First off thanks to my coaches, team and everyone here because broke 17. Question though, how do I keep my speed up in miles 2 and 3 mentally? I think I have the training (55mpw) and long runs (15) in for the endurance but that I am losing focus. Advice?
Don't start too fast.
Splits?
Runningsub17 wrote:
First off thanks to my coaches, team and everyone here because broke 17. Question though, how do I keep my speed up in miles 2 and 3 mentally? I think I have the training (55mpw) and long runs (15) in for the endurance but that I am losing focus. Advice?
People who die in the middle of the 5k do it because they either are mentally weak / bad racers OR because they go out at their 3k pace. Very easy to be in the rush with all others running and start at 3k pace/effort. What happens is that too much fatigue is building up too quickly and the body is forced to slow down.
You could run 150 mpw and do 20 mile long runs, if you go out at your 3k pace/effort you WILL die. Learn to race smart, start the first 20-30 secs very quickly (can do that due to creatin-phosphate energy), but then settle back in your average pace. With that strategy, you will soon be passing all the other people who started too fast (at their 3k pace, MANY 5k runners do that especially in road races) and ideally you can even kick at the end.
Switch watch to kilometres. This may sound silly. But having splits every .621 miles instead of every mile helps you as far as feed back and rather or not you started too fast. And it's easier to do the math while running.
While I agree it's the mental part that struggles through this portion of the race. The OP does bring up the toughest portion. Maybe 1.5-2.5 miles. If you don't have competition to push you through that section, it takes enormous mental fortitude to hold the pace. The best you can do is find a competitive race. If you still can't hold it together when people are running away from you, then it could point to additional mental issues, or you just went out too fast.
mile 2 is supposed to hurt real bad. If you think you cant hold it, you're probably doing it right
"Being mentally tough" is only a misleading and unhelpful way to think about endurance and physical fitness. You drop off pace mostly because you went out too fast. Pace yourself better next time.
If you really need to work on maintaining focus in a 5K, then practice it in 20 minute tempo runs. One of the great benefits of tempo runs is they force you to pay attention near your race pace for a similar amount of time.
I totally agree with what you have said.
I did an analysis of the 2018 Washington State Championships (3A boys) to see how their mile splits compared with their finishing positions. The slowest racers start way too fast on the 1st mile, and go progressively slower on miles 2 and 3. However, the fastest runners have nearly even splits for each mile.
https://micro.runnerspace.com/profile.php?member_id=173603&do=photos&photo_id=933999
https://micro.runnerspace.com/profile.php?member_id=173603&do=photos&photo_id=934000
Thanks for all the suggestions. I will keep working at it and try to even my splits too.