SMART RACING |
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Now to the crux! Most of us train
to race but we hardly ever race to our potential. There are many
factors to why this is. One of the problems is that most people
RACE their workouts. They leave their races at the track. They
worry too much about hitting a specific pace which they believe
will be best for them. They compete too much with themselves and
lose focus on the end result. If you follow my guidelines set
above about training, you will have the potential to have a good
race. However, suppose you do everything that is suggested and
still don’t have a good race? Well, more then likely what needs
to be considered is HOW you race. Did you run a SMART race?
Through my experience as a coach and a runner I have developed
key components which should help you optimize your racing and
get the most out of your training. Pacing • Know your pace Supposedly you have been training at a certain pace which is HONEST to your potential. You have to make sure you stay the course and try to run a race based on these workouts. • Start out slow OK, now this is potentially the most important thing on becoming a SMART RACER! You have to start SLOW! You can literally kill your race, regardless of the distance of the race within the first two minutes of the race. If you start too fast, you will probably not get the best of your race.You build too much lactic acid and your HR escalates and it is almost impossible to save your race. You will slow down at some point in the race, either now or later and that is not what you want to do. You want to constantly speed up throughout the whole race! Use your head for the first half, your guts for the rest! Be Smart! It is way better to start TOO SLOW then TOO FAST! • Average Pace and Heart Rate: Care in using this term A lot of experts say that you should run an even paced race for your best race. Ideally I belief this is almost right. But if you think about this in terms of HR, it doesn’t make sense. A certain pace at the beginning of a run/race will always elicit a lower HR then the same pace later on. Similarly, using the negative pace technique advocated here, the second half of a race will be faster than the first. So what does “average” mean?It just means that, the average over the whole course of the run, not what your time is on the average at any given point! You have to remember this. You want to get faster during you race! Planning your Race: Things your Coach never told you! How do you do this? And this has to be very specific, so take care to listen to this and work with it and trust it. It has been shown that every single world record (down to even the 100 meter) is done by negative splitting. Another great example of negative splitting (or nearly even splitting) were the Colorado University Lady Buffaloes during the 2005 Cross Country National Championship. Clearly not the fastest team, maybe 4th or 5th, they managed to get 2nd place. While the faster teams ran positive splits, CU sat back and watched these teams “explode”. CU is probably the best disciplined college team in the country and regardless of their running potential will end up with great performances because Coach Wetmore’s belief in racing smart. The best scenario is that you run the first half about 1-2% slower than race pace and finish up 1-2% faster. It works and it makes you feel good too. It takes time to figure it out and you have to be patient about it. I have some key techniques to consider. They work too! Neurotic or what??? Ok, you may think this is psychotic and neurotic to be so damn analytical about your race. Well, if you want the best race you can, YOU WILL DO THIS! It works but it takes a bit of planning. If you want that PR, you have to think ahead and figure out how to get what you want. And it ain’t hard. Try it, you’ ll like! The ideal is to break the course up into as many pieces as you can and run it like an interval workout. Emeril Principle: Holding Back so you can kick it up THREE NOTCHES! For the first half of a race, you have to hold back and resist pushing the effort, if you don’t, then you will not have your best race. So you have to constantly ask yourself how you feel and whether you can kick it up three more notches at the halfway mark, not one notch but three! If you can only kick it up one notch, then you started too fast. You want to kick it up one notch at the halfway mark, then another at the two-third mark, then one more with 800 meters. And you may even have one more in the last 200 meters. 2/10 Rule and the 300/800 Principle If you ran the first two minutes, using the 300/800 principle like I suggest and if pacing has been done right through the core of the race, in any race over a mile, you can push the last 5-10 minutes at a level that is almost 99% effort. That should be one of the things you key into. Focus on not going to that level until you get about 510 minutes from the finish. At that point, start stepping it up and hang on! I like to think of this as the 2/10 Rule; where you give up 2, to blast 10! Two Thirds Rule Jack Daniels, the acclaimed “world’s best running coach” says in his book, that basically whatever position you are at the 2/3 of a race, is pretty much going to be where you will finish. I have found that this is indeed very accurate. However, you can lose or gain a few positions over the last third and it all depends on how you measured your effort for the race. If you went too fast for the first 2/3 of the race, you will be in the position to lose positions while if you started out with the 2/10 rule I mind, you may actually gain a few positions. As a cross country coach, it was often infuriating when my runners would lose just a few position with 200 meters to go. This can be the difference between a championship and not! High School Races: No Watches Allowed??!! So what happens if you can’t use a watch when racing, like the High School runners in Michigan. Well, the best option would be to become like one of Wetmore’s runners: know by feeling how you are doing. But this is a very tough situation for High School runners, they are very impetuous and lose sight of pace very early in the race. Every once in a while, you have a runner who knows pace and how to work with it. The majority of the runners are clueless, so how do we aide the average High School runner to run Smart. I use a very simple procedure for 5K cross country races. I basically do exactly what I prescribe for pacing races. I walk out 300 meters and I set myself there for the runners. Before the race, I tell them exactly what their times should be and approximately how it should feel and where in the pack they should be. I also try to mark the ½ mile and the 1.5 mile and give them their splits. After a few races of success using this method, they start to intuit exactly how they should feel at these points and beyond and where to pick it up. While other coaches are at the mile marks screaming at their runners to go faster, I am routinely found in the woods, telling them to relax, slow down and wait to the half way mark! It really works. I am reminded again of CU coach Wetmore in the book, Running with the Buffaloes as he is constantly reinforcing his runners in a mild manner way that they are doing their job by holding back. Simulating Races during Intervals A real good way to get an understand of how to run race with the principals of Smart Running, try simulating race during an interval workout. For instance, take a close look at the “Perfect Interval Session” in the Chapter 1: Key Workouts, where Ben runs 4.25 miles at 6 minute mile pace. This is an exceptional way to improve your racing process and get the most out of your interval sessions. Week of Race Training I have found that REST is the key component to the week prior to your race. You absolutely cannot do any more training for the race at this point and you can’t lose anything basically by taking time off. But there are two key things I have found work really well. o Take two days off before the race (YES, TWO DAYS). No running. But also, don’t lie around. Stay active. Maybe do some walking and stretching. o Do one FAST workout 3-4 days before the race. I suggest doing intervals at 2 mile pace. For instance, 3 x 600 at 2 mile pace with 200 jog or 5 x 300 at 2 mile pace with 200 jog. These have a physiological effect, they raise blood volume. Higher blood volume increases the potential for faster times. Tapering
Race Warm-Up
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