Creating a race strategy
Daily Tip #8
As you’re standing behind the start line on race day morning, you can be sure that most every runner feels the same as you do—filled with anticipation. But don’t let the excitement of race day deter you from the goals you’ve invested months of training to achieve. Whether your goal is to score a PR or simply to finish the race, strive to set a strategy for your race.
At the starting horn, resist the urge to go out hard. Top athletes and coaches agree that proper pacing—meaning a restrained pace at the beginning and a pickup in the last few miles—is the key to a well-run half. “Don’t go out too fast, especially with the hilly start in the park,” NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE 2006 second-place finisher Benita Johnson says. “You’ll get a faster time if you [save something for] the second half.”
Coaches and professional runners agree that potentially starting out right at goal pace or even a bit slower is the best strategy for most any race, especially a longer distance race like the half-marathon. Try not to allow what other runners are doing, distract you from hitting the pace-per-mile goal you established during your training runs. With a longer-distance race like the half-marathon, you can pick places along the course to assess how you’re feeling. Review the course prior to the race start, and break the race apart into sections—either at mile 7 (two sections) or at mile 4.5 and mile 9 (three sections)—and pace yourself accordingly. For example, try running the first 4.5 miles a few seconds slower than your goal pace. At mile 4.5, pick up the pace a bit so that you target your desired race pace. Then, at mile 9, see how much gas you have left in the tank—if you’re run the first two thirds of the race conservatively, you’ll have enough energy to pick it a bit.
The NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE course offers several landmarks, and not just mile markers, that help break up the course. For instance, the Toyota Hybrid Turn to the Finish at mile 9 is where the course turns left from 42nd Street onto West Side Highway. This turn will be hard to miss—there will be a stage with Toyota cars and a Brazilian band. This stretch provides a welcome change from the hills of Central Park at the beginning of the race, and then it’s a flat, fast roadway to the finish in Battery Park.
If you do go out too fast, take comfort in the fact that even some professional athletes need to be told by their coaches to conserve a bit at the start. Terrence Mahon, coach of Team Running USA athletes such as half-marathon world record holders Deena Kastor and Ryan Hall, is accustomed to dispensing this advice to his runners. “It’s always a better feeling to know that you can pick up the pace after a few miles than to question if you’re going to be able to hold on for the whole race off of a fast start,” Mahon says. “The more even-paced you run, the more economical your energy system will be and the better your chances of hitting your goal time.”
Hall, who obliterated the American half-marathon record with a 59:43 finish at the Aramco Houston Half-Marathon in January, advises runners to focus on the specific mile they’re running at the time. Analyzing how far he has to run in the early stages of a race, or thinking about how far he’s run at the late stages can break concentration for Hall.
Remain mindful of your desired pace, but realize that sometimes adjustments to pace are necessary. If you’ve put in the time to train well for your race, have faith in your training and remember that half of the effort of achieving your goals on race day are physical, and the other half are mental. Like Hall, create a constructive, positive way to focus your mind on race day. If you do that, your well-trained body will take care of itself.
