As the old saying goes, it’s not how you start, but how you finish!

Over the past 3 years, many of you have received recommendations from me about progressive runs. Put simply, this is when you start slower and finish faster.

Ok so why does it work?

Personally, I’ve run many of my best races with easier opening miles. We know for certain that fat stores can be utilized at lower intensity efforts.  The average person stores between 130,000-150,000 kcals of fat which is enough energy for 1,300 miles of easy walking.  Alternatively, we store about 600g of glycogen or ~ 2,400 kcals of energy.  Even though we need ~ 100 kcals to walk or run a mile, the energy sources differ drastically.

So let’s consider 2,400 kcals of available glycogen stores and the Marathon distance =  26.2 Mi.  Obviously we need some of those fat stores to power us all the way through the race.  We also know that the faster you run, the more glycogen you burn.  In fact, I believe the proverbial Marathon Wall is actually less mental and more physical as many marathoners simply run out of glycogen stores and must slow down to use fat.

This is not just an approach for casual Marathoners or Boston Qualifier types, but also a strategy at the World Class Level.  Matt Richtman recently validated his standing at this elite level and positioned himself firmly in the 2028 Olympic Marathon hopeful conversation.  He broke through and ran a 2:07 Marathon to become the first U.S. male to win the Los Angeles Marathon in 31 years.  His first half split = 1:04:18 and his second half = 1:03:38.  How's that for a progression?

There is also a mental aspect of progressive running.  If you consistently run your long runs with progressions, you train your mind to expect a faster finish.  With a gradual pace inflection over time, the exertion can feel less pronounced and the body can adapt accordingly.

Lastly, with a slower start we should be able to avoid that massive heart rate spike.  This allows the cardiopulmonary system to adapt to the strain of running without over due stress of a fast opening mile.  In many ways, the opening mile of the Marathon can serve well both physically and mentally as the only warmup needed.

In summary, progression runs provided the benefit of better fat utilization, more gradual introduction of stress to the body and a sharpened psyche focused on the end and not the start.  As you pass runners at the end of an event who are low on glycogen stores with elevated heart rates, the benefits of progressive running come to fruition.

So start off slow to finish fast!