Anyone with a military and perhaps government background has probably heard of the 7 Ps: Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance. That’s true of many things, including athletic pursuits, but today we are going to talk about a variation of the adage, the 6 Ps of executing a good race: Proper Pacing Prevents Piss Poor Performance.
Pacing is both an art and a science. As we increase our knowledge of training and have the ability to use power in executing races, we can default to relying on numbers in our pursuit of performance. This can certainly be the case for more steady-state disciplines (think time-trials on the road, or long climbs in a road race or even sustained efforts during long XCM or stage races). But what about XCO or XCC, Gravity or Cyclocross? These disciplines
