Goes out too fast wrote:
I have a racing strategy question...
I am a 16:00 guy and I'm wondering about the effects of going out too fast on a 5k course. Sometimes coach tells us to go super fast at the beginning to get our position established. But I also read that if you go out 10+ seconds faster than you're supposed to, then you could lose as much as 2-3 seconds per 400 after. So in a 5k race that could be 25-30 seconds of losing time (so a net loss of 15-20 seconds).
On some courses it might be worth the sacrifice, I guess. But in general, I should just get in my 5:10-5:20 pace as soon as possible instead of killing myself at 4:40 pace for the first minute or two of the race, right?
Yes, you're absolutely right - many runners, especially in high school go out too fast in XC. Part of the problem is subconsciously assuming that correlation = causation: runners who go out slower finish further back. In fact, even when fast runners go out slower than usual, they finish further back than usual. Of course, the real reason for this is that there is a good chance they are having a bad day if they went out slower.
The only question that matters is: "What happens when a fast runner goes out at a slower, more sensible pace - on purpose?" You would have to understand that you might have to gradually work your way up over the course of the race, but if you were able to execute this, it is definitely the better strategy in my opinion.
I've found that a lot of coaches suffer from loss aversion - they are trying to not lose more than they are trying to win. They can't stand the thought of going out too slow, but if you go out too fast and die, "at least you went for it." In reality though, going out too fast is worse than going out too slowly, especially in a long season with too many races.