By Peter Najem
Athletes, I am not your coach. If you get any ideas from anything I write, talk with your coach
before you try them. They know you and see your potential.
I want to share something a coach, not mine, told me back in my junior year of college as I was walking off the track. It changed my entire career:
“If you only knew how to race, you’d be pretty good.”
Most of you are great at knowing the splits you need and pacing involved to run a PR. You line up with your fingers on your start buttons and your head full of splits and math. Pacing is important—it keeps us from being reckless…but pacing can get in the way of racing.
Pacing is a conversation you have with yourself in your head. If you stay in your head all day, you’re putting a ceiling on your potential. What happens when you don’t hit your splits? Do you panic? Do you lose interest? Do you jog it in? Pacing asks: “Can I hold this?” Racing commands: “Stay on that jersey.” Racing isn’t about the clock; it’s about the person in front of you.
Once you start racing, you are giving yourself permission to fail. If you surge to cover a move and you blow up? Good. You will learn from it. If you try to stick with the lead pack and fade at the end? Great. Now you know where your limit is. You will never find out how fast you truly are if you are too afraid of failing.
Trust your coach and training; you should already know what your goal pace feels like. You don’t need a watch on your wrist to tell you that. When moves are made, stop looking at the clock. Instead look at the competition around you.
Talk with your coach and have a plan. Know your competition, and be smart. But when the gun goes off and moves are made, don’t be afraid to take that leap-of-faith and start racing.
Don’t run the race. Race it! Faster PRs await you.
