How do you beat someone who sits and kicks!

It depends on what kind of runner your opponent is. You say his speed is better than yours, but lets assume your endurance/strength better than his? Depending on the race you run...lets say Mile/1500? You can almost copy the tactics that Hicham El Guerrouj used through out his career. Make sure the early pace is reasonably honest, if you have to take the lead that's fine. With about 700-800 to ramp up the pace hard and then with 300 to go start your finishing drive and try to hold on to it. He might still get you at the end, but at least this way you'll make him work for it.

speaker of truth wrote:

bob kennedy alternated laps of 62 and 67 at 5k nats in 2001 to destroy the kick of adam goucher

Is there a video of this race somewhere? it sounds like an exciting one to watch.

Here is your definitive guide. As background, I was never very fast, but I won a few races in HS, including state, and contributed to my D1 team, all because strategy and tactics were my bread and butter.

To pull these off, you have to practice them, so it will be hard if the kicker is your teammate, but still possible, just requires seperate workouts or mind games.

Here are the strategies below in order of complexity:

(1) Out kick him. Sit on him, draft, out kick him the last 100. This is worth a try, I assume it wont work because he has faster foot speed than you, but worth a try.

(2) Long-sustained kick. Lets say you are running two miles and the last lap you always run 60s, but he always runs 59s, passing you the last 100, 200, 300, or 400. Try sitting back, waiting, drafting on him or the pack, then with 800m--1km to go, you start a long sustained drive to the finish, using the above example instead of running your last two laps in say 64 and then 60, string together two 62s or better yet two in 61.5s. The key is to have him go with you and hope he runs out of gas by the time he gets to his comfortable kicking zone.

(3) *Author's Favorite* The "Daniel Komen." I got this strategy from watching the orginal Daniel Komen, and I have executed it successfully several times and counseled others on how to execute it. Depening on the race, if its 1500 or 1600 wait until 700m or 600m to go, if its 3200m or above, wait until about 1000m to go. Then you kick. Go hard. AT his prime Komen would drop about a 26 200m at 1km to go, then run 58-59 seconds to finish, even though everyone else was finishing in 54s for the last lap, he was too far ahead. Even outside his prime Komen would drop a 27 and then un 60s and still be out of the reach of those screaming in in 54s for the last lap. The trick is you have to go hard and then settle into a strong finishing pace. The hard part is almost as fast as a true kick but you save a little to run respectable to the line. Say you usually can run your last 200m all out in 28 seconds. With 1km to go, run a 30-31s 200m, then settle into about 63-64s for the next two laps as you finish. The trick is to go fast enough that the kicker will not follow you, he will think you miscounted or that you are being suicidial. Then you build a big enough lead but save enough to hold a gap so that he becomes demoralized, he may try to make up the gap, but the gap is too big and he cannot mentally bring himself to bridge it.

(4) Hot and colds. Run either 400/400 hot and cold or 200/200. This one takes a lot of practice, lots. But, when executed the alternating, surging pace, will create enough lactic acid that he will have no response come kicking time.

You should study some of Pre's races, especially his race against George Young at the 1972 Olympic Trials. He executed his strategy perfectly in that race. Young had one of the most feared kicks in the world at the time.

It is incredibly hard to run the kick out of someone. So be ready to suffer.

What distance are you racing?

Instead of surging, keep the pace just slightly faster than he wants to go, but not so fast he can let you go. Then gradually take him into deep water by running fast/slow 200's that vary by only a couple seconds. Finally, don't kick early, make him have to decide when to kick, go around you, then sit on him and re-rally.

A crow bar or a baseball bat would work well

Every time you slow down, he catches up and that makes it easier.

The only reason to slow is to disrupt his pace, i.e. coast down when he's running on your heels so he has to brake, then pick it back up and take off. When he catches up and gets on your heels again, coast down so he has to break, then take off again etc etc.

But if you have a 5 or 10 meter lead, keep going, unless it's a longer race, you can still do the accordian effect, but I wouldn't ever slow down unless he's still hanging on, and then just momentarily to get him to relax and slow down.

I was in a race with a guy with about the same time for the distance, but much faster than me the last lap. From the start it was just the two of us at the front, with him following along behind me waiting for the end of the race. I kept building the pace and realized he was going to hang there regardless what I did, so I started coasting down just past the midpoint of the second curve of each lap, then taking off again, picking up the pace around to the same spot on the next one, then slow down more than I had the previous lap. This happened over just a few seconds then I'd take off again, until we got just over 5 laps to go. I almost came to a stop, and he almost ran into me but came to a dead stop and I took off in a sprint, running the last five laps as fast as possible and finished about 10 meters ahead of him. It was hot, the time was reasonable and it was a very satisfying race for me. Had it been cooler I would have run hard all the way.

I forgot to mention each time I slowed I also moved out a bit, and kind of glanced back to the side, so he wasn't able to move out or come up on my shoulder. It was kind of a fun game to play, not my usual way though.

Train harder?