5 Miles
This was a pretty disappointing run for me. I was scheduled to do 8 miles slowly today, but the weather (only 70 degrees but 85% humidity) - or something - was bumming me out. As was the fact that the sky is completely grey outside, just like in merry olde England. About a quarter mile into it, I decided to push the pace and make today my five mile race pace day. I was already on my long neighborhood loop, which has some nice rolling hills that I don’t normally try to do on faster days.
Time: 8:51 - 8:33 - 8:29 - 9:18 - 9:01
Yes, that’s right. Not once on the entire run did I even get down to my goal pace. My average was only 8:52, and I have no idea what was happening in mile four. Actually, I do. I kept catching myself slowing down and taking things easy. I never really forgot that today was supposed to be fast, it just … kept slipping my mind.
Looking back, the first three miles really weren’t bad. I didn’t decide to go fast until well into the first mile, and I was trying to get my pacing right - and there were some nice uphills in there to mess me up. Also, I’ve never run anything other than LSD runs on that route before. Mile four - during which I started a lap of my local park - was the big disappointment. In fact, everything inside the park was too slow - the last part of mile five was actually decent, and I was doing a 7:43 pace for my last tenth of a mile. And that’s weird, because I usually do my race pace runs inside the park. I dunno…
Oh, well. Just another bad training day, I guess. Now I have to decide which run to do tomorrow - was this a short slow-day or a slow fast-day? The ironic thing is that I could have easily done another three miles this morning, making it a too-fast long day. But I didn’t do that either. Any suggestions?
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Sep 25th 2004
11:19 AM
Yeah, there’s apparently a 5K tomorrow at UT. There is a girl at the training group this morning that was asking if I would pace her at just under 7 minutes per mile. That sounded kind of fun, but Gilbert was against the idea. He seems to want me to go insanely fast the following week at the 10K instead, and part of that means a bonus speed workout this Monday that I have to be ready to do.
So, you could always run the 5K and let that be your speed workout. Or you could show up on Monday for some who knows what.
Sep 26th 2004
12:19 AM
I think sometimes it’s just what was supposed to happen. If we are always trying to catch up to/make up for our last run, it doesn’t allow us to enjoy the next run.
My advice? Just follow the rest of your schedule Richard. No harm was done and, who knows, maybe your body made a decision your mind would not have and prevented an injury on this particular day.
Give this one up to the running gods!
Sep 26th 2004
7:27 PM
I think I agree with Mark here (unless the girl in the race is really cute, in which case all bets are off). Runs in the past are in the past. Just continue with your normal schedule.
Sep 26th 2004
8:21 PM
Thanks - I pretty much did stick with the schedule at the end of it, and I do appreciate the advice.