Question about tris and runs

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2006-05-08 5:40 PM

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Champion
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Chicago
Subject: Question about tris and runs
I did a 5K Saturday and finished in 21:59. Not great but not bad. Anyway my question is this: I'm so used to bricks and swim/bike/runs that I really don't know how to turn on the afterburners to try to get a sub-21 minute 5K because I'm mental about conservation of energy.

When you all run do you fly along or are you also programmed to conserve? Are you generally at the front of the packs of 5Ks and 10Ks and whatnot? Or like me -- in the middle of the pack?


2006-05-08 8:11 PM
in reply to: #418074

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Pro
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Subject: RE: Question about tris and runs
I immediately go to the front of every 5k, 10k, and 15k race I enter (except if I know there are some much faster runners) and let the pretenders fall off the pace after the first mile. That's how I won the last 15k I was in last summer. Admittedly, there are bigger races where I end up being one of the pretenders and get my butt kicked by a bunch of sub-33 10k racers.


If you stay in the middle of the pack at the beginning of the race you will lose contact with the lead group fairly quickly and never make up the gap. Especially in the 5k, which seems like a sprint to me after doing so many marathons, you need to go out quickly and try to hang on with the pack. The race is over before you know it. This requires that you warm up thoroughly before the race and get to the line ready to go. All of the above assumes that you've done the training to back it up. Good luck.
2006-05-08 9:41 PM
in reply to: #418074

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Subject: RE: Question about tris and runs

Yeah, the 5k where I PR'ed ( not quite under 20 myself, but I will be! ) I went out from the gun with the leaders.  I fell off a bit, but hung on enough to PR.  I can run faster and push harder in a race, than I can on my own.  So trying to hang with people faster than me, I can push past where I thought I could.

Do a couple more (if your schedule allows), and see how they go.  The more you do, the easier it is to get into that 'all out' mindset.  That's another reason why doing interval work at paces *faster* than your race pace are effective.  You train your mind/body to go that fast, and to know what if feels like to run that fast, so you can call it up on race day.

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