It’s my taper week! Only a few easy miles of running left before my fourth half marathon. I like to spend the week before any big race finding non-running ways to prepare for the big day. I drink more green smoothies, stop drinking alcohol, and reduce my caffeine intake. I try to go to bed earlier.
I also strategize EVERY possible non-running way I can improve my race experience.
Here’s one I just discovered – running the tangents! Greg evidently has been doing this for years, and he’s the one who explained it to me.
Tangents: Race courses are measured using the most direct route possible, measuring the shortest way to navigate the course. Most of us, however, don’t run the shortest path. We choose a spot on the road, and wind along in our same position related to the sides of the road.
You can run a shorter course if you pay attention to how the road is curving and run the tangents. This means you’ll be crossing from one side of the street to the other as the road curves, so it’s not a great strategy if it’s a packed course. (Not only would it be rude and potentially dangerous to continuously cross in front of people, you’d also lose time trying to wind your way safely around other competitors.) But if the course thins out, it might be the easiest way to take a few minutes off your race time.
When I don’t run the tangents, it’s a longer course: When I ran my first half marathon, completely oblivious to the tangents, my Garmin calculated that I ran 13.25 miles, with an average pace of 11:03. If I’d run just 13.1 miles at that pace, I would have brought my time down from 2:26:23 to 2:24:45. That’s the difference between under 2:25 or not! Two minutes makes a difference if you’re reaching for a time goal, or if, like me, you’re so relieved to have the race over. Think about running two more minutes next time you cross the finish line and perhaps you’ll appreciate the power of the tangent!
Running tangents is easier for Greg who takes off with the front of the pack. His past few half marathons he’s finished in the top 100 of competitors, while I didn’t even finish in the top 1,000. It’s a little more packed with runners where I am! But I’m going slower so it’s not as dangerous to get around people once it thins out 😉
Happy racing!