The finish is where you dig deep, give it everything you’ve got, knowing that it will be over soon. In Ellie’s case, we see the picture of an elite athlete who is holding on as hard as she can, in spite of a loss of efficiency (Flight Ratio started at 25% – and dropped down to nearly 15% toware the finish). She’s shifted to her fore-foot to try to change muscle groups, but that does little to improve the Shock, as we see her numbers move from the low 14Gs (per footstrike) into the mid/upper 15 Gs!

An example of a great finish is Overachieving Olivia. Olivia had a target of 3:40 and ran a steady race, right on goal – but clearly by 30K, she’s feeling good so decides to push it – which landed her with a time of 3:29. By upping her Stride Rate just a little, Olivia was able to speed up enough to finish strong.

For more data on our 2015 NYC Marathon Study, check out our analysis of Step Rate, Flight Ratio & Shock.

Photo Credit: Andrew Dallos (via Flickr)