Class 8

This was one of those days that tested your running commitment: wet and gloomy, and with the shortest but fastest runs to date. You did well, all going faster than the first week's test and making the last segment your best.

Tuesday's distances will be 3.1 and 6.2 miles, which of course translate to 5K and 10K.

TODAY'S 3 X ONE-THIRD-MILE INTERVALS

(with total time for one mile -- converted from actual distance of 1.1 -- and comparison to first week's nonstop mile test or first long run -1:00 per mile)

Dameri -- 7:48 (-19 sec.)

Eleanor -- 9:17 (-2:37) most improved, earning extra credit

TODAY'S 3 X TWO-THIRDS-MILE INTERVALS

(with total time for two miles -- converted from actual distance of 2.2 -- plus per-mile pace and comparison to first week's nonstop two-mile test, or first long run -1:00 per mile)

Sara -- 13:58 (6:59s, -15 sec. per mile)

Joe -- 14:16 (7:08s, -42 sec.)

Owen -- 12:04 (6:02s, -4 sec.)

LESSON 8: 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.