How do you find the right race pace and why is the right strategy so important? With this article I would like to help you get the most out of your next competition and reach the finish line healthy and fit.
Race Pace – Why is the right strategy for your race pace so important?
Every runner who has ever run faster knows this:
You start running quickly and ambitiously. At first you may think: “I can easily keep up with the competition pace.” or you may be surprised at how easy the relatively high speed feels.
But after a few kilometers you notice how suddenly you are out of breath.
If you ask too much of yourself too early in your race, you’ll pay for it later with a drop in your race pace, incredible fatigue, and an increased risk of injury. Such an approach often leads to a “DNF” (Did Not Finish) and thus an early exit from the race.
How do you determine your race pace?
The best way to guide your race pacing strategy is to weigh the costs and benefits of your race pace:
- Excessive energy consumption (costs) will worsen the running result (benefit).
- Costs (=speed) that are too low will result in you reaching the finish line slower than necessary.
In order for you to perform optimally, your energy consumption does not have to be too high or too low. A good race pace is therefore an absolute balancing act!
Your competition pace is determined over the course of training and is based on your personal fitness level. I prefer to combine tests like the FTHR test and an overview of heart rate, pace, RPE and other factors. This will help you determine and maintain the right race pace.
Your race pace is not determined by a fixed idea because you have decided for yourself that, for example, a half marathon under 2:00 hours would be great.
Instead, the competition pace must be realistic for yourself.
This is also the reason why I never promise a target time when a person starts coaching with me. Each target time depends on your individual biofeedback and the development of your training during the preparation.
Race Pace – which zones for which distance?
The best way to determine your race pace is to know your different speed zones and RPE. You’ve probably come across the five running zones before. Each of these zones reflects a certain intensity.
You can divide the running zones according to your heart rate, but you can also get to know or calculate the speed and RPE (Rate Of Perceived Exertion = subjective effort on a scale of 1-10) for each zone for yourself. This orientation towards speeds and subjective effort is more suitable for your competition pace than the heart rate-based zones because your heart rate can fluctuate significantly on the day of the competition.
Over the course of your training, you will get a feel for what speeds your zones normally operate at and how the effort is noticeable to you.
The following orientations for the zones apply depending on the distance:
- Ultra marathon: Zones 1-2
- Marathon: Zones 2-3
- Half marathon: Zones 3-4
- 10km: Zones 4-5
- 5km: Zone 5
- 1500m: Upper Zone 5
Of course, this assumes that you have trained at a variety of intensities during your preparation.
If you are still a beginner and have only completed Zone 2 runs so far, the only priority on race day is to arrive and do an easy run in Zone 2 to a maximum of 3.
What is the correct race pace strategy?
When it comes to successfully completing your race, keeping the intensity as consistent as possible or increasing the intensity towards the end of the running distance is key. It’s not about necessarily maintaining the exact race pace over the entire distance, but a similar effort. This may mean adjusting your pace a little depending on the terrain. You run a little slower uphill and a little faster downhill.
Negative mileage split
My preferred approach for your competition pace is a negative mileage split. You start a little slower than you planned and increase your intensity a little from the first third or half of the distance. This way you can make sure that you don’t overpace at the beginning and that you can perform at your best on a good day.
The start of a competition in particular is often very stressful and challenging. Just standing in the starting line can massively increase your heart rate and release a lot of adrenaline.
So that you don’t burn all your energy in the first few kilometers because of this environment, you start a little more conservatively and accelerate even more towards the end.
Depending on the distance, your competition pace at the beginning will be 5-25 seconds below your actually planned competition time. The following values apply as orientation:
- 5-10km: Start 5-15s per km slower
- Half marathon to ultra: Start 10-25s per km slower
Of course, you can also divide your run depending on RPE.
- Start to first third: RPE 6/10
- Middle third: RPE 7/10
- Last third: RPE 8/10 – as long as you feel good.
Prepare for fatigue
If you want to run a race, you will tire. Your body will signal exhaustion to you faster than it can handle.
That’s why it’s important that you learn to stay relaxed and assess your RPE despite this exhaustion when preparing for your event.
Focus on body awareness.
Learn to perceive your body during training. The better your body awareness, the more you will get out of your race. Because only if you understand and can assess your body will you know what you can ask of him or her.
To do this, scan your body regularly and pay attention to what changes and how it feels. The following questions can help you:
- Do you hyperextend your neck or just stare at your feet?
- Do you hyperextend your back or do you just run while sitting?
- Is your contact with the ground dynamic and fast? What is your cadence? Do your steps become more tired and slower?
- Do your hips move dynamically?
- Do you tense your shoulders? Do you pull them up or keep them rigid?
- Are your hands relaxed?
- How is your breathing? Does it fit your planned race pace?
Common mistakes in race pace strategy
It’s not easy to find the ideal race pace. In this article you have already learned about numerous factors that influence your competition pace.
Basically, it’s a learning process in which you’ll definitely have to make some mistakes and get to know each other first. But there are a few mistakes in race pace strategy that you can avoid if you know them.
Start running too fast
The biggest and most common mistake occurs in the starting area of your competition. Even experienced runners do it because it’s so tempting to start running too fast.
Most of the time, a combination of reasons leads to this:
- excitement
- overestimation of oneself
- Lack of self-awareness
- Faster runners around you
Don’t run your own race pace
Many runners don’t look to themselves, but rather to others, when it comes to determining their own race pace.
This often begins in preparation, when it is decided, without taking your own fitness into account, that you want to run a half marathon in 2 hours, for example.
But even during the competition it can happen that you orient yourself towards another runner and less towards your own body.
Excessive fluctuations in intensity
This point is particularly difficult on running routes that involve inclines and hills.
If there is a steep climb, you will inevitably have to adjust your pace. You can then no longer use your normal speed for this running zone. This is also the reason why I insist so much on subjective effort and body awareness.
If you run up the hills too quickly, you burn too much energy, which is then lost and makes you slower.
Conclusion – the right race pace strategy
Determining the correct race pace is a very difficult undertaking and requires a certain amount of experience as a runner as well as good body awareness and the right strategy. The biggest mistake is to come up with race times that have nothing to do with your real fitness and to start running too fast at the start of the run.
If you want to find your ideal competition pace, you should focus on getting to know your body and the different running zones during your training and experimenting with different speeds. During training, it can also be informative to consciously set the pace a little too high to experience what it feels like when you ask too much of yourself.
