Mid-Race Strategies: Foes

So then, what to do if you come up on one of your foes during a race? Again, there are some choices to be made, mostly predicated upon your ability to accurately assess the pace you can hold for the remainder of the race.

IF your rival is having a bad day and you are feeling good, you need to blow right by them. Gather your energy before you do so. You want to demoralize them as much as possible. Break them. You want to go by with good running form while breathing comfortably. You don’t want to appear tired or concerned with the pace. Your face should be inscrutable or show confidence. Go by your foe and be prepared to keep on going until you have significant separation between you. Note well that you cannot look back to see if they are close or not. They are likely to attempt to match your pace. Disabusing them of this notion is imperative. You don’t want them thinking that they can keep up with you now, or think that they can catch you later.

IF you don’t have it in you to go by your rival, you might want to consider drafting for a while. Let your foe carry the pace. Focus on their back and stay a step or two back of them. Let them worry about who is behind them and whether or not you are in the same age-group or gender. Don’t breathe so loudly that they get confidence from how tired you sound. Watch them and look for signs of fatigue. Magnify these thoughts in your own mind to boost your own confidence. After you have drafted for a while, perhaps you will be ready to make a push past your foe.

If you are feeling good and are confident of ditching your foe, you might want to pass closely by them. This makes the differences in your relative speeds readily apparent and all the more disheartening. They would be foolish to attempt to keep up with you, or so you hope.

Beware racing your competition in the early or middle stages of a race. Don’t let your competitive nature trick you into running a pace you cannot manage. Let the competition run stupidly fast and blow up late in the race. If you run stupidly you may both get beaten by a lesser runner. You need to be in better shape than they are AND run intelligently. On the other hand, you also cannot waste time running too slowly early in the race. The clock is ticking and you cannot get those seconds back.

Sometimes beating a person isn’t the goal. Sometimes the goal is to run a particular time and you don’t care who you beat. If so, a rival can become a teammate in achieving that goal. Just know that if you sidle up next to this person and ask for their collegial assistance during the race, you may or may not get it. This is a race and they are just as likely to try to bury you through an increased pace or a series of morale-breaking surges.

Okay, so this is a bit melodramatic. Wait till you read the next one. It’s full of it.