In the past, my comfort pace has been around a 10 minute mile. The first 3-5 miles running at about a 9 1/2 minute mile, and then settling down into the 10 minute mile pace. I am now working on pacing myself for a 9 minute mile.
"We would like to be robots and turn the knob to our goal pace and just go, but we're human," says Greg McMillan, owner of the Flagstaff, Arizona-based McMillan Running Company who has coached elite national runners, including several Olympians. "When we encounter a slight hill or a slight turn, it makes a difference."
Setting your pace takes a lot of physical and mental work. Physically, you have to train differently by adding short sprints in to your daily run, while maintaining your normal pace throughout the rest of your run. While training for my next half marathon, I have been trying to increase my sprint distances during my runs, sprinting a little further each time out. In essence, you are training your legs new memory techniques to increase overall speed.
Mentally, it is a constant battle to push yourself to run a little faster. For me, each day is a battle to just get out of bed, because I would much rather be laying next to my girl, than out the door to go running. Then you face the mental battle to push your body harder and faster, when you already hurt, it is cold outside, and...and...and... your mind tends to come up with a million reasons why you should not do it. Once you do, it is almost euphoric. There is nothing better than a runner's high. I love it.
Photo courtesy of I <3 to Run.
By Christie Aschwanden
Pace is definitely something that you must determine when you are running. I find that personally pace is easier if you know your goal milage and how fast you want to run it. I only say this because I used to just run for fun and never used to time or measure my progress. When I started tracking I noticed greater improvements when I knew the statistics. I can relate to this blog entry a lot runnman! Like I heard you say in last weeks class, sometimes you question why you are doing it, (it happens to all of us) sometimes you just have to start doing it and then you get pumped. Your last two sentences are why I run too! Not to mention all of the health and heart benefits. I like the picture you include at the bottom, makes me wanna get out and run right now!
ReplyDeleteKeep it up man!
Runnman, Boy did I need this lecture today. I finally went and ran outside (first time in a few months), and I realized that (1) I had no pacing, and (2) running on a treadmill is like cheating. I went fastest my third mile, but between miles 1-2, I struggled. What is the actual distance or time you fold in sprints into your runs? What's your long run?
ReplyDeleteNice post. I know I'm one of your target audience members; I'm a runner, too. I'd only redirect "you" use so that even readers who aren't runners can feel invested in the text. Keep in first person or even third when you use an anecdote/example.
Wow, that is inspiring I really want to go for a run, skip sleeping, and do some p90x. I never could pase myself so I will probabily have so much fun warring myself out that I will puke. Then I will probably sleep the entire day. Other than that, this going to be a weekend of pain, losing my mind throwing my brains up in overworked agony after rowing multiple 2ks, and keeping up with all of my homework as another class is added to the mix. Thank the great lord above for rowing machines.
ReplyDelete