Class 7

If you want to continue with a running class in fall term, it isn’t too soon to think about signing on for one. Registration is open now for my class (5K/10K combination at 9 o’clock Tuesday-Thursday) and others with two different teachers.

Wednesday will bring another pacing exercise. But unlike last week you’ll run by distance (of 1.25 or 2.5 miles) rather than time. See how close you can make the halves to even pace.

TODAY’S EASY HALF-HOUR

(no exact times, distances or paces recorded; target was to recover from Monday’s run and refresh for Wednesday’s – at whatever effort seemed right for you; participants listed)

Megan

Brianna

Asilia

Vadim

Becky

Jie

Nathaniel

LESSON 7: TAKING TIME

Your second most valuable piece of equipment, after shoes, is.... no, not shorts and not T-shirt. You can wear other clothes than those. Your next most vital item is a watch. Buy a digital model with a stopwatch feature, and make time your main way of keeping score. Time can make you an instant winner by telling exactly how fast you ran a distance, and maybe how much you improved your personal record (“PR,” in runner-talk). Another, more subtle value of the watch: It lets you run by time – by minutes instead of miles. This has several benefits: freeing you from plotting and measuring courses, because minutes are the same length anywhere... easing pressure to run faster, because you can’t make time pass any faster... finishing at the assigned time limit no matter your pace, which settles naturally into your comfort zone when you run by time.