Rank Stranger tip - pacing

Don’t expect to run at “personal best” pace in the MC200. The relay routine is not conducive to top performances: from a physiological standpoint, the time between legs is inadequate for complete recovery and restoration of energy stores. Studies have shown that complete restoration of muscle glycogen in runners’ legs takes as long as 48 hours.

Consider the following pace advice from coachjoeenglish.wordpress.com:

Run a pace that is close to what you would expect to run for the full distance of your combined legs. Think of it as one long run that is split into three segments with a long rest in between. If you would not be capable of running all three legs consecutively at a particular pace, then that pace is probably too fast for you. You’ll most likely burn up on the third leg.

Some people have success using their half-marathon pace target. This is slower than your 10K pace, but faster than your marathon pace. It falls somewhere in the middle. It should be quick enough to challenge you and make you competitive, but also be a good pace to sustain across all three legs.

Once you’ve dialed in your pace, you need to make sure that you get comfortable running that pace. You should get in 1-2 runs each week at that target pace. Just as you would for a marathon, or any important race, you want to practice your target pace and memorize what it feels like. This is so important for a race when you’ll get an adrenaline rush when you take the baton and you will be tempted to go out like you’ve been shot from a cannon. Learn your pace. Ingrain it into your head. Be ready to run your target pace, while ignoring what the other runners are doing around you.

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Rank Stranger trivia: Keith Dudding earned the title of iron man of Rank Strangers in the first relay, 2005. Keith holds records for most miles in a single relay (28.8) and also has the two longest runs, 11.7 and 10.7 miles. The long runs each spanned two legs -- he was doing extra duty in a short-handed van#2. Eric, who was in Van #2 with Keith in 2005, came closest to Keith's total mile record with 26.6 miles in 2009, running 4 single legs. Dave Maze totalled 24.7 miles in 4 legs in 2007.