Aug 22, 2000

"I have a small problem I hope you can help me with," writes a runner calling himself only Adam. His training is a good balance of mileage and speed, but whenever he runs a 5-K race he paces it erratically.

"No matter what my speed at the start, my second mile is about 20 seconds slower than the first, then the third mile picks up a little and is about 15 seconds slower than the first." His cited 6:22, 6:45 and 6:38 as a typical breakdown of miles, and concluded, "My body seems to want to 'rest' after the first mile."

I told him these aren't huge differences. If he said the pace dropped by a minute from the first mile to the second, or if the third mile slowed down even more, I would say he's starting much too fast. The excitement of the early rush probably explains most of the difference for Adam.

My favorite way of determining proper pace is to divide the distance into equal halves. The nearer they are to equal in time, the better, but variations of 10 seconds or so per mile are acceptable.

Think of Adam's race as three miles. In his sample race he ran the halves in about 9:44 and 10:01. The difference of 17 seconds -- or 11 per mile -- isn't ideal, but neither is it excessive.

I'm guessing that Adam passes more runners than pass him in the last half, because they started even faster than he did and are finishing slower. The lesson here is to save the big push for when it counts, at the back end of the race and not the front.

###