Is it okay to sit and kick?

I think that it is just good race tactics to sit at kick; winning the race is what matters.

That being said, it seems kind of unfair for the guy leading, and i think the sportsmanlike thing would be to share the lead.

Of course, some people prefer to lead - you can set the pace, and dictate how the race goes.

It is OK. Everybody know's the game is to get to the finish line first.

If the objective is a time goal, like the Oly Trials, then share the load. If the objective is winning, then use whatever tactic will best facilitate it.

No. Never sit behind anyone the whole way and kick.

The best is to pull someone along the whole time and they think they'll just kick you but then destroy them over the last 200. I did that a few times and it was the best feeling. I've led and been kicked down for a conference championship and also kicked people down a lot in invitationals. It depends on the race but who really cares, its a part of the sport and they should deal with it.

I'm going to go with "James...Ryan" on this one. Sitting and kicking is a good way to win a race, but it's pretty unsportsmanlike. If your goal is only to win, then go ahead and sit and kick. it's just not very fair if you are working less than your competitors. and I know everyone is going to say that they make the decision to lead, and could slow down if they wanted to, but come on - either you help with the pace or you don't. You decide whether to help or not.

its a race, you don't owe your competitors anything.

so yes.

to quote herman edwards, "You play to win the game!" Sitting and kicking is called tactics, not cheating.

Developmentally, it's better early in your career to challenge yourself to run as fast/as hard as you can. If you are in high school and are getting into the practice of just running behind people and outsprinting them at the end, then you are not testing nor expanding your limits. Instead, you are letting others dictate how fast or slow you run up until the last bit of a race.

There is a time and place for sit and kick tactics. But for young runners and those who want to run faster than ever, you often just have to take charge and blast for all you're worth.

I agree wrote:

I'm going to go with "James...Ryan" on this one.

I see this error all the time. HOW HARD IS IT TO UNDERSTAND THAT HIS NAME IS JIM R-Y-U-N? Not ry-an; ry-un. This person even responded to someone with the name spelled the right way. Why can't people get this?

If you know you are gonna be sat on and kicked on, do one of two things

1) Speed up and drop his ass

2)Slow down and make him take the lead. If he doesn't you get a slow race that won't take too much out of you either, and you will have a good kick left too.

Winning is the goal of the race, however he wins it is fair, and it is best to learn how to counter tactics like that.

HaHa, I pity the fool who always takes the lead and gets outkicked at the end. We had names for those guys such as "Johnnywindbreaker". Always loved to run against them.

If I understand Kant, his philosophy suggests that it is morally wrong to sit and kick. One of the more common interpretations of Kantian philosophy is that an action is only morally permissible if the action would still achieve its end (goal) if everyone else accepted that it was morally permissible (and also did it). For example lying is not morally permissible because if everyone did it then no one would believe you and thus lying would not achieve your goal (i.e. you wouldn't deceive people). Sitting and kicking would also not achieve its goal because no one would take the lead in the race and thus there would not be a race.

-JC

What is Kant's prs? Doesn't sound very fast too me.

If the leader tows the sitter through at an even pace, that is just plain bad tactics. He should only be mad at himself for not racing smartly. As the above poster mentioned, there are two tactics to use with sit-and-kickers. If neither works, then it's because THEY ARE BETTER THAN YOU!

My teammate in college sat on the leader for an entire 10K. The leader was trying to get him to share the lead but my teammate responded, "We're trying to win the conference and I have to run the 5k in a few hours." The leader moved into lane 2 and my teammate just followed. They eventualy slowed down to almost a walk until the leader realized they were letting the pack catch up. My teammate eventualy dropped him in the last 1/4 running like a 62.

Don't know what point I was making, but I thought it was a good story.

If you have the talent and ability to sit behind the leader and outsprint him/her to the finish, then YES, by all means USE IT. That tactic seemed to work very well for Lynn Jennings as I recall. Don't feel bad for the leader, or worry about "sharing the work". The leader is using his own race tactic which he feels will work best for him. He is trying to go out fast and lose you so you will be unable to use a kick. If you can hang and then kick, you are rockin' and should use it. It's a thing of beauty to have that kind of power.

tell Mr Gebrselassie that it was wrong for him to sit on Mr Tergat's shoulder in those epic races

Sitting and kicking didn't pay off for me - but then again I ran the 100