I loved watching this year’s World Athletics Championships.

The tactics involved, from boxing in the other competitors on the track to pacing the race to perfection. It was inspiring.

Of course, I’m never going to be an elite runner (😭) but I can still compete against past me! Cheesy, but it’s true.

So how does pacing help me?

It can actually be quite fun, playing around different paces and efforts. There’s the classic fartlek – which is Swedish for speed play. I did this a lot in lockdown where I’d run to a lamppost or tree at an effort then recover until the next one.

I now focus more on efforts rather than time. I have mental cues to help me with the efforts. For example a 5k effort is an added effort, where I’m not running all out but I’m conscious of adding extra effort which can I can hold for 20-30 minutes. If I’m not hurting for the last mile, I probably haven’t pushed myself enough! An easy effort is where I could chat with a friend or sing along to my favourite 90s dance tunes.

I have likely not explained this well, but I know what it feels like!

But why is this important?

We can’t run all our runs easy, and we can’t run them all hard either. Different runs require different efforts and paces.

I love Tuesday sessions with my running club, particularly when we’re at the track. This is perfect for testing our pacing. Pyramid sessions such as 800m at 10k effort, 400m at 5k effort then 200m at 1 mile effort is hard work but really rewarding.

It has definitely helped me improve my running and gives me something to concentrate on rather than how I’m not running at the times I did whilst I was marathon training.

Of course, pacing doesn’t always go to plan.

Last Wednesday I took part on a canal 5k race. I knew the route well, so I knew that it was uphill on the way out and downhill on the way back.

So the plan was to go out easy, then leg it on the way back. This is a sound plan, but I went too easy. I decided to run behind another runner and let them pace me – unfortunately she was a bit too slow for what I wanted. I nearly overtook her 3 times but didn’t. Silly me. It meant it left me too much to do on the way back and I didn’t get the time I wanted.

Then we fast forward to Saturday. Parkrun. With Wednesday’s race in my mind I was out to prove a point. I was determined. This is where I made mistakes.

Huddersfield parkrun starts off on a downhill and there’s quite a bit of downhill for the first mile. So it’s always a bit quicker than the rest. However, it shouldn’t be a minute faster than the other two miles! Whoops! I did push it and faded horribly in the final mile.

I also tried sticking with one of the pacers. I recognised the 28 minute pacer and he’s consistent so I knew I would be OK. It’s just a bit out of my reach right now.

This wasn’t a complete disaster at all though – it was the best 5k time since getting back from injury! It was just one of those runs that really hurt and I didn’t enjoy it. But now I’ve improved my time, it’s easier to work on.

Practicing pacing can really help us when running races, but just like the elites – we need to adapt on race day to how we’re feeling/conditions etc. Trust yourself and don’t rely too much on pacers – official or random people you find on the course. It’s your race and if you’ve practiced what your half marathon pace should feel like, you’ll know when to push and when to hold back.

I’d like to know your thoughts on pacing, please give me a shout I do enjoy talking about running!