When best-selling author and running coach Matt Fitzgerald began running, he was 11 years old, completing the last mile of the Boston Marathon with his father, who had run the entire race.
From this starting line, he would eventually become highly sought after for running advice. But his journey was far from straightforward. “There was definitely no master plan,” he jokes.
Fitzgerald’s first race kicked off a love for running that turned into a competitive outlet. But by the end of high school, he had burned out and given up on running for good—or so he thought.
In his late 20s, he took up running again, alongside another interest inherited from his father, who was a successful novelist. “Writing was my true calling, and I knew I wanted to make a career as a writer,” says Fitzgerald. “But running had been a driving passion since I was young.”
Fast forward 15 years, and Fitzgerald had become an athlete writing about running. At first, he relied on other people for their knowledge of the sport. But “as time passed, I developed my own expertise, and eventually started coaching, authoring books, and starting businesses related to running,” he says.
Since then, Fitzgerald has written many books to help runners—novice and advanced—improve their performance. His latest, How to Run the Perfect Race: Better Racing Through Better Pacing, teaches people how to find the sweet spot that enables them to tap into their hidden potential.
Pacing your training
One pacing approach Fitzgerald recommends is the 80/20 rule—do 80% of your training at low intensity and 20% at moderate and high intensity combined. So, if you run 200 minutes/week, spend 160 minutes at low intensity and the rest at moderate/high intensity.
You can alternate between low intensity runs and moderate/high intensity runs. Or break up individual runs into different intensity splits.
Setting the pace
Fitzgerald focused on pacing because “most people today, especially those coming into the sport, struggle with that very important skill.”
The goal of pacing is to spend your energy at a rate that gets you across the finish line in the least time possible. “That’s not necessarily easy,” says Fitzgerald. While some runners see it as a superficial skill, Fitzgerald says pacing is a “great entry point towards self-regulation and mastery.”
There are many ways to approach pacing—like starting fast and finishing slow, starting slow and finishing fast, or staying steady throughout. Research shows that these can all impact your performance.
“Depending on its type, there is an optimal way to pace a race,” says Fitzgerald. “But most people don’t do that, so it has to be learned.”
He also points to research showing that experienced cyclists, especially the highest performing ones, are better at predicting how long they can sustain a certain power output—a key aspect of pacing.
This speaks to the importance of knowing yourself. “When you're racing, you're trying to find your limit, but you have to feel your way into it,” says Fitzgerald. “No one starts off doing this well, but you can get better over time.”
Supplement your running
The following supplements can round out a balanced diet of natural, mainly plant-based, foods:
- Creatine increases muscle stores of creatine phosphate for maximum-intensity efforts.
- Fish oil provides omega-3 fatty acids for healthy cell walls, nervous system function, immune function, and more.
- Vitamin D supports bone metabolism, muscular recovery, and more.
- Greens powder provides extra vegetable nutrition in your diet.
- Plant-based protein powders can benefit overall physical function.
Pacing your life
Pacing is not just about how fast you go. There’s also a mental component. “When you start a marathon, you don't see the finish line,” says Fitzgerald, “so you really have to understand what 26.2 miles means.”
In addition, “there’s no way you can touch your limit as an endurance runner without experiencing a very high level of discomfort,” he says. This means being able to stay with your uncomfortable emotions.
While pacing is essential for runners and cyclists, this skill spills over into other areas of life. Fitzgerald knows this firsthand. After getting COVID early during the pandemic, he never fully recovered, and lost the ability to run for about four years.
For anyone with chronic fatigue, life morphs into just getting through the day, he says, adding, except “there’s no finish line.”
Which means “people with post-viral illnesses have to adjust how they pace themselves—you have a different body, so you have to find a different way to pace your life,” he says.
Finding a balanced pace
In reality, Fitzgerald thinks we pace our lives all the time, even if we don’t realize it. Some people may aim for an even pace throughout their lives, while others may prefer to alternate between fast and slow.
“It’s all about learning what works for you and what doesn’t,” he says. “And which environments your style fits with—so you’re not swimming against a strong current.” You may also need to learn to shift your pace when challenges come your way.
“I went through a period when I had to completely stop working because my health was so poor,” says Fitzgerald.
“Anyone who knew me, if they saw me in that state, might think I’d given up,” he says. “But I hadn’t given up; I was pacing myself. I knew that this was all I could do.”
Even today, with his health much better, Fitzgerald is still aiming for better pacing.
“It’s a matter of finding a balance where you can live and work in the style that suits you,” he says.
But also realizing that “you have these finite resources as a human being,” he says. “The game is to get the most out of those limited resources.”
Racing against your mind.
Research shows that if you are mentally fatigued during endurance sports like running or cycling, you are more likely to give up sooner. Also, the most important factor for the impact of mental fatigue on your performance is how hard you perceive you are exercising.
This article was originally published in the March-April 2025 issue of alive magazine (US edition).
Alexa Everett
Kamarra Morris