Ave pace, 6:30. So while my strategy was to pick up a little time on the downhill and I knew I would not negative split because of the elevation, clearly I went out too fast, and for the last mile my HR was totally maxed out. But what I am wondering is, would I have been better off at 6:15, 6:30, 6:45 splits? Same total time.
Or, could you argue I could have achieved 6:15, 6:25, 6:35 - or something like that which would have been slightly better overall.
I’m a newbie to this stuff but I think the strategy element is the best part, so interested in opinions on pacing and planning and the physiology.
SS
Hilly courses are always going to be a gong show for pacing but with a 5km you basically get your balls nearly all the way out in the first 500m and then don’t slow down. A hilly course has to be done more by feel and a 5km is too short and fast to really use your HR.
If your HR was maxed for the last mile then that’s a good sign, at least you got it up there. My 5km strategy is to go out hard, start to feel a bit shitty by around 1.5km. Open up the legs and try to stay mentally in control until around 3.5km and then simply hold on with the resigned expression of someone about to be horribly murdered until the finish line. In reality I wake up that morning with the resigned expression of someone about to be horribly murdered and it doesn’t leave my face until after the race.
In my last 5km my HR was at 176 by 1 minute 30 seconds and pretty much stayed between there and 182 all the way through. 5km’s hurt … a lot.
Too short not to gun it, too long to just gun it. The least fun you can have on legs I think!
unless it is very steep hills then 1minute per mile is a lot of change over a 3 mile race. I say you probably overcooked the downhills and had nothing left for the last mile.
Hilly courses are always going to be a gong show for pacing but with a 5km you basically get your balls nearly all the way out in the first 500m and then don’t slow down. A hilly course has to be done more by feel and a 5km is too short and fast to really use your HR.
If your HR was maxed for the last mile then that’s a good sign, at least you got it up there. My 5km strategy is to go out hard, start to feel a bit shitty by around 1.5km. Open up the legs and try to stay mentally in control until around 3.5km and then simply hold on with the resigned expression of someone about to be horribly murdered until the finish line. In reality I wake up that morning with the resigned expression of someone about to be horribly murdered and it doesn’t leave my face until after the race.
In my last 5km my HR was at 176 by 1 minute 30 seconds and pretty much stayed between there and 182 all the way through. 5km’s hurt … a lot.
Too short not to gun it, too long to just gun it. The least fun you can have on legs I think!
Too short not to gun it, too long to just gun it. The least fun you can have on legs I think!
True story.
Of course, all the 15 year olds in the race take off at a sub 5 min mile pace for the first 400m, so it’s hard to hold back. Plus you are behind the 14-15 min 5K elite racers for a few hundred feet, etc etc. That all said, it seems to me you gotta hold something back for that final kick and I had nothing because I redlined too early. But as you say a 5K race is a redline the whole way.
