The Negative Split

This may be one running analogy I’ve created that actually makes sense in relevance to teaching. A split, while running, is a portion of your race. Runners typically use splits to split up their run into equal parts, thus giving them a sense of improvement or decline from mile to mile. So, when looking at race results for a 5K, a runner may have a split of 0:25 at mile two, meaning he or she ran the second mile 25 seconds slower than the first – a common result from going out too fast. I have fallen victim to the slower second mile or second half far too often.

Last October, I ran the Des Moines Half Marathon. It is a race I have completed before and wasn’t looking for much of a radical experience, just looking for the finish line. I was more than elated, however, knowing that running icon Bart Yasso was going to be Des Moines’ guest for the weekend. I made an obligation to go listen to him speak, and I took away an inspiring message. Bart mentioned the “negative split” in his talk and explained it only briefly. I had heard the terms before in high school cross country and through multiple running mediums, but I had never applied it to my own running. He said if you’re looking to give yourself a purpose while running, work for the negative split – run the second half faster than the first. Bart claimed that euphoria takes hold of you while passing other runners, and you will actually feel MORE energized.

How impractical, I thought. No one has more energy during the last 6.5 than they do the first. But if Bart said it could work, then I would give it a shot. I started the race at a brisk, yet moderately shallow, pace. At the half-way point, I stretched out my stride and began passing runners one by one. Bart was right. It did feel good, but it was difficult. I checked my times soon after the finish and realized I had done it, a negative split.

Making yourself better month to month, day to day or mile to mile is mentally tough. It asks for reflection and action. It requires telling yourself that you can still improve, a complex most people do not want to accommodate because of pride. As I stare down the last two and a half weeks of student teaching, I am still looking for ways to improve. I stood small and intimidated on day one of my experience and have made steady improvements since then, with a few mile markers of dehydration every now and then.

I have struggled with failure and setbacks along the way. I have provided lessons that crash and activities that look much better on paper. But for every cramp, I find a way to make it better for next time. We must constantly improve ourselves to keep up with not only the ever-changing world but our pure human instinct to be our self, to be our best self.

“In order to improve, we must be content to be thought foolish and stupid”
Epictetus

Happy Trails