Race strategy to place top 5

It may help if I give an idea as to what shape I'm in as well. I've been running about 45 mpw, last week I did a workout of 4x600m w/ 3 min of jogging rest followed by 8x400m w/ 2 min of jogging rest and only 1 on the last one. I split 2:03, 1:58, 1:57, 1:54, 74, 76, 78, 77, 71, 71, 71, 72. The 600's were at a fairly comfortable race pace. The 400's were at a faster pace at first and I went just about all out for the last 4. This was on a day that I was mentally very drained after having a horrible race a few days before and it felt very very hard.

Don't assume you can't outkick your teammates. If they've been sitting on you and then outkicking you, it's because you've been doing the pacing work and they're fresher at the end of the race, not that they're great kickers.

So, seriously: pack up the first mile, but let THEM be the ones leading the pack. Let them set the pace the next 1.75 miles. Then kick. Alternatively, if a guy from another school moves into fifth place, go with him and let him be your pacer.

Run with the front pack and have good placement. Considering you don't have kicking speed as fast as your teammates, make sure you're front running with the other top 1-7 guys (teammates or whoever) so they can pace you most of the race. The pack will start breaking up after 2 miles. Make your move the last k and have a pretty good distance on everyone. People will let you go and probably start kicking the last 400m. Hang in there and fight the last 400m cause you'll be feeling it. Run like Pre

Sit and kick really isn't an option. I'm not joking when I say that they can kick hard at least one of them anyways. I like the idea of letting them lead like the first two miles though.

NXN Lover wrote:

Run with the front pack and have good placement. Considering you don't have kicking speed as fast as your teammates, make sure you're front running with the other top 1-7 guys (teammates or whoever) so they can pace you most of the race. The pack will start breaking up after 2 miles. Make your move the last k and have a pretty good distance on everyone. People will let you go and probably start kicking the last 400m. Hang in there and fight the last 400m cause you'll be feeling it. Run like Pre

I like that. Maybe that's what I'll do

You said you couldn't go out hard, but I only found success in high school once I realized that if I had to kick, might as well do it at the start.

So go out crazy hard, then run your pace.

I found early that this allowed me to be leading, or with the leaders. I'd hang there, then motivation of being in or near the lead would allow me to dig deep and finish hard, because it meant more than simply showing I had too much left at the end!

That said, you'd need to be strong to do this. You ARE strong. Go out with your team at 5:15 or so. Keep the pace quick, but don't lead everyone else. Run with them, but keep the pace honest. If they're just sitting on you, throw in a few surges, make them work to keep up. Then, don't run like Pre, run like Viren. Start driving with 1K to go, not 400m to go. At 400m to go, make sure you're running about 90 percent of what you would have, had you not started picking it up 600m earlier. If you make sure that your move from 1000 out is definitive, you won't need to be sprinting all out to the finish. Nearly all out should do it.

Kicking at the start? You mean what every high school runner does before they die? Haha but in all seriousness I think you do have a few good points. The one thing that I don't thing will work for me in particular is going out hard. I think I need to stay relaxed and pick people off until I'm with the group I need to stay with for the next mile or so. Thanks for the feedback

If you are running against a bunch of kickers i would suggest throwing surges in mid race to try and break them. If you just let them run a consistent pace they will be more likely to hang tough and out kick you.

warm up champ wrote:

If you are running against a bunch of kickers i would suggest throwing surges in mid race to try and break them. If you just let them run a consistent pace they will be more likely to hang tough and out kick you.

To be honest, I don't know how most of them race. I know my teammates and one of them is a big kicker but I really don't know about a lot of the other guys. Do you think that could backfire on me or benefit someone else? Of course, if the pace is lacking then I'll throw in a surge or two to drop some guys.

Update: did a workout today to work on finishing speed, copying it directly from my training log. Any comments or insights? I felt really good about it, it was definitely one of the hardest workouts of the season and a confidence booster.

Mile w/u, 4x75m strides, 16x400m @ 78 seconds average for first 13 and last three in 72, 69, 66 w/ 2:00-2:30 rest, mile c/d

Total: 8

Splits were 86, 82, 78, 80, 78, 78, 78, 78, 76, 77, 75, 77, 76, 72, 69, 66. The first four felt very controlled and relaxed. Especially the first one, it was way slower than it should have been. I tried not to push too early and focus on moving up after halfway into each one. Didn’t really look at my watch either. Got a drink after the 8th and 12th. Only really struggled on the ones under 77 and a couple of 77’s. Planned to go hard the last 3. I led the second to last and resisted a full out sprint at the end. The last one went out fast from the start, less hard after about 75m but still quick and nearly all out the last 100m. First 4 had a short steep uphill near the end before a short slight downhill. The next 4 were the exact same loop but backwards starting on an uphill then downhill (which was harder for me), switched after every 4. Wore Kinvaras

Top 5? wrote:

warm up champ wrote:

If you are running against a bunch of kickers i would suggest throwing surges in mid race to try and break them. If you just let them run a consistent pace they will be more likely to hang tough and out kick you.

To be honest, I don't know how most of them race. I know my teammates and one of them is a big kicker but I really don't know about a lot of the other guys. Do you think that could backfire on me or benefit someone else? Of course, if the pace is lacking then I'll throw in a surge or two to drop some guys.

Well, the surges will help to make everyone uncomfortable so it should hopefully benefit you. But, if you are struggling and then try to surge it may could ruin your race by making you die.

warm up champ wrote:

Top 5? wrote:

To be honest, I don't know how most of them race. I know my teammates and one of them is a big kicker but I really don't know about a lot of the other guys. Do you think that could backfire on me or benefit someone else? Of course, if the pace is lacking then I'll throw in a surge or two to drop some guys.

Well, the surges will help to make everyone uncomfortable so it should hopefully benefit you. But, if you are struggling and then try to surge it may could ruin your race by making you die.

Good thing to know, thanks