Negative Splits

In my last post, I stated my aim to run negative splits in the Manhattan Half. Everyone seems to agree that starting off easy and speeding up is the best way to approach a long race, but I've never really done it. I guess I've just been afraid of losing time at the beginning that I couldn't make up. For me, trying to run just under pace and picking it up has always resulted in just going out fast and hanging on like usual.

Today, the course was two loops of the park, plus a mile, and I planned to do one loop easy and the second loop fast. I knew that this was a bit crude to really maximize performance, but my goal was more to experience negative splits than to PR.

I lined up with my friend PL at the 8 minute mark, as this was my planned pace for the first loop. In the first mile, I made it a point to go with the flow rather than "bob and weave" through the crowd. I saw runner26 and chatted for a while, chatted with PL, and generally tried to repress my competitive urges and enjoy the run. The result was that the first two miles were pretty slow. The second was over 9 minutes, and the first was probably slower. I forgot to turn on my watch at the start, so I'm not sure.

From the third mile, PL and I picked it up to the planned pace of 8 minute miles, which felt comfortable. As the second loop began, I picked up the pace to close to 7 minute miles. It was nice to be speeding up rather that slowly dying as I usually do in a half, but it was pretty clear early on that a PR was out of reach. I had just given up too much time at the beginning of the race. I felt strong, but hey, I know my PRs for 10k, 5 miles and 4 miles, and I wasn't going to beat any of them at the end of a half.

Toward the end of the race, I heard someone call my name and it turned out to be Flyer CB. I remember well how she ran me into the ground at last year's NYC Half, so it was great to be able to finish with her today feeling strong.

In the end, I finished in 1:41:31 (7:44 pace) -- a minute 33 off my PR. Could I have PRed if I had gone out a bit faster? Maybe. The jury is still out on whether this is the fastest approach for me. One thing is clear though. It's a much more pleasant approach psychologically. It was great to feel fast and strong for the second half of the race. My body also feels much better than before. In the past, half marathons have made me sore, but not today. It felt like a shorter race. Hopefully that's a trend that will continue.