Pacing for the Back of the Pack: Check Yourself, Before You Wreck Yourself!

Transcript

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Well, hello there and welcome back If this is your very first time listening.

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Thank you so much for stopping by.

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You are listening to Choose to Endure, the podcast dedicated to the non-elite runners, where we share stories, interviews, gear and training tips specific to the tail-end heroes of the Ultra universe.

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My name is Richard Gleave.

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I've been running Ultras since 2017.

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I've taken on and finished numerous Ultra distances, all the way up through 220 miles, and I am unashamedly, a member of the back-of-the-pack runners, just like many of you out there.

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Now let's get into today's topic pacing, one of the most critical skills for back-of-the-pack ultra runners.

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Whether you're battling cutoffs, like me, trying to avoid burnout, or simply aiming to cross the finish line, finding the right pace for you and for the race is pretty essential.

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So in this episode, we're going to break it all down what pacing means for runners like us, how to avoid some of the common pitfalls and, as always, along the way, I'll share a few personal experiences, both successes and some missteps and Lord knows, I've had a few of those so that we can all learn together.

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So let's get laced up and hit the starting line.

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Discover raw, inspiring stories from runners who've been right where you are.

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This is the Choose to Endure Ultra Running Podcast With your host he's English, not Australian Richard Gleave.

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All right, so first let's talk about what pacing really means for us back-of-the-pack runners, because I think it isn't just about speed.

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It's really more about energy management.

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Our goal is to stay consistent and conserve enough energy to make it to the finish line before the cutoff.

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For us, the key isn't how fast we're going, necessarily.

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It's how efficiently we're moving.

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When you're in the back of the pack, you'll often feel pressure to go faster than your natural pace, especially early in the race.

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But here's the thing Starting too fast is one of the most common mistakes runners make.

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I would say it maybe even is the most common mistake runners make With all that adrenaline and noise and all the energy at the start line runners make.

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With all that adrenaline and noise and all the energy at the start line, it's really tempting to stick with the crowd, even if the crowd is going a little faster than you want to.

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But if you burn through your energy reserves in the first half of the race, the second half is going to be a whole world of pain.

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I'll tell you at my first ultra, which was the lighthouse hill 50k.

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I got caught up in the excitement at the starting line, with it being my first ultra and all, and I went out way too fast.

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By mile 10 I was already starting to feel fatigued, and by mile 20, when the sun had come up and it was baking hot, with no shade, no cover whatsoever, I was in some pretty serious trouble.

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I barely made it to the finish line, but it was touch and go for a short while.

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But I learned a hard lesson Pacing is everything, and you can hear the rest of that story in the very first episode of the podcast itself, if you're interested in finding out what on earth happened there, because it wasn't pretty all right.

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So then, the next big question is how slow is too slow?

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Well, the reality is that as long as you're staying ahead of the cutoff times, whether that be to the next aid station or the race in general, then you're not too slow.

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Period Ultra running, remember, is about completing the journey, especially in our world, at the back of the pack, not competing with those front runners, although, that said, you do need to pace yourself strategically so you avoid falling behind and missing a cutoff along the way.

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So here's what I recommend Start slow, even if it feels like you're crawling.

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The goal is to conserve energy for the second half of the race, when things start getting tough.

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Use those first few miles to settle into a comfortable rhythm, Resist the urge to go with the pack and, if you think you're going slow enough, go a little bit slower Along the way.

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Check in with yourself Are you breathing easily?

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Do your legs feel relaxed?

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If not, dial it back some more.

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At a recent race I started at a deliberately slower pace than I wanted to and it felt really weird, awkward and counterintuitive at first.

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But by mile 25, I had plenty of energy to power through.

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Meanwhile I saw other runners who had started faster than me.

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They were really struggling to keep moving at that point.

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Started faster than me.

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They were really struggling to keep moving.

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At that point it's really about getting over yourself, getting past your ego and recognizing that all those people are going to go out too fast and telling yourself I'm not going to be one of those.

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I'm deliberately going to go slow, knowing that you can always pick it up if you feel good along the way.

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Don't get caught out by that one.

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It happens to the best of us.

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I've still done it on occasion.

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Every race I've been to, I would say people go out too fast.

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Even though they know they shouldn't, they still do.

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So don't let that be.

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You Make a conscious decision to go out slow and speed up as you go.

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If you're feeling good that day, all right.

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So another one of the unique challenges for back-of-the-pack runners is, as we've talked about, managing those cutoffs.

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Definitely something the front of the pack, I would imagine I would be amazed if they ever think about cutoffs, but it's a reality that we live in.

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To stay ahead of the clock, you need a pacing plan that accounts for aid station breaks, terrain changes, weather changes and your inevitable slowdowns.

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So here's how I approach it Break the race into segments.

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Focus on getting to the next aid station or the next checkpoint.

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Treat each section as its own mini race.

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You can go even further with that and break down each section into 10 minute increments, 5 minute and 15 minute increments, whatever it is.

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Break it down into increments of running, walking or whatever it is you're doing and focus on that small block of time.

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Then you get to the next one and you focus on that block of time, whether that's a run for five minutes, run to the tree ahead.

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If you're looking at the tree, it can be quite arbitrary or it can be very structured, depending on the race and the terrain.

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But focusing on the small things, breaking it all into segments, keeps you moving forward at the right pace and keeps you running.

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Make sure you budget your time too.

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If you know there's a tough climb coming up, plan to move faster on any flatter sections so that you can bank a little extra, knowing that you're going to slow down as you start that climb.

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One of the things I found really useful and I'm able to do this on the Garmin watch I have perhaps the watch that you have has something similar, but I'm able to look in advance and do some calculations for the race to determine what the minimum miles per hour it's going to take to run at to complete the race by the cutoff, and then I will load that number.

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Whether it's two and a half miles per hour, three miles per hour, whatever it is, I will load that number into a data screen on my watch right on the front there, so I can look at it and see the average speed that I'm running in miles per hour at any given time in the race, and I know that if I'm above that three miles per hour number, I'm always going to be all right during the race, no matter what happens, and therefore that's that's an average of moving time.

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So whether you know that's going to account for aid station stops or sleep or whatever it is, that number is all I have to focus on.

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I don't have to worry about pacing for a section or anything else.

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It's really just.

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It's a nice way of simplifying.

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I just need to be above that number and as long as I am, I know I'm ahead of the cutoff.

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That works on a section to section basis or you can do it for the full race itself.

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Great little tip and I personally have found that very useful.

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So, talking of aid stations, here's another one.

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Don't do what I do and linger too long at aid stations.

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This is something I have to work on quite a bit.

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Still, it's really easy to lose 15 or 20 minutes at an aid station without realizing it, when everybody's working, working for you.

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You're waiting on food, you've sat down, you're getting warm for a minute, then you've got to eat and then you've still got to repack your bag and keep moving.

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Really easy to lose that time.

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So think about what you need on the way into the aid station, grab it and keep moving.

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During 150k, I miscalculated my pacing, which is what led me to doing the calculation in advance, and I spent way too long chatting at an aid station because, you know, volunteers are nice and it was dark and it was cold and I didn't really want to go out and onto the next section.

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If I'm honest, by the time I hit the following checkpoint, I was really really close to the cutoff.

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I had to well, I was going to say sprint, but I had to move quickly the last mile to make it, and that wasn't particularly fun.

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And so, since then, I have been much more mindful about developing and sticking to a pacing plan that tells me the minimum speed I need to be going in order to make that section or the race in general.

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So, finally, let's talk about some tools and tricks to help you stay on pace.

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Well, number one, as I was talking about there, use a GPS watch.

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Set your watch to show your average pace and use it as a guide.

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Be careful not to obsess over it every mile.

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Just focus on the overall trend of your speed instead.

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Number two listen to your body, one we have to learn.

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As we do more running, this becomes a bit more natural.

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I think A watch is helpful, but your body is the ultimate guide.

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If you're struggling to maintain the pace you're running at, whether it's on pace, under pace or above pace, whatever it is, if you're struggling to maintain it, you need to slow down and regroup.

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You can always pick it up again later.

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Number three practice pacing in training right.

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Treat your long runs like a race day.

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Practice starting slow, maintaining a steady pace and then finishing strong, strong.

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The more you rehearse this stuff, the more natural it's going to feel on race day and the less inclined you are to race off the line with the zoomy folks and go way too quick.

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And then number four is an interesting one Find a pacing mantra.

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When the going gets tough, repeat a phrase that keeps you focused.

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My own personal phrase is run your own race.

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That reminds me to stay within my own limits and I don't really worry about what others are doing out there.

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I have enough to do getting myself to the finish line.

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Genuinely don't care what others are doing unless I can help them get to the finish line too.

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Great example During one training cycle I practiced running negative splits start slow, finish fast when race day came.

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That gave me extra confidence to stick to my plan and it paid off.

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I finished with loads of time, I felt strong, I felt accomplished and had a much better time overall and had a much better time overall.

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So, to recap, here are the key strategies for pacing.

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As back-of-the-pack runners, in my opinion, feel free to have your own.

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Number one start slow and focus on energy management.

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Don't let the excitement at the starting line throw you off.

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Number two remember that as long as you're ahead of the cutoffs, you're not too slow.

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Find your comfortable rhythm and stick with it.

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Number three break the race into those segments that we talked about.

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Adjust your pacing, stay ahead of the clock, but don't forget to budget for aid station stops.

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And number four use tools like a GPS watch, practice your pacing and training and rely on mantras to keep yourself focused.

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If those strategies resonate with you and you're ready to take the next step in your training journey, let's keep the conversation going.

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What's your best training tip for pacing?

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Do you have a mantra that gets you through which others might find useful?

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Share and let us all know.

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It's one of my favorite parts of doing the show.

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Thank you to those that have done so already.

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I look forward to hearing from the rest of you.

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So until next time, run long, run strong and keep choosing to endure.

Pacing for the Back of the Pack: Check Yourself, Before You Wreck Yourself!

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