A beginner's guide to pace, splits, and not going out too fast

When I started running, the words people used made it sound more complicated than it is. Pace, splits, even splits, negative splits. It is all simpler than it sounds, and getting your head around it early will save you a lot of bad races.

Pace is just time per distance

Your pace is how long it takes you to cover one mile or one kilometre. If you run 3 miles in 30 minutes, your pace is 10 minutes per mile. That is the whole idea. Most running watches show it live, and most race goals are really just a target pace dressed up as a finish time.

The thing to know is that pace and effort are not the same on every day. The same 10 minute mile feels easy on a cool morning and brutal in summer heat. Learn to pay attention to effort, and use pace to keep yourself honest.

A split is your time for one piece of the race

A split is simply how long a single segment took. In a 5K, your splits are your times for kilometre one, kilometre two, and so on. Look at your splits after a run and you can see your whole story: where you went out too hard, where you settled, where you faded.

There are three patterns:

• Even splits mean every segment takes about the same time. This is the goal for most races.
• Negative splits mean the second half is faster than the first. This is the sign of a smartly run race.
• Positive splits mean you slowed down. Usually it means you started too fast.

The one habit that fixes most beginner races

Start slower than you want to.

Almost every new runner makes the same mistake. The race starts, the adrenaline hits, everyone around you surges, and you go out way faster than you can hold. It feels great for about eight minutes, and then you pay for it for the rest of the race.

If you start a little slower than feels right and speed up when you know you can hold it, you will pass people in the second half instead of being passed. It feels completely different to finish a race getting stronger, and it is almost always a faster time too.

Put it into practice

Run a recent time through the predictor, pick your race, and print a simple pace band with even splits. Wear it, and in the early miles let it hold you back. Master that one habit and you are already ahead of most people on the start line.