Effort Over Pace
The rollers in CIM's first 10 miles are where most races are lost. Here's how to run them so you still have something left for the back half.
By David Damron · 9× CIM finisher · 3× CIM BQ'er · 1× CIM sub-3
If I had to boil the first half of CIM down to three words, it would be these: effort over pace.
The first 10 miles are roller after roller. And the most common mistake I see is runners locked onto their watch, trying to hit goal pace on every single mile, uphill or not. They hold the number, and they pay for it later.
Through the rollers, your pace is the wrong thing to focus on. Your effort is what matters: how hard you're breathing, where your heart rate is, how hard you're working to hold that pace.
The technique
How to run one roller
Repeat this for every roller in the first 10 miles.
Focus on your effort, not your pace. Ask yourself: am I working harder than I should be? Your pace should slow a little going up. That's the point. If you're pushing hard enough to hold goal pace on the climb, you're spending energy you'll need in the back half. Give up some of your goal pace on the uphill.
Don't surge over the top of the hill. Crest it at the same effort you climbed with, then let the road do the work.
On the way down, don't go crazy fast trying to win back the seconds you just lost. Let gravity do the work without forcing it. You're not trying to max out your heart rate on both sides of the hill.
Once it levels out, settle back into goal pace until the next roller. Then repeat: effort up, easy down, pace on the flat.
This is a first-half strategy only
Effort over pace is for the first 10 miles, where the rollers are. That's the only part of the race where effort comes first.
In the second half, the focus flips. It's no longer effort over pace; it's pace. Are you hitting the pace you actually need to finish in your goal time? From here on, your watch matters again, and your job is to lock onto that number and hold it.
"But I'm losing time!"
Yes, a little. That's okay. I'm not saying you should make up every second on the back side of each roller. That's how people end up running too hard on both sides of the hill.
You make that time back later, in miles 14 through 19. Once you're past the rollers, the course turns into a gentle, fast descent, and that's where you push. The runners who were patient through the first 10 miles are the ones passing people from halfway on.
How to read your effort
- Breathing: if it jumps noticeably on a climb, back off. Your breathing on the uphill shouldn't be much harder than on the flat.
- Heart rate: if you race with a heart-rate monitor, watch for spikes on the climbs. A big jump on every roller adds up over 10 miles.
- Pace: let it drift slower uphill. Glance at it on the flats, not on the hills.