What 10 seconds adds
Ten seconds sits between a burst and an endurance run. It is long enough that one lucky second does not decide the score, and long enough for most hands to start tiring before the end. That makes it a good length for comparing one day with the next.
The pace check
When the run ends, the result splits your clicks into the first five seconds and the last five and tells you the rate for each half, along with how much you slowed down or sped up. A drop of a few per cent is ordinary. A large drop means you set off faster than you could sustain, and you will usually score higher overall by starting a little slower.
The chart underneath has one bar for every second, so you can see exactly where the pace broke. A single low bar in the middle is often a slipped finger. A steady staircase downwards is fatigue.
Pacing a 10 second run
- Settle into a rhythm in the first second instead of sprinting. The clicks you lose there are fewer than the clicks fatigue takes later.
- Breathe. People hold their breath during short tests, and the forearm tightens with it.
- Keep the finger low. The higher it lifts between clicks, the sooner it tires.
- If the second half is always much slower, practise on the 60 second test for a few days and come back.
Which test length should you use?
There is no official standard. Use the 1 second test for pure burst speed, the 5 second CPS test for a quick check, this one when you want a number that is fair to compare over time, and the longer tests for stamina. Whichever you choose, only compare scores of the same length.