Class 8

Attendance was light today (as often happens when midterms come on an intervals day). But for those who ran, the pace was the fastest yet.

Tuesday's runs will nearly reach the 5K or 10K race distances, as you go 3 or 6 miles on the river path.

TODAY'S 3 X ONE-THIRD-MILE INTERVALS

(with total time for one mile and comparison to your first week's nonstop mile; target was to go faster, which you all did)

Andrew -- 6:21 (-1:09) day's 2nd most improved

Lucas -- 5:10 (-1:00)

Lyanne -- 7:46 (-1:07)

Garrett -- 5:22 (-33 sec.)

Tara -- 6:21 (-1:08) 

Becky -- 8:02 (-1:17) most improved, earning extra credit

TODAY'S 3 X TWO-THIRDS-MILE INTERVALS

(with total time for 1.95 miles, per-mile pace and comparison to your first week's nonstop 2-mile; target was to go faster)

Michaela -- 8 x 800 meters averaging 2:52

Osbaldo -- trained indoors

Brooke --15:11 (7:50 pace, -59 sec. per mile)

Baylie -- trained indoors

Juan Carlos, with assist from Lucas -- 14:25 (7:23s, no target)

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.