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Thread7 · Lurker Joined: 11 Apr 2002 Posts: 2

Can the readers of this forum give me a list of some of their favorite running strategies? 5ks, 10ks, marathons, or whatever. A popular one is drafting. Another one I like is to pass someone very quickly, it makes the opponent think you have a lot left and give you a boost of energy too.

[ This Message was edited by: Thread7 on 2002-04-22 14:46 ]

Dan · Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2002 8:33 pm Post subject:

Micah Ward · Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2002 9:14 am Post subject:

Dan...you naughty boy!

I am a great believer in negative splits for any of those race distances. Start your race feeling like you are going to slow. Push yourself at a comfortable pace for the first half and then pick up the pace for the second half. This is especially true for 5K and 10K. For the marathon you may want to wait until 16 miles or so to start the push. It just depends on a lot of factors.

Conway · Posted: Sun Apr 14, 2002 8:22 pm Post subject:

I agree with Dan ... Smile

However, a favorite of many AFricans is to throw in surges during the race, taking th ebite out of one's opponents ... Course you have to be a stud to do that !!

Distance_Guru · Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2002 4:31 pm Post subject:

A couple of good stradegies are coming from off the pace, run and hide, and then of coarse there are plenty of dirty tricks that you can use when or wherever. Coming from off the pace is letting the leaders go out faster than you early and gradually increasing your pace to catch them from behind. This works well if there are hills early in a coarse that will punish going out hard. To run and hide is to go out hard usually early and try to break contact with anyone around you. This works well on coarses with a lot of curves, that makes it easier for you to get out of your opponents veiw. This trick also works well if the people in the race expect you to beat them. As for some dirty tricks my favorite isn't triping someone or throwing elbows, what I like to do is as you run right off someones shoulder just push their elbow. It completely disrupts their rythm and is incredibly annoying. It is also a good way of getting out of a box in races held on a track.

_________________
Time is the fire in which we burn

graeme · Posted: Mon Apr 15, 2002 9:50 pm Post subject:

Also, you probably know this already, but when your passing people it's surprisingly effective if you put on a short burst of speed to make it look like they don't have a chance of keeping up with you. I've found that people will pick up the pace if you pass them slowly (sometimes subconsciously).

btw, I was going to post a new thread about this, but since we're already on the topic of running strategies, does anybody have any advice for a middle distance race like the 1500? Is it better to run a consistent pace, or should some laps be faster than others?

Hammer · Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2002 11:02 am Post subject:

I'd like to add my favorite stratagy:
"Start out fast, surge in the middle and Hammer out the finigh."

Micah Ward · Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2002 3:21 pm Post subject:

Since I have gotten old and fat I sometimes employ Walt Stack's strategy of "Start slow then taper off".

graeme · Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2002 6:06 pm Post subject:

Two very good strategies Very Happy

I prefere Hammer's though

Dan · Posted: Thu Apr 18, 2002 10:44 am Post subject:

I'd just like to point out this has turned into a great thread! I quite like Hammer's advice (betcha never thought I'd say that, eh? Smile

).

For something like the 1500, even paced is a good goal, although that rarely happens in the big performances. More common is a fast third lap, average second lap, painful third lap, and a closing lap similar to the 1st. I'll comment on 800 pacing in the other thread on that subject...

Dan

Hammer · Posted: Fri Apr 19, 2002 3:50 pm Post subject:

Dan you can't do that again...My computer almost crashed.....

graeme · Posted: Fri Apr 19, 2002 6:32 pm Post subject:

Dan · Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2002 4:41 pm Post subject:

Oops. Yeah, that's what I meant to say...

Hammer, sorry about that unexpected near-BSD. Smile

Good luck on the 3rd lap push. Seems that usually results in a slower 4th lap, but more power to ya!

Dan

graeme · Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2002 5:08 pm Post subject:

I've been running a lot of 5k's lately and I've realized that I can always hammer out the finish no matter how fast I do the rest of the race... I find it easy to motivate myself when the end of the race is so close. Hopefully that will happen in the 1500 too.

[ This Message was edited by: graeme on 2002-04-21 21:09 ]

Dan · Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2002 5:19 pm Post subject:

The 5k is mostly an aerobic race, while the 1500 still has a fairly high anaerobic component, which makes even pacing much more difficult (although not impossible and certainly not harmful).

Dan

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