How would you advise running this race?

Question

For the first meet of our xc season my coach found this meet where it is a two person relay where each person runs 2miles total. The 2miles are not in a row, though its person #1 runs one miles then person #2 runs 1 mile then repeat. I am a little scared- i dont want to run the first leg too fast and then only have at a max 6 min to recover and then have to run really fast a gain. I was thinking of running it at 2 mile pace for the 1st mile and then see what I got for the second. my mile PR is 5:29 and I have only run a 2mile once and sucked b/c i wasnt supposed to run it- it was around 12:28 i think the the first lap was 6 flat. In a work out i have done this and run the first in 6:20 and the rested for about 3 min(i think. it was last season) and then the second in 6:00. This was on a track though.

Any tips or advice? The meet is on 8/29/2008 so i have a while.

Answer 1

From what you have said and your PR's it seems like your a pretty tough runner. I think you should run the first leg at a slightly slower pace (15sec more max) than your PR. Then for your last leg just give it all you have left in the tank.

Good Luck :)

Answer 2

You can run much faster than a 2 mile pace. Having several minutes to recover allows you to run each 1 mile at almost the 1 mile race pace.

It is a mistake to save something for later in a race.

Lots of people finish and feel like they could run more.

You don't want to run out of gas, but you want to run as fast as you can for a race.

If you ran a 2 mile in 12:28, and you ran 2x1 mile repeats with the second mile being 6:00, you should realistically be able to run the first mile of your race much faster than the 6:20, which you did with a much shorter rest than you are going to get in this race.

Practice running 2x1 mile repeats with 4:00 rests as part of your training and see how you progress.

If you do mile repeats as 1 day of your week you are going to be ready mentally and physically for this race.

Answer 3

Run it like you did the mile.

Answer 4

I would run the first my at 5:45 and then do the second at 5:45 pace for 3/4 mile then give it what you have left for the last quarter