Splits?

[AzN at LARGE]

A recent race got me thinking about whether to run positive or negative splits. One teammate of mine runs pretty big positive splits, but he is also our team's fastest 800 runner. On the other hand, another kid on my team who knows a lot about running and is very fast generally runs negative splits. I usually run positive splits just because of the adrenaline I have in the beginning, but I tried running negative splits and it didn't work out too well, which may have been because I was sick. Still, I've noticed that most good high school runners, not necessarily all-american level, just good, run close to even or negative splits. Is negative the way to go? If so how did you go about running negative splits?

[Mr. Brightside]

Negative splits work for some people, positive for others. A lot of it has to do with your training style and body type. I know people who have run a 70 sec lap to open up the mile, then negative split to the low 4:20's.

[MaestroXC]

One teammate of mine runs pretty big positive splits, but he is also our team's fastest 800 runner. On the other hand, another kid on my team who knows a lot about running and is very fast generally runs negative splits.

What race are you talking about? The 800 is a special case because of the tactics involved, but it is very difficult mentally to run even or negative splits in a competitive race. It can be done more easily in the 1600 or 3200, but even then you have to be able to control your effort very well.

[laxcrunner]

negative splits are hard to work with at first, for me a lot of times i feel like if i don't get a good rythym going i won't be able to pick up so negative splits don't work, but it depends on the race, in the 2 mile last year i went 5:01 and 4:57, and that felt great, i think it is good to try to run even splits, but if you want to break 10 for 2 mile you can't go out at 5:10 and hope to run a 4:49 because that 5:10 won't feel much better than a 5:00 and you'll have to work a lot harder to make up the time, in the mile i like negative splits or even splits too, the 800 is a race where positive splits are ok though, if you're looking to run under 2 i think it'd be easier to run 58 61 then it would be to run 60 59 , because basically a 60 is gonna hurt me just as much as a 58 and i'm not gonna be able to speed up from either one, in the 5k though I also feel like i need to go out a little quicker, although i think a lot of that has to do with how fast paced cross country races go out, no one tries to sit in an xc race, if you don't go out quick you lose the pack and then it's hard to work your way back up. the mile and 2 mile are races where negative and even splits work well because people are really conservative in the beginning of those races, and if you go out too fast you'll get eaten up in the second half, in 800 and 5k it does seem like you need to go out quick to stay with the race though.

[eatmyshorts]

good call laxcrunner