I have for many years been a fan of negative splits. This, being the achievement of running the later parts of a race faster than the first. My best performances have been negative splits and very often, my best 5K times are in fact the second half of a 10K. I love the feeling of getting faster and faster through a race and then be able to power through to a strong finish. The slower first part allows me to warm up and also protects me from injury. This contrasts to going off too fast, struggling and slowing down as time goes on (a valid strategy but not as effective I think).
Therefore I really like the exercise we did at running club tonight, where we run (jog) for 20 minutes away from the club and then try and get back in under 18 minutes. The trick here of course is to pace yourself in the first half, which I believe is the secret of achieving your best in races.
Tomorrow I have (foolish me) entered a 10K race! Usually I wouldn’t dream of doing training efforts the day before a race but I’m not in the “usually” world at the moment. Far from being on my last legs after running 10K-a-day for 10 days in a row, I was able to comfortably do my run back in 18 minutes and then run some more to make it up to 10K.
I won’t have any difficulty in reaching 10K tomorrow of course because I will be racing it and that really will be a test of my stamina. Bring it on!
“being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,” Colossians 1:11 NIVUK
Richard is running 10K every day during June, to raise money for a public access defibrillator to be situated at Rothwell Baptist Church. To sponsor him and make a donation, please visit his Just Giving Page.
Marathon Mann 