negative splits or positive splits?

i guess it also depends in xc on the difficculty of the course.

Depends: Negative splits can sometimes show that you didn't run the 1st half hard enough. OR, it can show that you paced yourself really well. I really don't care how i split..i care about the final time.

yea but splits are how you get your final time.....

I think if I'm going for a win (not often), It's best to run negative, as you start out with your competition, then gradually speed up and open a gap. For a PR, I usually have to go out fast.

Of course, atrocious positive splits don't work too well in the 5k. XC races are long enough where if you go out a little slow you have time to correct (unless you get seriously boxed in). Taking your first 400 of a 5k too fast can be deadly. I learned the hard way.

in the 5k i normally do even splits , or slow down in the second mile and speed back up in the third...so i dont know what type that is...i run most my races like that

800= positive
my mile pr= fast, slow, slow, really fast so i guess thats negative
xc 5k= depends on the course

AudienceOfOne wrote:yea but splits are how you get your final time.....

I guess but your missing the point of my post.

honestly, i dont think ive ever negative splitted...i cant hold myself back in the beginning of the race...but the sad thing is, that even though i do slow down as the race goes on, most people slow down even more so i end up passing alot of people in the middle of the race

it depends. during xc i just try to run it pretty much even. if i go out too hard then i die in the middle. during track i try to run neg splits. if i go for positive then i normally end up dying in the end anyways. but i normally don't pay much attention anyways.

I just looked and my 5k PR was run on almost exactly even splits.

So for me it goes:
<1 Mile: positive
>3000m: even/negative