Friend keeps dying out on last lap

Maybe stop resurrecting him.

He is going out too fast. If he slows the pace he won't die the last lap, problem solved.

runner85 wrote:

He is going out too fast. If he slows the pace he won't die the last lap, problem solved.

One would suppose that from first glance, but the thing is that he's dying out on paces that he's run before. He's run faster two mile splits in cross country, as opposed to what he's hitting now in track.

If he's running slower than he does in XC, perhaps it's some kind of nutrition problems?

Also unless there's some need, he shouldn't be running all out every weekend.

waitwut wrote:

runner85 wrote:

He is going out too fast.

...the thing is that he's dying out on paces that he's run before.

He just doesn't have the tolerance for pain, and once the self doubt drove a wedge in it screwed him. He's seen what it takes to run fast, and he doesn't want that feeling. Happens to some folks.

Sometimes a great coach can bring folks back from that precipice.

I Lurv College wrote:

If he's running slower than he does in XC, perhaps it's some kind of nutrition problems?

Also unless there's some need, he shouldn't be running all out every weekend.

Asked him about that. He maintains a fairly healthy diet. Fruits, vegetables, fair amount of carbs, etc.

sayer_of_truth wrote:

waitwut wrote:

...the thing is that he's dying out on paces that he's run before.

He just doesn't have the tolerance for pain, and once the self doubt drove a wedge in it screwed him. He's seen what it takes to run fast, and he doesn't want that feeling. Happens to some folks.

Sometimes a great coach can bring folks back from that precipice.

This actually sounds plausible. He's determined, but I think he may be having trouble discerning from what he can and can't run through. I might ask him about that. Thanks.

I think the pain barrier is something that every runner struggles with at some time in their career. But it doesn't last forever.

The best way to break it is to do something crazy. Like go out with the leaders in a race way over your head, its dumb, but it seems to work.

Perhaps in this kid's situation, he just needs to start his last lap by picking up the pace, maybe he'll die with 200 to go, but at least he is that much closer to breaking through.

It helps some runners, on the last lap, to switch their brain from their legs to their arms. I mean totally switch, just focusing on swinging the elbows and forgetting the legs.

Some runners can switch gears suddenly when they see the finish line. There is a mental change that allows them to go from seemingly all out, to even faster.

Your friend needs to find that feeling. The bell lap needs to be a moment he is waiting for. He should relax his body, force his breething to be natural, and then he absolutly must quicken his pace.

The body can handle it. But you need to prepare for it before the race.

Have him do 3x4x5x400m with 100m jogs between reps and 400m jogs between sets at 3k pace. That should help him overcome his mental block.

He might be racing his workouts and not have the mental strength to summon all his energies when the real race is happening. When I was younger, I ran a lot of really great 2300m steeple races and 3600m 5k races. During that time, pretty much every track workout was all out. It wasn't until I was out of college and just running more and easier miles, and running the same times or faster than I did in college, that I figured this paradox out.

Tell him to grow a pair

The fact that he's run faster splits in cross country means it's probably not a mental thing - at least to me. I think he might be anemic; it can happen to people with otherwise very healthy diets.

He need to add more speed endurane workouts.

Needs to run faster on the easy days. He'll be stronger.

While it could be nutrition or even a lingering illness, it sure sounds like he needs some pacing practice. Lots of runners are quite bad at it and poor pacing can cause the type of things like you describe.

Look at his training. If he has one of these coaches that turns track season into weeks of blasting intervals @ day his overall mileage may be down and he may be killing himself during the week.

waitwut wrote:

runner85 wrote:

He is going out too fast. If he slows the pace he won't die the last lap, problem solved.

One would suppose that from first glance, but the thing is that he's dying out on paces that he's run before. He's run faster two mile splits in cross country, as opposed to what he's hitting now in track.

It could be that he isn't in as good of shape now as he was in cross season. It happens.