Negative Split Question (Read 778 times)

Ok, this may seem a little daft, but I'm wondering about the effects of running negative splits. For starters, I am not a racer so I don't worry about race times vs training times. Still, I do like to see myself getting faster over time, which I have, even though I am so laughably slow that it's embarrassing. I've been running for just over a year and only recently managed to break 30 minutes in my 5k runs, and I'm still not under one hour in my 10k. Let's not even talk about the 15k and 21k runs. Anyway, I tend to naturally run every run as a negative split. And not a small negative split either. The problem is that no matter how much stretching, warming up, etc I do before a run I simply cannot start off with any pace whatsoever. It usually takes me 2 or 3 k to find my stride and get my legs working properly. Before that there is always pain and stiffness. However, after about 3k everything sort of falls into place and I can start to get into it. Once I have found my stride and the pain stops I'm actually not that embarrassingly slow. Today's run is a good example. It was a simple, slow 5k. I ran the first 2k in 15:30, which is a pace of something like 7:45. The third k came in at 7:30, the fourth a just under 5:30 and the 5th right around 4:30. This is pretty much all of my runs and it's not intentional per se. The 5:30 k was very comfortable and I could have carried that pace for quite some distance had I not sort of kicked it in just because the next k was my last. So what I am wondering is, do I need to worry about any problems down the road relating to this? Is this the reason my times aren't coming down very quickly? I mean, they are coming down but it's been maybe 1:00 or so off of my 5k a month for the last 6 months now and I see other people on here talking about sub 20:00 5ks and I just wonder if I can ever get to that time. I mean, even if I ran the first two k in 12:00, which seems impossible to me, I would have to run the next three at a sub 3:00per k pace, which is just not going to happen for me.

I don't bother stretching before a race. My warmup is 20-25 minutes of running, starting off very slow, spending a couple of minutes at tempo pace, maybe a couple of strides, then staying easy until about 5-10 minutes before the gun goes off. In your case it sounds like you're simply not warmed up enough before the race starts. But if the 5k distance is still quite an effort for you, you may not find you'll be at that point until you can comfortably run 10-15 miles in a single session. For the time being you may just have to live with those big negative splits.

Unlike in a longer race, you can't use the first couple miles of a 5K to warm up. That needs to be done before the race starts, Time your warmup so you don't cool down before the gun. Also, your splits are all over the board. Each split should be around 1%-2% faster than the one before it, yours were 3%, 27% and 18%. Warm up before you race and tighten up your splits for a better race performance. Tom

Ok, this may seem a little daft, but I'm wondering about the effects of running negative splits. For starters, I am not a racer so I don't worry about race times vs training times. Still, I do like to see myself getting faster over time, which I have, even though I am so laughably slow that it's embarrassing. I've been running for just over a year and only recently managed to break 30 minutes in my 5k runs, and I'm still not under one hour in my 10k. Let's not even talk about the 15k and 21k runs. Anyway, I tend to naturally run every run as a negative split. And not a small negative split either. The problem is that no matter how much stretching, warming up, etc I do before a run I simply cannot start off with any pace whatsoever. It usually takes me 2 or 3 k to find my stride and get my legs working properly. Before that there is always pain and stiffness. However, after about 3k everything sort of falls into place and I can start to get into it. Once I have found my stride and the pain stops I'm actually not that embarrassingly slow. Today's run is a good example. It was a simple, slow 5k. I ran the first 2k in 15:30, which is a pace of something like 7:45. The third k came in at 7:30, the fourth a just under 5:30 and the 5th right around 4:30. This is pretty much all of my runs and it's not intentional per se. The 5:30 k was very comfortable and I could have carried that pace for quite some distance had I not sort of kicked it in just because the next k was my last. So what I am wondering is, do I need to worry about any problems down the road relating to this? Is this the reason my times aren't coming down very quickly? I mean, they are coming down but it's been maybe 1:00 or so off of my 5k a month for the last 6 months now and I see other people on here talking about sub 20:00 5ks and I just wonder if I can ever get to that time. I mean, even if I ran the first two k in 12:00, which seems impossible to me, I would have to run the next three at a sub 3:00per k pace, which is just not going to happen for me.

All questions are cool. In regards to you saying your pace is shameful - NO WAY. You're out there, you're doing it, there are always people & posts that make me say to myself "Whoa - they are rocking!" but I know how hard I work to keep making small improvements or just keep moving! We all rock! Putting in the effort is what counts! Different levels of anything (sport, education, financial, etc...) is all relative. We're all coming from different places. Feel awesome about where you are! As long as I'm not on the couch - feeling like going to the fridge is a workout - I'm doing OK in my book! IT'S ONLY UP ONCE YOU GET OFF THE COUCH!!! Kelly

Today's run is a good example. It was a simple, slow 5k. I ran the first 2k in 15:30, which is a pace of something like 7:45. The third k came in at 7:30, the fourth a just under 5:30 and the 5th right around 4:30. This is pretty much all of my runs and it's not intentional per se. The 5:30 k was very comfortable and I could have carried that pace for quite some distance had I not sort of kicked it in just because the next k was my last

Your answer is in your question. Why didn't you run those 3 easy k's before the race started?

If I understand this correctly , you are trying to run a race every week (5k one week, 10 k next week and so on). Although I am a slow and inexperienced runner, that does not sound like a good strategy. No wonder taking a couple of weeks off and going back to racing every week has not helped. Just run easy for a while and see if your splits are a bit more natural. You seem to be improving quite a bit. 1 min/month off your 5K is not very easy thing to do.