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A runner who leads every pack and then vanishes

nytimes.com

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Re: A runner who leads every pack and then vanishes

#31

Post by freddie_mercury »

hanniabu wrote: post #18
metadat wrote: post #7

It does seem kind of cheap to rely on a pacer, I can see how purists lament it as "not real racing". It eliminates an entire dimension from the competition: managing oneself and being aware / humble enough to not push unsustainably hard at the start only to run out of juice later on. Using a pacer essentially reduces the race to an artless treadmill grind. As an observer, the paced portion of the race is stupidly bor…

It would be interesting to have an Olympics where every race each runner runs the race alone

Not for every race but the Olympics has had that since 1912 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_trial_at_the_Olympics

Re: A runner who leads every pack and then vanishes

#34

Post by infamousclyde »

My partner regularly picks up pacing duties. It's pretty common for professional runners, and they receive some modest compensation depending on the size of the meet. Pretty trivial for a 1500 or 3k specialist to pace a 10k, for example. She's knocked out an 8:46 3k and is quite literally a human metronome, so it's a good go for her. Making sure your splits are even requires a lot of practice, however, and accelerating or slowing down is an unpleasant experience for the rest of the race participants.

Re: A runner who leads every pack and then vanishes

#35

Post by infamousclyde »

metadat wrote: post #7

It does seem kind of cheap to rely on a pacer, I can see how purists lament it as "not real racing". It eliminates an entire dimension from the competition: managing oneself and being aware / humble enough to not push unsustainably hard at the start only to run out of juice later on. Using a pacer essentially reduces the race to an artless treadmill grind. As an observer, the paced portion of the race is stupidly bor…

I don't think it's so black and white. Sometimes, races without pacers can have exceptionally slow splits (which-- admittedly, leads to a very exciting and tactical conclusion on occasion). These "slow" bouts are quite common in heats in the Olympics, for example.

Pacers in the Diamond League, for example, maintain an exceptional pace that regularly leads to new World Records for participants, because the entire race is fast from the gun.

I don't disagree with your sentiment. Just adding some nuance.

Re: A runner who leads every pack and then vanishes

#36

Post by gabereiser »

I went to school with Alan Webb [1]. We were all essentially rabbits to him. I’ve never seen someone run so fast, for so long of a distance, in such a short time. He went on to have an amazing career, obviously.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Webb_(runner)

Re: A runner who leads every pack and then vanishes

#37

Post by dgnorton »

andai wrote: post #32

So... is he just really good at running at a specific speed, or what? I don't get it.

He’s good at running the pace they ask him to run and it varies from race to race. Harder than it sounds. Ideally, the pacer runs that pace with little variance rather than looking at their watch halfway through a lap and speeding up or slowing down.

Re: A runner who leads every pack and then vanishes

#39

Post by infamousclyde »

diceduckmonk wrote: post #23
hanniabu wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Showing a timer or splits is not pacing

If the watch also measured the distance you’ve travel, is pace not just distance over time? Speaking of wearable, pacemakers serve a different purpose, so the term is ambiguous I’m sure you run then, because again I have no idea what you mean by “splits”

Splits refers to the amount of time passed over a measured distance. A miler would be interested in their 400m split (the time they run through 1/4 of their race), and a marathoner would be more concerned with their mile/km split.

Holistically, pacers are just experienced runners that provide even splits over their distance. In a marathon context, running in a group can be quite pleasant and motivating, but there is definitely nothing stopping anyone from just using a GPS watch.

Re: A runner who leads every pack and then vanishes

#40

Post by mattkrause »

diceduckmonk wrote: post #23
hanniabu wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Showing a timer or splits is not pacing

If the watch also measured the distance you’ve travel, is pace not just distance over time? Speaking of wearable, pacemakers serve a different purpose, so the term is ambiguous I’m sure you run then, because again I have no idea what you mean by “splits”

Yes and no.

In theory, you can pace yourself with a watch and a map. “Splits” are (distance, time) pairs that correspond to a targeted finish time. For example, if you were targeting a 4:00 finish at an even pace, you’d want to be crossing the halfway point at 2:00.

In practice, it’s mentally much easier to pace yourself off another person. The implicit peer pressure to stay with the pack helps when you might otherwise start to lag behind and helps you resist the temptation to blow up your plan because “you’re feeling good” and want to go for broke.

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