Class 17

You’re almost there. A week from today you’ll all run this class’s namesake distance – a 5K test.

Thursday's run will take you back to the first day of class, when the opening distances were two and three miles. They should seem easier now than they were then, as you taper the training for the test.

TODAY’S 4 MILES

(with per-mile pace and comparison to your last long run here; target was to match that pace for this longer distance; * = faster than first week’s long run; if you didn’t time yourself out at stoplights, you probably ran faster than listed here)

Erik B. – 37:00 (9:08 pace, +25 sec. per mile)

Amina D. – 43:05 (10:38s, +6 sec.) 2^nd best pacer

Bella – 39:02 (9:38s, +20 sec.)

Joey – ran untimed

Leticia – 35:14 (8:41s, -1:33)

Aminah K. – 43:43 (10:47s, -4 sec.) best pacer, earning extra credit

*Katie – 43:35 (10:46s, +41 sec.)

TODAY’S 5 MILES

(same info as above)

*Scott – 37:42 (7:27s, -33 sec.)

Eric S. – 37:24 (7:23s, +13 sec.)

Eleanor – 47:51 (9:27s, -29 sec.)

LESSON 17: EQUAL TIMES

You can predict fairly accurately what you’ll run for a certain distance without having run it recently. You can base the prediction on races at different distances. Pace obviously slows as racing distance grows, and speeds up as it shrinks. But how much of a slowdown or speedup is normal? A good rule of thumb is a five-percent slowdown as the distance doubles, or that much faster pace as the distance drops by half. Multiply or divide by 2.1 to predict your time for double or half the distance. For instance, a 22:00 5K equates to about 46:00 for 10K.