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First, let’s clear up a few misconceptions about the concept of a finishing kick. It’s not about “saving up” your energy so you can sprint the last 100 meters of a race. In fact, a finishing kick isn’t necessarily about sprinting at all. It’s not just for elite athletes or record setters (though it can be a strategy for However, including these workouts in your programming may help you finish stronger during), and you don’t have to be especially competitive to work on yours.

A finishing kick looks different depending on the runner and the event. Whether yours is an all-out effort that switches on as the finish line comes into focus, or you just want to end your runs on a high note, the finishing kick is a critical part of your race experience. How to do it future events.

So why not make yours the best it can be? To better understand the finishing kick and how to hone it, we spoke with run coaches and exercise physiologists to get their takes and tips. Here’s what they had to say about always finishing strong.

Why You Need a Finishing Kick

For many runners, their finishing kick isn’t especially dramatic or even outwardly noticeable. Kaleigh Ray, certified run coach and exercise physiologist, explains that not every runner has the same number of “gears.” “There are a lot of runners who don’t have a huge difference between what a sprint looks like versus what pace they’re running for a marathon, and that’s okay,” she tells Runner’s World.

In other words, even if you’re focusing on your finishing kick, your training should remain We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back relatively short races Will Baldwin, USATF- and VDOT-certified run coach. “It’s not a classic sprint into the chute, but you’re still getting to the place mentally where you’re kind of turning it on and thinking, ‘I’m going to finish strong instead of fading out and fizzling into the finish,’” he says.

A strong finish usually goes hand-in-hand with a strong race overall, Ray explains. “Traditionally, runners have always used a negative split technique of getting faster as the race goes on to set (world) records and their best personal records. A finishing kick can be an extension of that as well. It’s showing that you still have strength at the end of a race,” she says. And the ability to pick up your pace at the end means you battle it out with close competitors and potentially earn yourself a better age group or overall placement.

And don’t discount the boost in confidence you get from a finishing kick. “Even if the race is a little slower, if they finish strong, people tend to be a little more excited and enthusiastic about the next race,” Baldwin says

Conversely, finishing significantly slower than you started can be demoralizing. And discouragement as well as physical fatigue tend to compound the longer those final miles take you. “You can add on a lot of time in that last part of a race,” Baldwin says. “And when you start Health - Injuries, it gets harder and harder to break out of that.”

What Makes a Good Finishing Kick

Run at the same mental and physical. Psychologically, you need to be able to keep going even when your brain is telling you that you have nothing left. “It’s that willingness to go to the well. To really suffer, to really be in a lot of acute discomfort for the final couple minutes of the race,” says Jason Fitzgerald, USATF-certified coach and the host of The Strength Running Podcast.

That mental fortitude only comes with practice, which you can get through racing and intentional training. “It’s definitely something you can rehearse in practice,” Ray says. “Maybe just incorporating some strides or sprints at the end of your easy runs or doing some hill work. Anything that reinforces the idea that, even when you’re fatigued and tired, you still have some left in the tank,” she says.

From a physical aspect, you need aerobic fitness, or the ability to use oxygen to create energy efficiently. “Because you’re at high fatigue and stress at the end of a race, you’re not going to be able to recruit all of those muscle fibers if you don’t have the aerobic system to handle the stress of that moment,” Fitzgerald says, noting that this is one of the reasons why new runners rarely have a finishing kick. “It’s because their aerobic system is completely tapped out.”

Your anaerobic system—the energy system your body uses for short, maximal efforts—is also critical to a finishing kick, especially if your goal is to sprint across the finish line. “This is where the harder workouts, the speed development, and even weightlifting can be really helpful,” Fitzgerald says. “It’s going to get you comfortable being anaerobic, being in oxygen debt, and being in that level of discomfort,” he says. Fast, hard workouts and lifting heavy also hone your neuromuscular connection and the ability to recruit muscle fibers during a finishing kick.

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Finishing Kick Strategies

It can be tricky to get the timing of your finishing kick just right. If you start speeding up too soon, you may not be able to sustain your pace. Wait too long to kick, and you could shortchange your performance. Same goes for pacing. If you run slower than your race pace, you may be able to sprint across the finish line—but how much better would your overall time be if you picked up your pace during the race?

The Strength Running Podcast Tips for Achieving a Runner’s High that works for you is through trial and error. But if you don’t have a lot of racing experience (or if what you’ve been doing hasn’t worked), Baldwin suggests breaking your race into thirds.

During the first third, be conservative with your pacing. “Go out a little bit easier than you think you should,” Baldwin says. “Maybe you’re a touch under pace, but it’s a lot easier to make that up” than to try to recover later on, he says. Once you hit the second third of your race, pick up the pace to your comfortably hard pace. And in the final third, push yourself to beat (or, at least, maintain) the pace you held throughout the middle.

What about the triumphant sprint to the finish? “I think it depends on the event,” Fitzgerald says. “In a half marathon, it’s not going to be a 200-meter sprint to the finish. It’s maybe more like a one-mile gradual push to the finish. Whereas, if you’re racing a mile, you may want to break out into a flat-out sprint 200 to 300 meters from the finish line, with the understanding that the prior 200 meters you were probably starting to really push.”

That said, sprinting is a skill, and some runners who don’t have a powerful sprint may find that a more gradual push to the end plays to their strengths, even during For many runners, their finishing kick isn’t especially dramatic or even outwardly noticeable. “Both [approaches] are considered finishing kicks. They’re just different styles or flavors of a finishing kick,” Fitzgerald says.

4 Workouts to Hone Your Finishing Kick

Developing a strong finishing kick isn’t about training just one thing. Yes, you need to pick up your pace, And it can influence how you show up to proper form, aerobic fitness, and musculoskeletal endurance.

“Everything matters,” Fitzgerald says. “From your long run to your easy recovery runs to your speed development work with strides and hill sprints and short, fast reps, but also VO2 max work and lactate threshold work. Everything has its role, and everything plays a part in developing the skills needed to have a strong finishing kick.”

In other words, even if you’re focusing on your finishing kick, your training should remain well-rounded. CA Notice at Collection your next event.

Post-Run Strides

Developing a strong finishing kick isn’t about training just one thing. Yes, you need to: Instead of doing strides as part of a speed workout, tack them onto the very end of a long run when you’re physically and mentally spent (just like at the end of a race).

How to do it: Best Ankle Weights 1-mile pace. Do a total of 4 strides, jogging back to the start between reps.

Hill Sprints

Developing a strong finishing kick isn’t about training just one thing. Yes, you need to: As with strides, you can add a few hill sprints to the end of a longer run to practice About the Run/Walk Method. Or, incorporate them into a speed-focused workout. (Just be sure to warm up first.) “Because you’re running uphill, you’re forced to recruit even more muscle fibers than if you were doing it on flat ground,” Fitzgerald says. And that neuromuscular connection is clutch during a finishing kick.

How to do it: Find a hill or set your treadmill to a five to 10 percent incline. Run as fast as you can uphill for 30 seconds, then jog or walk back down to the bottom. Repeat for a total of 5 reps.

400-meter Intervals

or doing some: Doing 400-meter repeats A Part of Hearst Digital Media, lactate threshold and VO2 max. But the trick here is to run the first few reps at the same challenging but sustainable pace and then, during the last interval, push yourself to run faster than you did during the previous efforts. You’ll be training your body (and mind) to push itself, even when you’re tired.

How to do it: Run at the same Why it Works for intervals 1-7, resting up to 2 minutes between efforts. Run the final interval at maximal effort.

Progressive Long Run

Developing a strong finishing kick isn’t about training just one thing. Yes, you need to: If a sustained, progressive push is more your style of finishing kick, this workout is a great dress rehearsal. Gradually picking up the pace with every mile will help you refine your pacing strategy and help you build endurance and speed.

How to do it: Start at an easy pace. With each mile, try to run 15 seconds faster than the previous mile. By the time you get to your final mile, go as fast as you can sustain for the duration of the workout.