3 Ways to Overcome Weaknesses in Competitive Runners

here comes a point in every runners race, even elite runners, where they encounter a weakness. The problem with average runners is that they tend to shy away from working on their weaknesses and stick to what they do best. This might be all fine and dandy in training but once you get into a race situation the weakness will still be there and will limit your performance. In this post we will determine the most common weak points and suggest some exercises you can do to get them up to par.

Weak Start

Many runners have a weak start. Some go out too fast, others too slow and get boxed into a bad position. The best way to overcome this weakness is to work on it in training. So at the beginning of every workout after you are good and warmed up you will want to start as if you were in a race. If you feel you start too slow then you will want to try and push yourself during the mock start, and if you feel that you take off too fast you can either continue to take off fast until you are used to it or slow down to a more manageable pace.

Weak Finish

Another common weakness is the finish. This can easily be corrected by sprinting at the end of all your workouts. I is a great routine to get into even on your long runs. You do not necessarily have to sprint to the finish every time but at least increase the pace so that if you find yourself in a situation where you need a final kick you will be confident in your abilities.

Racing Lulls

Even the best runners have a lull in their race at some point. Lets say for example you are training for a 10K and you find at about 5K you are feeling a little sluggish but then at 8K you regain your composure. This means you have a mid-race lull and it needs to be corrected if you plan on reaching your full potential. A great technique to work on this weakness is to structure your training sessions so that you have the most difficult aspect of your training at the 8K mark. One example could be to structure your run so that at the 8 kilometer mark you come to a local hill. From there you can do another 2 kilometers hard but uphill, this will make the 8 kilometer point in a flat race seem like a gift from heaven.

Whatever your weaknesses are make sure you are consciously trying to improve upon them. There is no sense in avoiding your weaknesses because when the time comes to demonstrate your fitness they will definitely limit your performance. It is better to suffer in training and have a good race then to have easy training but a bad race.