Race management has a major impact on your time that appears at the end in the rankings. Here are the best tips.

You’ve almost certainly experienced being amidst a throng of people as the starting gun goes off, only to find after a few minutes that you can't possibly maintain this speed for the entire race. When you look at your pace per kilometre after the race, you notice that you always seem to slow down as the race goes on, finishing at a pace you’d easily be running at in training.

Feelings are deceptive

Unlike top runners who run every day and can pace themselves precisely to the second, we often feel like we are running at the right speed under the influence of adrenalin. We feel amazing at the start, as though we could maintain this pace forever. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Disillusionment usually follows within around 10 minutes as our heart rate and lactate begin to reflect the effort we are putting in, which is greater than we are able to maintain. From this point onwards, we are forced to slow down and begin damage limitation.

Practice your competition pace

This can also vary, however. To be successful – particularly over longer distances – you need to keep yourself in check at the start and try to run as consistently as possible or even speed up during the second half of the race. This is best practised in training so that you know what you are capable of and also what the right pace feels like.

The right competition pace

• Marathon

The most successful strategy for a marathon is a conservative first half and faster second half, known as a ‘negative split’. This means that you run the first half of the race at your maximum average pace per kilometre, or even slightly slower, at a consistent pace. During the second half, you then gradually increase the speed in order to give everything you have left towards the end. Almost all successful top runners follow this principle, while many amateur runners find themselves doing precisely the opposite. It is important to run a half marathon beforehand, for example, in order to calculate your realistic target pace.

• Half marathon

While you pay the price at the end for starting off a marathon too quickly - hence why gradually increasing your speed is the only real way to finish successfully - different strategies can be applied for shorter distances. Ideally, you should run the 21.1 kilometres at a consistent pace and try to speed up or at least maintain this speed during the last 5 kilometres or so. However, ambitious runners can also run the first 1 to 2 kilometres at a faster pace – e.g. to find shelter within a group – and then run at a pace that’s right for you after that. Alternatively, you could try and maintain the current pace for as long as possible. For amateur athletes, it's usually a good idea to choose the first, more gradual option as you might find yourself breaking away from the group at the halfway point, which is a major psychological advantage and will spur you on.

• 10km

The shorter the race, the faster and freer you can tackle the race. A 10 km race usually starts off fast right from the start before settling in to your ‘target pace’ by the two kilometre mark at the latest and aiming to maintain this. It is also worth remembering that giving everything you have for that final 400-metre sprint can really pay off.

• 5km

An American study featuring runners who run 5 km in 21 minutes on average showed that the best results are achieved by running the first 1.5 kilometres or so 3-6 percent faster than the target pace, and then running the remaining 3.5 kilometres as fast as possible. Of course, this is a bold tactic that can also go south if you start off too quickly. To be on the safe side, start off no more than 5 to 10 seconds faster per kilometre and then adapt as needed to the rest of the race.

Conclusion

A good result doesn’t happen by accident and a successful competition strategy is dependent on the race distance.  It is a little easier to estimate your pace over shorter distances than longer ones, and this should be practised as often as possible. While a defensive strategy usually leads to success over a marathon distance, during shorter races external factors (route guidance, temperature, wind, other runners) can also encourage you to start off more boldly and then run in the slipstream of other runners. Another advantage of shorter distances is that you have multiple opportunities throughout the year to try different strategies and learn how best to manage your own  race.