Nov 3, 2005 Burning Your Matches By Laurel Park :: Views- 1433

Of all the skills that good runners must master, one of the trickiest is learning how to pace yourself, be it through a workout, a race, or even an entire competitive season. Many of the runners I know, even veterans who have been in the sport longer than I have, tend to blaze through the first interval in a workout, or the first a mile in a race, or the first few weeks of the racing season, only to drag themselves home at the end of the effort gasping in a sea of fumes.

I'm not one to judge because I'm one of the worst offenders. Over the years I've gotten better at pacing myself through an entire competitive season, but I'm still terrible at the short-term stuff, especially the start of a race or a workout. I'm the queen of the 5:20 first mile. You'd think that after 25 years I'd learn, but apparently not. It's certainly not due to ignorance; all my fellow runners, every coach I've ever had, and even the casual observer has brought it to my attention. I'm not sure whether it's the adrenaline rush or a lack of confidence ("oh no - I'm trailing the pack!") but even though I tell myself time and time again to slow down and start conservatively, it doesn't usually happen. Even in races where I think I've held back and been conservative, the mile split usually proves me wrong.

Several years ago I read a fascinating interview with a friend of mine, a national-class marathoner. Like me (at that time), Jennifer was juggling running with a full-time job, but unlike me, her schedule was far more demanding; a marathoner, she was putting in nearly twice as many miles per week as I was and was pursuing an MBA degree to boot. Yet she managed to stay healthy and rested and was racing pretty darn well, too. Her secret, she said, was simple: "You have to burn your matches wisely."

The concept behind burning one's matches is basic yet effective. Just as a matchbook contains a finite number of matches, your body contains a finite amount of energy. When you've burned all your matches, that's it - you're done. As any camper can tell you, burning all your matches too quickly can lead to serious trouble. Same with running. Many a good race or competitive season has crumbled in the homestretch because the runner burned too many matches early on. I've seen this happen several times with people who plan fall marathons, especially the first-timers. They start racking up the miles in the spring, and then compound that with road racing in the summer, and by the fall their bodies are toast. They might not experience the full crash-and-burn, but what should have been a 3:00 marathon ends up as a 3:30 or slower (usually accompanied by painfully uneven splits). It's hard to hold back and conserve matches early in the season, but the payoff is definitely worth it.

For someone like me, who is much more comfortable thinking in concrete rather than abstract terms, "burning my matches" also provides a tangible context through which to pursue an intangible objective. Thinking in terms of "pace per mile" doesn't resonate with me, because I always assume that I can hold whatever pace I start at and even if I don't, I'll have built so much of a cushion that a slow final mile won't matter. We all know how well that line of reasoning works in the real world. But, when I think in terms of allocating "X" number of matches per mile, and that if I burn half my matches in the first mile I'll be left with nothing at the end, it makes much more sense. Admittedly, I have yet to perfect that strategy, but hope springs eternal.

I'll continue to hone my match-burning skills and attempt to share the wisdom with whomever is interested. I've seen the good things that can happen when preparation and patience intersect under the right conditions. It would be nice to experience that on a regular basis.

(Thanks to Jennifer Martin, whose own judicious burning of matches resulted in a 2:36 marathon PR and four trips to the Olympic Trials)