As a person who likes to run races dead even or negative splits, I appreciate this explanation. Never fully understood why, but now I do.

I’ve grown to really appreciate tactical races and admire people like mo farah. They’re still fun to watch for me.

holy fuck id never seen that cheserek race before, that was absolutely hilarious i really enjoy a good tactical race because it gives me the same feeling as pack racing in indy or nascar - its like a game of chess being played out at speed. they definitely have their place and as you said, itd be boring if every race was just the same medium pace through to the end. great vid as always!

Tactical races are only good if they benefit who I want to win 😉

One interesting thing about the 2016 Rio 1500m is that due to a medal ceremony running late the athletes were left in the call room longer than usual and couldn't run. Nobody was fully warmed up when the race started so it didnt go out very hard.

My man drops an "irregardless" at 6:32

As a dirty end of the race kicker, I appreciate this video. it's quite fun to follow right behind someone for a whole race just to dust them right at the end.

i’m a cyclist and this is how many of my favorite (classics) races play out. bit different bc of the outsized role of aerodynamics in the cycling vs running, but personally i love this style of racing and find it incredibly tense and exciting

This channel is extremely underrated

I think tactical races are just fine, but front running from the perspective of a runner is much more exciting personally. You run depending on the fact that you’re going to have given the race everything you possibly have at the end, and for me that’s what distance is all about

That 4xmile looked more like an elimination mile where everyone jogs for the 300m then legs it for the final 100m

I feel like the tactical last leg of a relay is a whole other thing. It just doesn't make a lot of sense if you get the baton first, to not use your head start and let everyone catch up. There is also the aspect that if the team had the record in mind, Chez just ruined all the hard work the first 3 legs put in to give him a shot. Then he didn't even win the race.

I've been running xc/track for about 5 or so years and the better I get at the sport, the more I appreciate tactical races. Also the more you race, especially when you get better, you get to learn about the thought process, the positioning, and the mental game runners have to play when they're in a race like this, and it really makes watching tactical races interesting. WR's/PR's are fun and all but watching someone like Mo Farah run a tactical masterclass at the 2012 Olympics never gets old.

I did this in a highschool dual meet 3200 against my rival school. The guy's pr was 15 seconds faster than me but was content to run tactical and I was able to out kick him 62 to 65 over the final lap.

I’m pretty sure I actually watched the Chez race live from the bleachers. Got his autograph too. Hadn’t thought about it in a minute.

Sometimes tactical races can be boring. But as a brit I remember watching Mo kick at the end of that race with all the energy of a home games, as one of the greatest sporting moments I have ever watched

I fully believe that the over reliance of “tactical” races contributed to the US being terrible at 1500m for years. US athletes became accustomed to this style of racing for championships that we never had the times or skill to be able to compete against the best in the field. I think Jakob Ingebrigtsen changed the race for the better by challenging everyone to actually race from the start. More of saying “I can race and win with fast times so you all better learn how to race fast or get left behind”.

Prefontaine was right. Sandbagging is boring and disrespectful.

It’s the same strategy as flat courses in grand tour cycling. Your teammates, or even other riders, will conserve energy for the whole race, which is easy to do since you don’t have to deal with a climb. When you approach the end, you all pick up the pace slightly, and then about 600 or more meters to the end, someone tries to go for a sprint, and then it’s down to positioning and reaction time to get the win at that point. There’s also the breakaway, where a small group of riders breaks away early from the peloton in order to build up a lead at the cost of energy for the final sprint. These are more typical in climbing or mixed stages, where a final group sprint isn’t liable to hapoen

Interesting to hear this as a outsider from the cross country skiing world where for our mass starts the tactical racing is a big part. Furthermore in cross country skiing there are no records take seriously mostly because the variety in conditions and track layout which gives the athletes no reason to go for time even for a wr or pr. The only place where they try to ski there fastest race overall is in the individual starts. I also think it it interesting to see the fight between athletes with better endurance compared to those with a higher top speed.

Your boy hugged the rail and loved a good tactical race

This channel is so amazing

I really love your content and I would love to see you make a video on some of the best Tactical Races and their significance! With the History and story presented in only the way you know how!

This is how professional cycling works. There's a finess and beauty to it. If you cannot win the sprint, gotta attack earlier.

Am just imagining how eliud or Joshua would destroy lungs if they participated

In my opinion, if you don’t like watching a race coming down to a sit and kick, then go watch sprints lmao long distance is a mental game

Great video.

i love these videos bro

Every videos a banger.

1:14 I like how there was a goofy surge and then turning on the brakes again?

Weird question, but why do they have the track barriers out in lane 4? Wouldn't that make them run longer?

winning isn't the most important thing. it's the only thing.

This is pretty much how bike racing works, except that drafting makes tactics much more important

wait what do you mean by the description? Obviously, "run slow to run fast" isn't great for PBing in a race, but isn't the term meant to be about training plans?

I'd love to see how this plays out if they're allowed to have rear view mirrors during the race

I’ve got a 17 min mile right now. I’d love a 7 min mile jog speed

Amazing fucking content again!

Good vid

Had only just looked up the Penn mile 2 days ago to have a good laugh at. Absolute joke of a race, I’m fine with tactical but not what happened there.

What annoys me about tactical races is the fact that most of the time these athletes are not self aware when the best time for them to administer their final sprint. Waiting for others to make a move is not smart. These runners should know what sprint distance best suites them. But they don’t. Except centro, he made the move when it needed to be made. RIO 2016 1500 - awesome race.

@RunnerBoi wow what race is that at 9:28 ? Some 8k?

2:30 watch that tactical race on our channel🔥 sick vid

Wow...

Ches was the king of sit and kick

Alright

Running a tactical relay is stupid - the winning time is the sum of the individual times, so tactically winning a leg does NOT mean the team will win. It only makes sense for individual races, or for the last leg.

Why run hard when run easy and still win?

Just watch cycling then.

Why do you hate the saying good for the sport?

irregardless isn't a word. Regardless, tactical races are not interesting it seems.

I disagree with this entire video.

First