Running tips from Newton South Coach Steve McChesney

Coach Steve McChesney has fielded 40 all Americans and 15 state champions in his 19 years at Newton South High School. As part of our coverage of the South cross country team, we asked him for a few running tips, and he obliged.

Below is this week's tip. Click here for last week's tip.

Learn how to pace yourself.

Even if you never plan to race, knowing your range will allow you to vary your pace in a safe range and make your runs more interesting. If you plan to do any racing at all, knowing your pace is the starting point for success and growth.

There are two ranges: date pace and goal pace.

Date pace is what you would race at a certain distance within the next few days with a good effort in good conditions.

Your goal pace is what you hope to achieve in a set period of time at a certain distance with great performance in near-perfect race conditions.

Setting a goal pace is more complicated than setting your date pace. Once we have raced maybe four or five races, we start to get a picture of what goals should be for most runners.