Ma Coaching
TRAINING
Start Slow... Finish Fast!
We often hear coaches and experienced runners make the statement‘ start slow, finish fast’ when offering advice on running races, but I believe that the phrase should actually be“ start slower and finish faster than your planned race pace.” – BY DERICK MARCISZ
course, in road races one has to take into account a lot of other factors, such as hills, distance and weather, to name a few. History shows that starting fast more often than not leads to a complete slowdown towards the end of a race. Therefore, rather start at a slightly slower pace than your predicted even pace for 25 to 35 % of the distance, pick up the pace over the next 35 to 50 % of the distance, and then try to maintain that to the finish. If you have managed your muscle fatigue and energy levels, you may even be able to pick up the pace during the last few kilometres for a fast finish.
S peed is relative to an individual’ s running ability, age and many other factors. Most running records are achieved using even pacing. Take, for example, Roger Bannister, the world’ s first sub- four-minute miler. When trying to break this barrier, he set out by trying to run each lap( a quarter mile) around the track in just under 60 seconds, with enough in the tank to finish fast and break the four-minute barrier. He achieved this when his training mates paced him through three laps in 3:01. He ran the last lap in just under 59 seconds to finish in 3:59.4, and with that he made history! In this epic race, the runners did not start slow at all, but ran an even pace and finished fast!
My personal best marathon was achieved with only a 20-second slowdown between the first 21km and the second 21km, so very close to even pace. Of
TRAIN TO ACHIEVE THIS
If you do not practise this concept in training, you will never be able to do this in a race.
• Start slow, finish fast: Every run, even your easy recovery runs, should start at a very easy pace and finish faster than you started.
• Easy out, fast back: Run easy for the first 4km. Stop and have a drink and then run the same 4km back at around two to three minutes faster.
• Progressive runs: Do a 60-minute workout, increasing the pace every 20 minutes: The first 20min should be easy, the next 20min at a good pace, and the last 20min at tempo pace.
• Very fast finishes: Do a steady run of around 10km with the last five minutes at a very fast pace.
Lastly, a concept that I constantly talk to my runners about is that running easy must be easy, and running fast must be fast! There must be a notable difference between the efforts, and this will build your fitness.
About the Author Derick has been a runner, cyclist and triathlete for 47 years and has been coaching for 21 years, including heading up the Modern Athlete Dare to Tri Academy
Images: Fotolia
NUTRITION
Eat Right for Recovery
For most runners, post-race rest and recovery just means no running, but there are important nutritional elements to consider which can drastically speed up recovery.
– BY CHRISTINE PETERS, REGISTERED DIETICIAN
Post-race nutritional recovery focuses on restoring fluid and electrolytes( sodium and potassium) lost in sweat; replenishing muscle fuel( carbohydrate), decreasing risk of infection, and providing protein to aid in the repair of damaged muscle tissue and to stimulate development of new tissue. Recent research on nutrition for endurance exercise points to the following four significant findings:
1. Recovery window: You recover fastest by consuming recovery nutrients within 30 to 60 minutes after you finish running, as the muscles are primed to metabolise nutrients, replace fuel stores and damaged tissue immediately after intense exercise.
42 ISSUE 92 MARCH 2017 / www. modernathlete. co. za