sell passed Dan Browne and secured the third and final spot on the Olympic team. Had he gone with the early surge, however, the outcome might have been different. Fast early miles are not Sell's strength, and he knew that. Likewise, Lel knew his power was his savage final sprint. So he hung with the leaders until the finish was in sight, then he let his kick do the talking.

ACTION: Itemize your strengths Understand where you excel and where you don't by taking notes after races and analyzing past performances. Then develop a race strategy that maximizes your strengths--and stick to it.

PLAN: Finish strong Hall's and Lel's victories had something in common with the last four world records in the marathon--they all were run with a faster second half than first half. Running a negative-split race is all about energy management. The slower the early miles, the more fat you burn relative to glycogen, thus saving your primary energy source for later. Additionally, easing into a race gives your body time to process any lactic-acid buildup, thus delaying fatigue. Perhaps the biggest advantage is that you spend a smaller percentage of the race tired or in pain.

ACTION: Go negative Run the first half of your next 10-K or half or full marathon one to two percent slower than your projected goal time. (Negative splits aren't the best strategy for 5-Ks.) For a 44-minute 10-K, for example, that calculates to a first half run at a 7:11 to 7:15 pace, thus hitting the halfway mark at 22:30, followed by a 6:55 average for part two. Having to "make up" time can seem stressful to some runners, so practice negative splits during tempo runs to build confidence in the strategy. Over time, you'll be celebrating at the finish like Hall and Lel.