When I was in the later stages of C25K I went for a run with a pal of mine who's been running for many years. He gave me lots of useful advice, part of which was this concept of managing energy levels by deliberately running the first half of a run slowly, then speeding up at halfway. I've got into the habit of doing this now and it does seem to work for me. Here are my splits from this morning.
1 - 6.47 - trying to get heart going, plus it's downhill 😂
2 - 7.30 - slow right down
3 - 7.38
4 - 7.49 - going too slowly now
5 - 7.32
6 - 7.07 - half way - speed up
7 - 7.09
8 - 7.11
9 - 7.18
10 - 7.22 uphill plus tiring a bit.
Questions. Are there other strategies I should be trying? Is there really any merit in doing this for novice runners? Or should I be trying to run at an even pace?