Negative Splits Conquered

[RollingPea]

As a running novice, I had never heard of negative splits until I read a post 3 months ago from Stentrunner, who was deservedly chuffed about steadily increasing his pace throughout a 5 km run. Hmmm, that sounds interesting, I thought. It’s the opposite of what I do at parkruns. Normally I start out too fast, hang on as best I can and drag myself over the finish line. I did some research and found out that running negative splits would train me to finish strong and leave me feeling better at the end, so I thought I would give it a go.

Every time I tried in 2023, I failed. It’s so hard to run in a controlled manner! Two weeks ago nowster posted a very fine run report with negative splits. That was the inspiration I needed. I declared I was going to conquer negative splits this year. So I tried again at parkrun last weekend and I am hereby shouting from the rafters, “I DID IT!”. I was so proud when I saw that steady negative slope on my Pace Summary (see above right). The shape is so different from the uncontrolled peaks and troughs in pace when I ran on the same course in 2023 (above left). Wow!

My strategy was to start out at walking pace, just to make sure the first km was the slowest. I jogged gently for the next km, and jogged for the third km, by which time I noticed my stride was a little longer because I was relaxed and warmed up. This meant I would be going faster, even if my cadence stayed the same. Then I pushed the pace on the last two km and finished with a sprint at the end. Bingo!

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate10]

That’s fantastic! What a great goal to set yourself and what a brilliant one to tick off! It’s wonderful to look at a graph like that and realise you did it…congratulations! 👏👏👏

[RollingPea in reply to MissUnderstanding]

Thank you. I love the chart. As soon as I saw it, I punched the air.

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate10 in reply to RollingPea]

Well deserved!!

[Week7 Graduate10]

That chart is a thing of beauty!!! Congratulations, that is so consistent. I'm guessing that you overtook quite a few at parkrun who left you for standing at the start!! (My pace charts at the moment frequently show a marked similarity to your 2023 one ).

Happy running!!

[RollingPea in reply to Week7]

I overtook people very gradually throughout the run. I think that's how I managed to be sure I was increasing the pace. I run without a smartwatch, so I had no idea of my splits until the end. It's such a fun and challenging thing to do.

[Fiadh79 Graduate10]

Wow - well done!

Years and years ago I used to run negative splits all the time (just judging by running an out and back route though). But I stopped running for a long time and haven't managed to get back to that this time round. You've inspired me though! Next time I go out for my medium length run I'm going to start super slowly in order to get the negative split.