Class 18

The training is in the bank. You’ve gone longer that next week’s test distance at a slower pace on Tuesdays, and you’ve gone faster for a shorter distance on Thursdays. Now you can combine distance and speed in a 5K or 10K test on the final Tuesday.

You’ll aim for anything faster than your last long run. You’ll run on the river path, to EWEB for the shorter test and to the 0.25 milepost for the longer one.

TODAY’S EASY 2.1 MILES

(with per-mile pace and comparison to your last long run here; target was to go no faster than that pace, at half the distance, as taper for next Tuesday’s 5K test)

Bryce – 20:46 (9:51 pace, +13 sec. per mile) day's 2nd best pacer

Alex – 18:32 (8:51s, -47 sec.)

Elliot – 19:54 (9:28s, -2:19)

Doug – untimed

TODAY’S EASY 3.9 MILES

(with per-mile pace and comparison to your last long run here; target was to go no faster than that pace, at half the distance, as taper for next Tuesday’s 10K test)

Peter – 34:06 (8:44 pace, +42 sec. per mile)

Zach – 34:06 (8:44s, +56 sec.)

Matt – 24:01 (6:09s, -28 sec.)

Dillon – 31:27 (8:03s, -4 sec.) best pacer, earning extra credit

Lauren O. – 39:54 (10:14s, -30 sec.)

Miranda – 45:37 (11:41s, -37 sec.)

Becky – 39:54 (10:14s, -36 sec.)

Anna – 34:06 (8:44s, +15 sec.) day's 3rd best pacer
Lauren W. -- 4.0 miles in 37:53 (9:26s, -37 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 raceday. 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.