Negative Splits

Running is many things. Running is physical, mental, social, spiritual, economic & educational. Running is the ultimate freedom. Running can come in many forms.

Negative split running requires a watch and some measured distance. The idea is to go out slow and finish hard. Ideally, we want to go just a little bit faster throughout our run.

Lets say we wanted to average 8:40/mile for 6 miles in a 10K. We would run splits of 9:15, 9:00, 8:45, 8:30, 8:15, 8:00. Our final "point two" would take two minutes. So our 10K time would be 53:45.

This type of running is way more fun. It shortens the race considerably. The first two miles are basically warm up miles. The second two miles are rhythm miles where the juices get flowing. The final two miles are race miles. If the race has been run just right, there will be an opportunity to pass people, sometimes a ton of people, in the final miles. Passing folks gives us a feeling of power and control over our race experience. The feeling feeds on itself. The more people we pass, the more energy it gives us to pass more people. It becomes a virtuous cycle where speed begets speed.

Our final time or age group place are NOT whats most important in a weekend road race. How GOOD we look at the finish line is whats most important. Finishing Strong with a smile on our faces always looks good!