Forums >Racing>Experienced 10K Runners - What's Your Race Strategy?
In 2011, my first 10K race was the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta on July 4th.. Last year and this year, this race is my benchmark for overall fitness and racing fitness. I would like to optimize my running during this 10K race. I have two 10K races in June as warmups and opportunity to implement some race day strategies. As an experienced 10K runner, what strategy during the race do you employ to maximize your time performance running a 10K race? All suggestions a re welcome. Thanks.
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” - T.S. Eliot
Feeling the growl again
Assuming a consistent profile to the course, slightly negative splits. My best was 15:39/15:18 on the track. That was slightly sub-optimal because I could not get anyone else to go with me the first mile to it was too slow (without looking it up, 5:07 or so).
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
Isn't the Peachtree Road Race HUGE? I'm hardly in the spaniel category of Experienced Runners but my main strategy for a 10k - assuming I want to run the best time possible, which it sounds like you do - is to find one where I'm not dodging other people for half the race.
Huge races are fun, but I've found it really hard to run my best time at such races and often end up with a ridiculous negative split, not a slight one. I once had 5k splits of 23:30-21:40 at the biggest 10k around here. (Yes yes, you have to seed yourself properly, etc, but at these big events it's nearly impossible to get that right unless you're in the first corral.)
Anyway, just food for thought! I would probably run Peachtree more as a workout and use a different race as a benchmark. But I realize that wasn't actually your question Good luck!
Yes the Peachtree is huge - 60k runners approximately in lots of corrals. My son and I have moved up in corrals each of the past two years. It's a blast and the crowd support is amazing. So when I race it, I just compare it to previous years performance. This year I should place in D corral based upon a 10K performance from last October which I submitted. http://www.peachtreeroadrace.org/documents/download/2013peachtreestartwavetimestandards
So I should not expect as much weaving as previous years.