Class 18 (1.9 & 3.9 miles)

Four or two miles isn’t as far as it was two months ago. I know, they measure the same, but they don’t SEEM as long now as before. That’s one purpose of training: to “shrink” the apparent length.  What was long in week one is easy in week nine.

Tuesday will bring your final run test, at the namesake distance of this class – 5K or 10K. I’ll also hand out the final prize, for term-long attendance. Those of you who need to take the class quiz should have received it by email, but I must have addressed it wrong. It will be posted later today on Canvas and our class blog. Answers, which also can be emailed, are due by next Thursday morning.

TODAY’S 1.9 MILES

(with per-mile pace, based on GPS distance of 1.93, and comparison to your last long run here; target was to go at pace last long but half the distance)

Leah – 20:02 (10:22 pace, -29 sec. per mile)

Gentry – 15:00 (7:46s, -1 sec.) best pacer, earning extra credit

Olivia – 15:28 (8:00s, -53 sec.)

Philip – 2.6 miles untimed

Wyatt – 11:58 (6:12s, -1:00)

Tyler – 12:20 (6:23s, -24 sec.)

Elizabeth – 20:30 (10:37s, -1:19)

TODAY’S 3.8 MILES

(same info as above, except GPS distance is 3.86 miles)

Alex – 29:53 (7:44s, -7 sec.)

Daniel – 31:12 (8:05s, -29 sec.)

Noe – 27:52 (7:13s, -4 sec.) 3^rd best pacer

Mak – 26:00 (6:44s, -21 sec.)

Bill – 35:20 (9:09s, -13 sec.)

Calvin – 32:14 (8:20s, -26 sec.)

Kelly – 31:08 (8:07s, -2 sec.) 2^nd best pacer

Omar – 27:18 (7:04s, -24 sec.)

Kyle – 24:58 (6:28s, -32 sec.)

LESSON 18: RACE PACE

Even if you’ve done everything right in training, you can cancel all that good with as little as one wrong move on race day. The first and worst bad move is leaving the starting line too quickly. Crowd hysteria and your own raging nervous system conspire to send you into the race as if fired from a cannon. Try to work against the forces of the crowd and your natural desires. Keep your head while runners around you are losing theirs. Pull back the mental reins at a time when the voices inside are shouting, “Faster!” Be cautious in your early pacing, erring on the side of too-slow rather than too-fast. Hold something in reserve for the late kilometers. This is where you reward yourself for your early caution, by passing instead of being passed.