Which Comes First, Cardio or Weights_ - Alex Hutchinson [106]
How should I pace myself in a long-distance race?
The usual advice, lifted straight from Aesop’s Fables, is that slow and steady wins the race. This is a prudent approach, especially for inexperienced racers, whether you’re running, biking, swimming, skating, rowing, snowshoeing, or undertaking any other activity where you’re hoping to reach the finish line at precisely the moment that you expend your last ounce of energy. But for those who have already run a few races and are looking to improve their time, research suggests a higher-risk, higher-reward approach.
Exercise physiologist Robert Kenefick and his colleagues at the University of New Hampshire tested various pacing strategies for the most popular road race distance, 5K, in a 2006 study. He had test subjects—who were serious recreational runners but not elite athletes—run a series of races with the speed of the first mile carefully controlled, either at an even pace based on their best time, or 3 or 6 percent faster. To everyone’s surprise, the fastest overall times came from the fastest opening mile, while the slowest races came from running an even pace. The researchers measured physiological variables such as oxygen use and heart rate while the runners ran, but they couldn’t detect any difference between the paces.
This finding is consistent with observations of the fastest runners in the world. Ross Tucker and his colleagues at the University of Cape Town in South Africa analyzed every men’s world record ever set over 5,000 and 10,000 meters on the track for a study in the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance. The pattern is remarkably consistent: a fast start, gradually slowing during the middle of the race, then a fast finish. In fact, in 63 of the 64 world records they studied, the first and last kilometers were faster than any other kilometer in the race. The only exception was Paul Tergat’s 1997 record over 10,000 meters, in which the ninth kilometer was one second faster than the tenth kilometer.
This fast finish isn’t necessarily a deliberate strategy. Rather, Tucker argues that it reflects “anticipatory regulation” of effort, in which your conscious and unconscious minds work together so that you reach the finish line having worked as hard as possible, but maintaining a reserve to ensure that you don’t collapse prematurely. This is why prior racing experience is essential for an aggressive pacing strategy: your brain needs some basis of comparison to figure out when the end will come.
Exercise scientists sometimes refer to the effects of knowing where the finish line is as “teleoanticipation.” Studies over the course of several decades have shown how powerful these effects can be. For example, researchers in a 1980 study told one group of volunteers to run on a treadmill for 20 minutes and told another group to run at the same pace for 30 minutes—but stopped both groups after 20 minutes. Even though the physical demands were identical, the subjects who thought they would have to run for another 10 minutes reported much lower ratings of perceived exertion, showing that our feelings of fatigue are linked to when we expect to finish.
These findings don’t mean that you should sprint all-out off the starting line and simply hope to hang on. The best performers in Tucker’s study were those who started fast but then managed to settle into a steady pace, rather than getting steadily slower throughout the race. So be cautious at the start—but don’t be afraid to push a little faster than your expected final pace. “Either way, you’re tired