Routes

Kirkstall Road – Negative Splits

LS4 2AS

Distance: 2.08km

Description

Your starting point for the run will be at Kirkstall Viaduct. The aim of a negative split is to run a quicker second half of your run, increasing your speed over distance once the muscles are warmed up and lubricated and those lovely endorphins flood your system, giving you that extra edge to run faster without realising it.

Start off by running 10 minutes maximum in the direction of Horsforth and on the 10 minute mark call out (if running in a group) to turn around and return to your starting point at the Viaduct. You will run this second half in less than 10 minutes, aim for a 9 minute return journey. On average you will need to run the second half around 15-30 seconds quicker per mile than the first part!

The art of negative splits is to start slow and conserve energy for a flourishing middle and end. This technique is easily applied to run distances from as little as 5k upwards and will help you avoid that over cooked fast start that turns into an exhausted trot and a limber over the finish line.

Please take care when crossing the residential streets turning off of Kirkstall Road – when in the zone its easy to switch off from the dangers – this is a very real one when running this route!
Why is Kirkstall Road the perfect negative split route?… because its flat as a pancake! If you think about it you don’t want to be running downhill to start and then uphill to finish, that wouldn’t be fair and logical for this purpose!

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