Going Out Too Fast

In your upcoming race, you’re determined to avoid mistakes that would jeopardize your finish, especially ‘stupid’ ones.

Going out too fast is at the top of that list.

It’s the most basic, common piece of ultra advice given. Everybody knows not to do it…and yet you do.

Leading up to the race you tell yourself, “Don’t go out too fast,” and when race day finally arrives and the race director yells “Go,” you force yourself to run slower than you want…at least for a moment.

Because when you look back to figure out why the race was so hard and you DNF’d, the first thing you notice is that you lost track of your speed, so you still went out too fast and blew up.

You knew not to. You repeated, “Don’t go out too fast,” over and over to yourself like a mantra at the starting line. And you did it anyway.

You’re frustrated and embarrassed at making such a beginner mistake, especially when you knew better.

You promise yourself you’ve learned this time and won’t ever do it again, but you will unless you do something different, so let’s look at how to change it.

You think the problem is your frustrating, personal inability to go slow at the start, but the real problem is a simple and preventable glitch in your thinking: you tell yourself what not to do - go out too fast - and stop there.

You never get as far as defining what you DO want to do and how you’re going to do it.

So that’s the fix. Plan what you’re going to do and implement it.

To do that reliably, you have to get skilled at two basic things I teach:

First, defining how fast you want to run.

What’s the sweet spot between fast enough to finish and not “too fast?”

Second, sticking to that plan.

This one’s harder because it takes mental maturity. You have to give up reacting to anxiety and be the adult in charge of your decisions, even when it’s uncomfortable.

It means you resist the overpowering urge to build as much cushion on cutoff as you can, as fast as you can.

You stick confidently with your own pace instead of trying to keep up with the runners ahead of you, even if that means you’re last and by yourself at the beginning.

And you keep your mind firmly on what you’re doing even in the middle of the fun, excitement and relief of starting.

It’s like having your hand on a knob that says ‘Speed’ and intentionally turning it up or down to produce the finish you want.

You know how to not go out too fast.

You eliminate the guesswork because you know what’s fast enough.

You find your ability to go slow at the start.

You stay on a smart pace that keeps you in good shape for the later miles.

You stop making the stupid ‘went out too fast’ mistake.

And you get better at finishing.