Must beat
everyone. Must run faster.
Oh God. I think
I calculated this way badly. Brutal. Absolutely brutal. I'm done.
Running negative splits in a race is no mean feat.
Being able to pace yourself on a run with each of your split times quickly getting
faster is something that separates the elites from the rest of the running pack.
But just how hard is it?
Well, the Running Channel producers have tasked us with finding that out. Alongside The Running
Channel's resident physio Manni -
If you do lose, please don't bring any excuses.
You know, it's just, it's just, it is what it is.
If I lose, well, it won't happen.
And friend of The Running Channel, James Dunn.
We're going to take on the Negative Split 5K
challenge. Before we get started, though please do make sure you click subscribe and give this video a like
if you're a fan of what we do. Right, onto the challenge.
Uh, not so fast, Sarah.
Some of you clever clogs out there may have just realised that we could cheat
our way in this task quite easily by starting out at a walking pace, which is
why we've been set some ground rules.
Oh, no, I was not expecting more rules.
And here's a text from the producers. Rule number one - each kilometre
must be faster than the previous kilometre.
Otherwise you will be disqualified. Two - your first kilometre
must be the same as or faster than the pace we've decided for
each of you which has been determined using your current 5k pb. Three.
The winner is the person with the greatest pace difference between their first and
last kilometres.
Remember, though, if each K isn't faster than the last, you're disqualified.
Four. You are only allowed to check your watch during the first
kilometre of this challenge.
Then it must go in your pocket with the auto-lap feature turned on
so you know when to speed up.
I'm never one for, you know, sneaky tactics in these challenges.
And I think actually, that's my downfall.
And sometimes that's why I don't do very well.
So I'm gonna, I'm gonna bend the rules for this one.
I'm gonna be a rebel.
I don't think anyone else would have thought of this.
Right. Morning all.
I've got to say this is one of the worst challenges you could've given
Me. I am awful when it comes to pacing, tactics, that's not looking at my
watch and crucially, running in kilometres.
All my runs are in miles.
So all the pacing I know in my head is based around miles.
But I think I might have found two little workarounds.
The first one is where we are right now.
So this is one of my training runs and crucially, it goes downhill for almost five K.
So I'm hoping if I keep a steady pace increasing as I go along, that should help me.
The second one - feel like it's a little bit of a cheat.
I have one song plugged into my music that I will listen to as I'm running and crucially, it's the
same length as the pace I have to do as a minimum to start off
with, which I think will help me or it'll throw me off and it'll all go horribly wrong.
But let's find out how it goes.
Okay, I'm coming to you direct from Kampala, Uganda, in Africa.
I've been here for a while and this is where I'm doing the five k negative split challenge.
I'm on top of a hill.
Um, I don't know if you can see in the background how high am, I'm on top of the,
of one of the hills in Kampala.
So this challenge is going to be difficult and I actually don't know the area.
I don't know where I'm going, so I'm gonna go in a straight line.
Um, and then I'm gonna come back.
I think that's the best thing to do.
I'm at my start location.
I'm still in the car because it's cold.
But I'm just thinking through my tactics, I don't think there's anything
really tactical or hacky that you can do in this situation.
Surely it is just a case of, keep getting faster until you can't, right?
Although I have a feeling that Anna is going to have thought of a really good
tactic that I just haven't thought of. So I've been thinking about my tactics
for this challenge, and I've read the rules.
I've reread the rules and I've read them again.
And there's absolutely no way that I can be disqualified for this because it says after the first
kilometre, you put your watch in your pocket.
It doesn't say about anyone else running with you wearing their own watch.
Cue Neil.
Hi, Neil.
So Neil is going to come and run this with me and tell me what my lap paces are.
That's fine, isn't it?
That's in the rules.
Okay, Before I start, this is, this is what we're working with at the moment.
These are the roads.
Here is my start line. 5K.
Negative split challenge.
My goal is just to not get disqualified, really.
I'm quite happy with just completing it.
Okay, Right.
Let's do this, then.
The watch is going on.
3, 2, 1.
Let's go.
Okay, watch has started, going to try and hit four forty
per k.
Going downhill should be a little bit easier to hit that.
So, the one positive about running where I'm running, is I know the route
like the back of my hand.
The problem with it is I also know a lot of people along this road.
I'm hoping I don't bump into anyone I know because they will definitely do something
horrible to me as I go past.
Now I'm a bit of a control freak and so I'm feeling really
nervous, and I figured out why, it's because after this
first kilometre, I'm putting all my trust in Neil.
Don't **** it up.
Almost 0.5
of a K in.
So I've only got 0.6 left to go with my watch.
I need a drink already.
So parched.
So far so good.
And I've got Hamilton ringing in my ears.
So,
how do I think the others are doing?
Well.
They're all experts at this.
The road is just, it's so uneven.
You've just gotta watch out for traffic too. There's no
pavement.
Think I might have smashed this?
I think I may have created a route
that's a kilometre long without even meaning to.
Although, it is an uphill final segment,
which I think it's only gonna get harder.
Gonna have to speed up, 0.93.
And I'm on...
Five minutes now.
So I think that's bang on.
If I have to do a final sprint at the end of the first K, I'm not going to be happy.
And how much do I speed up by?
Oh, here we go, 0.99. 1k. 5:50.
That's the benchmark.
The watch is coming off.
Which is actually not that easy when you've got a GoPro in your
hand. See you in a sec. Watch beeped.
Done my first k.
I'm just going to keep going until we hit 3 k.
Then I'm turning back.
I'm going hard.
As hard as I can, try and get a bigger split.
Oh man.
This is brutal.
It's just the heat.
It's getting to you.
Kilometre two.
The watch is away.
Got to be 5:50.
How we doing, Neil?
Yeah.
No, what time?
Oh. What's the average pace? 5:55.
Oh.
Easing in.
I think my chances of this challenge were quite evident when I had to
ask Sarah how I changed my Garmin over from miles to kilometre
pace.
Yeah, I'm definitely not going to do as well as these guys,
but it's a good fitness test. At this time of year,
it's all about finding ways to get out and get running and doing little challenges like this that you can do at home
is a great way to try and stay fit.
Getting strange looks.
I don't think people have seen anyone around here with a GoPro here before.
I've definitely gone off too fast. I wonder how the others are getting on. Anyone
else completely messed up in the second K?
I think I've gone too fast already.
I'm pretty sure I have, but we'll have to see.
The one thing I think I have to my benefit is that I bloody
love a sprint finish.
I mean, sprint's probably an over-exaggeration for what it is, but
I love that at the end of the race, even parkrun, I tend to
pick somebody out in front of me, and then they become my nemesis.
100 metres to go, averaging 5:46 pace.
Obviously, Neil's watch is tracking Neil's running and there could be
a bit of disparity between his and mine.
So... nervous.
This is gonna be a do or die situation.
Oh, why did I go off too fast?
This is so hard.
Well, it's 5:45
5:45.
I felt it buzz.
Hey, just what I was looking for.
I so wish I had Andy Baddeley in front of me right now as windshield
slash pacer.
I feel like the pacing vehicle in Kipchoge's record attempt.
Is that cheating?
If you have another person with you?
No, I should have done that.
[inaudible]
Not only is Neil managing the pacing, he's also managing the maths.
Thank God.
So, the two tactics I had
have already gone out the window. Almost into K three.
Hamilton is off - I took a shot, and it did not hit.
It was just throwing me off.
So it's gone.
And running the route I know has failed because
I work it out in miles again.
Sorry, I had to run a little bit back uphill.
So I actually get to the right place.
At the 5k mark.
I think I'm back on track now.
Almost three K.
And as you can tell, quite out of breath, my GoPro keeps turning off
because it's too hot.
I've finally found a pavement. It's brutal, this is brutal.
That K is done. Done.
Finished.
Yeah.
Three k in, two k to go.
[inaudible]
Not a lot left in the tank.
This is definitely making me realise how much of a 'bank it at the start' runner
I am because I am not used to speeding up as the run
goes on, apart from in the last 10 metres.
Anyone else?
Or just me? Brutal. Brutal.
I'm absolutely dripping.
[inaudible]
But look at that.
Look at that.
Views, views and more views. Right?
5:24 for that.
I haven't buzzed yet.
Ah.
This could be a disaster.
Waiting on that buzz.
I can't feel it.
Last lap, no talking.
Go.
I just heard my watch go off. We're into the last K.
I don't know if I've got a sprint in me.
Come on. Must
beat everyone.
Must run faster.
Brutal. Absolutely brutal.
Oh, God.
I have no idea if the last four K were even slightly at pace.
Oh, there's a car coming.
No idea if the last four K were even slightly at pace. I'm now doing a trail run.
And so I may have already lost.
But I'm gonna give it a good go.
Come on, dig deep.
Dig deep.
I don't know how long I've got to go is the other thing, because my route wasn't quite
1k laps.
If I lose it's definitely because I'm talking to you on a hill.
Nothing to do with me.
Uh, it should be beeping now. Why's it not beeped?
Oh God.
I think I calculated this way badly.
Must be into the last few bits now, come on.
Come on.
Brutal.
Hardest thing I've done.
Definitely for a few months.
Oh, come on, bell.
Time.
Average pace.
[inaudible]
90 metres by my watch.
Okay?
Just the air.
The hills, the terrain.
Everything put together.
It's just, like, so hard.
Oh, my gosh.
It's so hard to keep speeding up.
Oh, there we go.
Come on. Oh, there we go.
Thank God.
Turn this corner, going to the hotel and we're done.
Oh, Okay.
Oh, my goodness.
I'm done.
Gosh, that last lap was harder than I thought.
Definitely shouldn't have done parkrun yesterday.
So I finally just about caught my breath.
That was so much harder than I thought it was going to be.
But- and this is a big but, and it's completely beginner's luck,
I managed to nail the negative split challenge.
I have no idea how I did it.
I will thank only the terrain.
Okay, split. First split was exactly as I wanted.
4. 40.
Then we progressively, progressively got worse.
Literally.
It was positive split running.
I mean, I finished off with four and five K at seven and six
minutes, as I was coming back uphill.
That's so annoying.
The rest of those splits are so nice.
Oh, okay.
That is hard.
That is a really hard challenge.
The results are in, and it's a 5:50 1st kilometre.
Then a 5:48, that was close, a 5:41 and then
sneakily, kilometre four with a 5:45.
According to my watch.
Not according to Neil's, though. I had perfect, perfect splits on Neil's watch.
That was such a brilliant effort by
everyone.
Such a hard challenge.
How do you think you would fare during a negative split five K?
Why don't you give it a go and let us know how you got on in the comments?
Or maybe you've got another challenge that you want to set us next.
Tell us below, and we'll see you next time on The Running Channel.