@kr I heard you run marathons. Any thoughts on this?
So what is the optimal speed for least energy expenditure? And at which point do you start to run as fast as you can to achieve your fastest time?
Is it just a feeling you get at some point? Like you just know "this is my optimal speed"?
Do you try to optimize for speed in marathons? Or just that you could run as long as possible?
well i haven’t run a full marathon yet (i used to run track/xc in college), but typically the strategy used in all distance races is to be as close as possible to an “even split” for a fast time.
in other words, if you’re trying to run a 5km in 30 mins, the ideal scenario would be a constant 6 min/km pace with minimal variations (even though the first couple km will feel relatively easy).
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I've been running 5k's pretty consistently, and posting my runs on nostr (#runstr). My last time was 26:28. Ran a half marathon a few years ago, like @kr said, aiming for good splits is the way.
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Oh, interesting, I never heard of splits in the context of running before. But I used to check my time after I passed specific checkpoints to see if I was still "in time" or slower / faster than usually.
Guess I already did something similar, but just didn't think that I should try to keep the same pace. Hilly terrain would make this harder, but where I am now, my routes are quite flat.
But this means trying to give it all at the end is not a thing to squeeze out the last few seconds out of the time?
edit: Oh, I see. That's roughly what negative splits are about, haha
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in a perfect world, you’ll be so tired in your last km that pushing to “squeeze out the last few seconds” will actually just maintain your pace.
if you find yourself running your last km way faster than all your others, it’s a sign you probably could have run a better time with a slightly faster pace from the start.
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