1 Simple Mistake That Will Ruin Your Race and Motivate Your Competition
Running is such a great sport because we have such an easy way to compare our progress against runners that are better than we are and can constantly find motivation to improve. On any given day and in any give race, there is always somebody that can beat us.
I would be hard pressed to believe you if you told me you never looked back during a race in an attempt to spot that person!
That is the single-most motivating thing you can do for your competition that you must not under any circumstances do during a race.
Nothing says, “I’m tired and ready to give up,” quite like glancing back to see how much of a lead you have on somebody.
Looking back tells your competition that you want to see if you can slack off or not and still maintain your lead.
Looking back tells them that if they can catch up to you, you aren’t going to be able to respond when they pass you.
Looking back slows you down physically because you are breaking your stride to do so.
Looking back slows you down mentally because if you do have enough of a lead, you might slack off and lose a few precious seconds.
If you really need to see where somebody is, do it on a turn where you don’t have to turn your head quite as much. Whoever you are looking for will be less likely to notice, and it won’t interfere quite as much with your stride.
An even better way is to just listen for somebody; if you can hear them breathing, you know they are close.
If the sun is in the right position, you can also check the ground at your feet for the shadows of anybody behind you. Those can be hard to hide, even if they are a quiet breather.
My best advice, though, is to always assume somebody is right behind you.
I’ve run a handful of PRs by listening to the footsteps of somebody behind me, only to discover at the finish line that it was all in my head or was the sound of my own footsteps kicking up dirt or gravel behind me.
I do have to point out that this does not apply to looking back for cars before crossing a road…you should always look to make sure you won’t get hit especially if a course is open to traffic.
When you are just racing hard for the finish line, though, this is one of my hardest tips to remember during the heat of a race. You should always try to keep it mind even so.
Personally, I’ll take the PR over a slack finish any day…
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Blaine Moore is a running coach in Southern Maine with 20 years of training and racing experience. Download his free report, The 3 Components of an Effective Workout, to learn why the work you put in during your training is only the third most important factor that determines how well you improve as a runner and an athlete.
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