68 degrees?? Too nice NOT to run.
Met the BCHS runners in time for their "Game Day" prep. They decided to play soccer this week, so no for me! Couldn't justify trying to kick a ball with a sprained ankle, so headed to the track for some work.
Met an area master's Pentathlete that was getting some barefoot work in. our track is all weather and new, but not the smoothest surface ever. usually i have the kids do barefoot striders in the grass, but OUCH, not on the track. He looked tough!
10 min warmup, stretches, drills, 4 strides
initially planned to kill time and get some easy work in while kids played soccer. Started out with idea of doing 'straights and curves" but got bored real quick. SO, instead opted to do a 5k progression run instead.
Started at 8:30 pace and dropped 10 sec/mile pace every quarter. So went from 8:30 to 6:38 over the course of 12 laps. kept me NOT bored and totally engaged in my pace and disciplined to start controlled and command the pace (instead of letting thepace command me). had lots of fun adn the laps went by in no time at all!
SO, it's neat to see what the actual numbers tell versus what I was trying (and thought i was running). Aided by my trustee garmin, i was able to check my pace throughout the lap.
| Lap |
Goal pace |
Actual Pace |
| 1 |
8:30 |
8:30 |
| 2 |
8:20 |
8:21 |
| 3 |
8:10 |
8:03 |
| 4 |
8:00 |
7:48 |
| 5 |
7:50 |
7:45 |
| 6 |
7:40 |
7:34 |
| 7 |
7:30 |
7:34 |
| 8 |
7:20 |
7:25 |
| 9 |
7:10 |
7:10 |
| 10 |
7:00 |
7:03 |
| 11 |
6:50 |
6:52 |
| 12 |
6:40 |
6:38 |
3.1 23:22 with 7:33 average
Pretty happy with the result. Pace was a bit haphazard due to wind on one corner, but it is fun to "pick" a pace and not have that pace pick you. Then it is really fun to buckle down a bit more on each lap.
Can't wait to do this with the kids! Every couple of weeks we do some sort of "Team Challenge", that is both fun and yet work. (Last one was a donut mile-I'll enter a blog entry for the Tues before T'Giving about THAT one!)
With the kids, i will start at 9:00 pace and make everyone run as a group. They will be split into random teams (kinda random, with the best possible matchup of varying paces on each team, boys and girls alike). Each lap, we drop the pace like I did above--working as a group, until some of them start to fall off. Their individual goal is to see how long they can hang, getting one point per lap for their team. As we speed up (again as a group so no one can push the pace), we keep going until there is only one. Each person earns a point per lap and the team with the most points wins. The faster ones try to keep the others hanging on for as long as they can (instead of pushing the pace and tring to break the others), and when the others fall off, they continue to cheer on "their" team.
Good times are had by all AND they are getting in some decent mileage while building team.
Because I am a runner geek: will be watching D2 National Championships at 9 am tomorrow via the web (though my son gets to watch it live as his team is the defending guys/gals champ! GO Adams!!!!!!!) |