Run for your life

My run yesterday on East Coast Park was a negative splits of sorts. Starting from Big Splash, my outbound to Sunset Bay Beach Bar was slower than my inbound. The weather too was split. The first half was gloriously sunny and my ink caught some much needed dose of sun. But on my return leg, the heavens opened up and poured refreshing rain on us sun seekers. Nevertheless I have never ran a run I did not enjoy.

Although I am sure the negative split as a racing tactic has been around for a long time, it was first successfully demonstrated by Ronaldo da Costa when he broke the marathon world record at Berlin in September 1998. He had run the second half of that race 3 minutes faster than the first half.

A runner is said to have run a negative split when he runs the second half of the race distance faster than the first half. Someone performing a negative split would patiently run a slower pace in first third, pick up pace through the middle portions of the race, then finish strongly, Jeff Galloway explains in ‘Runner’s World’. Many runners, myself included, however  would sprint helter skelter in the beginning of a race, slow down towards the middle then limp home.

Ostensibly how this works is that  it can take your body several kilometres to get warmed up. Once you are suitably warmed up, your muscles are charged, your joints lubricated, and mood-boosting endorphins flood your system, making it easier for you to ramp up the pace.

So how do you train for the negative split. Over the many years of running, I have devised little running games to instil excitement and keep the workout fresh. The game I devised for negative split  I call  “So Fi get a craft beer” for Slow out, Fast In get your craft beer. Here is how it works:

• Choose a route. This should be an out and back in route. In Singapore, the East Coast Park is good.
• Choose a total training time, distance or simply a turning point along that route. For example, I like to choose a turning point. So if I start at the Fort Road Carpark on East Coast Park, I might choose Mana Mana Beach Club as my turning point.
• Choose the negative spread. This will be the time difference between the first half of your run and the second half.
• Choose your reward. It could be anything.
• Start running at a pace 2 notches below tempo. Picking up pace as you get warmed up.
• When you reach the turning point in this case Mana Mana Beach Club, hit the lap button on your running computer, note the time you took to get there. Lets say you covered that 5 klick in 30 minutes and your target negative spread is 3 minutes, you then have 27 minutes to get back to your starting point.
• At this point you pick up the pace to tempo and finish at a helter skelter pace. So here is where it gets interesting, on the way back, its not only how fast you run, you might think about cutting tangents. The only rule is that you have to take the same route back. Strategy plays a part too if you want to achieve your spread and have your reward.

Slow out, Fast In

get the Craft Beer

Because you can choose the route, the distance, the time and the negative spread, there are many variations to this workout. For example you may choose to turn back after 25 minutes outbound and make the inbound in 20 minutes. The constant is that you try to beat your outbound time coming in.

Invent your variations and enjoy the workout.