When I was in high school, my electronics teacher had a silly saying to remind his students of how to handle electrical wires: “One hand in pockey, no get shockey.” Like touching wires with both hands, there’s a wrong way to do almost everything. For example, going down a park slide head first, throwing a paper airplane at your high school teacher, and not buying your twin brother a birthday present, claiming you forgot his birthday, would all be considered by most as errors in judgment. (Okay, so I don’t always make the best decisions.)
Although there are many paths to success when it comes to running, there are also wrong ways to train and race. Although training and racing errors won’t have as severe a consequence as electrocuting yourself, errors in your training and racing will prevent you from meeting your potential. In honor of my electronics teacher, here are some common running errors with advice to help you correct them.
“Running at the correct speed more specifically targets the physiological factors that influence running performance. Run only as fast as you need to meet the purpose of the workout.. ”
WRONG
Doing Workouts Too Fast or Too Slow
One of the biggest errors runners make is running workouts at incorrect speeds. Running too fast only adds unnecessary stress and running too slow doesn’t train what you’re trying to train.
RIGHT
To Meet Your Physiological Needs, Run Workouts at the Correct Speeds
Always match the speed of your workouts to their purpose. Running at the correct speed more specifically targets the physiological factors that influence running performance. Run only as fast as you need to meet the purpose of the workout. For example, if you want to improve your aerobic power (VO2max), run at VO2max pace and no faster. To make workouts harder, run more reps at the right pace rather than running fewer reps faster than you need to.
“…the best way to run your fastest possible race is by starting out at the pace you can maintain the entire race. ”
WRONG
Running the First Mile of a Race Too Fast
The faster you run the first part of a race, the more your muscles rely on anaerobic metabolism to produce energy. With the greater reliance on anaerobic metabolism and muscular work comes an increase in muscle and blood acidosis and the accumulation of metabolic by-products that cause fatigue. You can’t put running time in the bank. You will end up losing more time in the end than what you gained by being “ahead of schedule” in the beginning. No matter how strong your will is, the metabolic condition caused by running too fast too early forces you to slow down during subsequent stages of the race.
RIGHT
To Run Your Best Race, Run Even or Negative Pace
Although race strategy sometimes dictates that you change the pace during the race to challenge your competitors, the best way to run your fastest possible race is by starting out at the pace you can maintain the entire race. While it may feel easy, especially in a long race like a marathon, to run the first couple of kilometres at the same pace as the last, your patience will pay huge dividends during the last few kilometres. Ideally, the second half of your race should be equal to or slightly faster than the first half (i.e., negative splits). To negative split a race requires accurate knowledge of your fitness level, confidence to stick to your plan when others have taken the early pace out too fast, and a good dose of self-restraint. Your workouts are invaluable for providing you with knowledge of your fitness level and for predicting your average race pace (assuming you account for such things like the terrain and the weather).
