16 Replies to “No-Man’s Land – 5 Tips to Surviving the Runner’s Island of Desolation”

  1. Aaaah walkers in lane 1… they are firmly relegated to lane 7 or 8 on our track! One of my pet peeves is when people just leave their blocks or hurdles out on the track. Put your toys away when you’re done with them please children. Also when people use too big spikes and wreck the track. Stop being selfish and buy some $4 spikes to switch in! Sorry, rant over lol! Hope your workout went good despite being a bit lonely! I am also lonely a bit at the moment in some of my tougher speed workouts…400/ 600/800 etc repeats are soo much better with someone to hold onto and work off. Last time I got ditched off the back of the pack I basically just focused on enjoying the race coz my legs just weren’t there! Cheers for the tips, I’ll try to remember them the next time I get dropped 😉

    • oh my gosh, soooo with u on the spikes! preserve our tracks!! the other thing that KILLS me is when they actually drive all those trucks across it for certain school events, look i’m all for having a fun half-time show but parading the floats and prom court around the track again and again makes me cringe. 😛

    • oh man, i’d think the closer u get to the finish u need more and more people!! next time we’ll get u in a bigger one. 😉

  2. My pet peeve is the runner who, even though it was clear water was coming up, decides at the last second to veer over from one side of the road to get water from the other.
    I don’t mind being totally alone, as long as there’s someone behind me, and a group ahead of me in eye sight. If I can’t see anyone, then yikes, I probably took a wrong turn.
    When you want to pull ahead and you’re surrounding by others and can’t,that’s frustrating.

    • wat, i mean couldn’t u read their mind and know they were going to suddenly peel to the side and bodyslam into you?? haha. maybe we should make a belt with blinkers for runners to wear, alert u when they plan to make a turn. 😉

  3. Is it bad that I like to be in no mans land sometimes? I do like to be in races where I am running with a bunch of people but sometimes I just need to clear my head and being away from people helps me pull it back together!

  4. I love running close to other people but not in a pack, but sometimes it’s fun to go completely alone too if you want to clear your mind. Thanks for posting these tips too, it really does help to run with a group and have someone to push yourself off of to train harder, I always find my races are better when I’ve had training partners.

    • glad u found the tips helpful! and u’re right, there’s a fine balance between having company in the race/working and then getting boxed in or feeling like u may get tripped up. 🙂

  5. I often find myself in “no man’s land” in races. I tell myself it is because I’m a little slower than the leaders, but faster than most of the field. But maybe it ties in with my introverted personality? Rare is the time where I’ll deviate from my desired pace (slower or faster) just to run with a pack. Sometimes on windy race days this mentality is pretty stupid!

    • haha…i like that u draw the parallel between being a more shy person and then being stuck in no-man’s land a lot! but every now and again it’s good to step out of the comfort zone, force a bit of a conversation with a new person or notch up the pace just a hair…if for no other reason that to draft off them in the wind! 😉

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