Negative split

A negative split or the action of negative splitting is a racing strategy that involves completing the second half of a race faster than the first half. It is defined by the intentional setting of a slower initial pace, followed by either a gradual or sudden increase of speed towards the end of a race. There are similar but different strategies that can easily be confused with negative splitting such as "even splitting" (racing at a steady pace) or "sit and kick" (also known as a sprint finish). Conversely, the act of completing the first half of a race faster is known as a positive split.

Negative splitting has been a strategy well documented in professional running since the early 20th century. Runners including Steve Prefontaine, Wilson Kipsang, Julia Lucas, and Galen Rupp have used them in races. Like every racing strategy there are pros and cons, with negative splitting having its strengths in shaving time off the clock and its weakness being that it will not always get the runner the win, but often has led to wins.

Negative split strategies are also used in swimming (including Janet Evans's 1988 Olympic gold in the 400 m freestyle)cycling, triathlon and horse racing.

Negative splitting is a race strategy, where the runner will run the second half of his/her race faster than the first part of the race. That is the general definition but negative splitting is possible at any point where there is a distinct decrease in time from the first chunk of the race to a later chunk where the latter part is faster than the first part. It does not have to be split right down the middle of a distance. Yet, negative splitting is different from running strategies that rely on the runners kick to win a race or get a time in the last lap/stretch of a race.

The Strategies talked about below are easily confused with running negative splits because the runner can appear to be negative splitting when they really are not.

It is a racing strategy where the runner is looking to hit an exact time. To do this the runner will have to run the same split for every lap/distance considered a split to hit the time. For example, if a runner want to hit a 4:40 in a 1600-meter race, on a 400-meter track, the runner would have to hit 70 seconds a lap, with each lap counting as a split to achieve this goal. To use this strategy the runner must run his/her own race and not get pulled along or bogged down by the competition. If the runner does get tied up in the race and the first part is slower than the intended pace this strategy can easily turn into a negative split strategy to make up for the time gained earlier in the race.

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