This is all about managing your in mile energy and enthusiasm.. One way to think about CP runs and long runs is Banked runs. All my runs including the race is banked runs only. So i run a bit higher than CP and bring the mile splits to CP by banking it last 0.1mile. Mentally it gives me bit of rest, time to check my phone and send messages, take pictures, tweet.. all that good stuff 🙂
We dont have to over think here on this..initially the goal is to have a break at the end of every mile.. that is your banked run strategy. So have a target in mind in terms of your splits and try running a little faster than that till say 0.9 miles and walk for 0.1 mile see where you end up against the target and how you feel.. work your way from there.. missed target split.. then you either run a bit faster or stop later or have a higher target splits. As simple as that
This weekend I was able to finally put this in practice for my long run - was not able to perfectly implement it after every mile but really loved it that I could take a break every couple of miles. Earlier, I would think of it as a time loss but it's amazing that I was able to achieve a PRS coupled with banked run. This will be my aim for every run in the upcoming peak meso!!
Love this technique Bala! When I first heard this technique last season, it was difficult to put into practice. The reason being, until then I used to run non-stop the entire long run whether it was 3 miles or 6 miles. By banking the runs, I felt the momentum was slowed and then I have to work hard again to get back into my running mode. It took a little of practice to get the hang of it. Now instead of banking every three miles like I tried before, I am banking every mile. This gives me better control I feel. The last two NYC races, I used the banking run strategy and it was immensely helpful.