Thursday, November 13, 2008

Run 49

I got out tonight with a plan, for a change. I aimed to run the first mile in 10, then speed up to 9 minutes for the second mile, and try for 8 on the third.

Well, the first two miles went as planned. My HR was in the mid 170s for nearly all of mile 2, and when I hit mile 3 I was certain I could not speed up and sustain a faster pace. So I dropped the HR to 165-ish for the next half mile, then took it up over 170 again for the last half mile. Finished 5k in 30 minutes, 29 seconds, not as fast as I'd hoped.

Average HR was 168 and Max HR was 181, both higher than usual. I'm starting to appreciate the HR monitor's value for pacing again.

I've laid out a schedule to get in 13 more runs before the Dec 13 holiday race. I've got a bit of travel in there, Tampa next week, Chicago after Thanksgiving, so we'll see.

Peace, boys

4 comments:

Agricola said...

The weather will be nice for running in Tampa. Not sure if Tampa is nice for running in Tampa though . . .

Chicago could be a bit nasty on the weather front but a run along Lake Micihgan is well worth it if you catch a break. A run down Michigan ave would be nice too, post-Thanksgiving, it will be very festive and holiday-ish.

Nice work trying something different on the run. The difference between, 10, 9, 8 mins/mile pace is remarkable. Though it doesn't seem like the difference between 6 miles/hr (10 mins/mi.), 6.66 mis/hr (9 mins/mi.) and 7.5 mis./hr (8 mins/mi.) would be that great, it is. Good for you for trying it. There's something to keep trying.

It's called negative splits and while I'm no expert, the splits aren't usually as dramatic as 2 mins faster on the last mile than the first, but hey, work towards it.

Steve DiMattia said...

Yeah, I thought it was a bit of a jump from 10 to 8 in the same run. I'd heard about it from another runner thru Mrs. FA, but I know the other runner and should have considered the source. Still, when I go out on the route again I am going to try to maintain the 9 min/mi pace thru the rest of the run.

Steve DiMattia said...

Yeah, I thought it was a bit of a jump from 10 to 8 in the same run. I'd heard about it from another runner thru Mrs. FA, but I know the other runner and should have considered the source. Still, when I go out on the route again I am going to try to maintain the 9 min/mi pace thru the rest of the run.

VT Runner said...

I consider it a victory to have any time improvement over later miles, even if it's just one second. Two minutes over three miles seems steep, but I think it's great that you're building in games to keep things interesting.

Nice.