THE 85% RULE IS TWICE AS SLOW, BUT STILL FASTER

THE 85% RULE IS TWICE AS SLOW, BUT STILL FASTER

YOU KNOW ABOUT THE 85% RULE RIGHT?  It's the one used to earn Olympic Gold by all sorts of sprinters.  It's why you see them all loosygoosy at the start. Relaxed.  Ya see, some smartypants coach noticed about 30 years ago, that one particular racer kept winning by running 85%.

Here's how it works, and why I say it's twice as slow...

... I say it's twice as slow to to make it stick in my mind...

  • Think of the great Carl Lewis, he was never first to the 40... which at the time was the predictor of who'd win the 100m... but he always finished far ahead.
  • He started at 85%, therefore behind.
  • By starting at 85% he slowed down slower than the rest, giving the allusion of accelerating long past the 40.
  • They were all slowing down, by starting slow he slowed down less slow.

It's not really twice as slow, it's slow twice:

Slow, as in not going all out at the start...
... and slow, as in slowing down slower than those who went all out.

I think it's interesting that the person that shared this with me used exactly 85%... because that's pretty much the pace I figured out I can go all day.

Plus, there's a lot less pressure at the start knowing a whole buncha racers are gonna go out too fast and blow.  

It does take a bit of faith... self-confidence... and works on and off the bike.

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