Class 17 (with no 18 this week)

You’re back where you started the first week, with today’s test that repeated the initial one. I hope it went faster for you this time, or at least felt no harder than before. That’s what training is supposed to allow.

This re-test came during a big week of racing: Jake in a local half-marathon on Sunday; Eleanor and possibly Lana running one in Seattle this weekend; Ella in a holiday 5K in Los Angeles, and Jonathan in an Army two-mile test yesterday.  

Your assignment for the weekend is to enjoy Thanksgiving and its aftermath, and to come back safely. Next Tuesday’s run will be the 5K or 10K test.

Separately I’ve sent the class quiz. You received it only if required to complete it – because you’re taking this class for credit AND for the first time from me.

TODAY’S ONE-MILE TEST

(with comparison to first week’s time; target was to go faster)

Bryce – 7:59 (-17 sec.)

Alex – 7:33 (-28 sec.)

Mariana – 9:01 (no target; ran 2 miles earlier)

Elliot – 8:18 (+2 sec.)

Rachel – 7:48 (-43 sec.) term’s 2^nd most improved

Jake – 5:43 (-16 sec.)

Jonathan – 6:56 (-59 sec.) term’s most improved

Eleanor – 8:23s (-38 sec.) term’s 3^rd most improved

Sota – 5:38 (-28 sec.)

TODAY’S TWO-MILE TEST

(with per-mile pace and comparison to first week’s; target was to go faster)

Sam – 14:52 (7:26 pace, +2 sec. per mile)

Ella – 14:52 (7:26s, +4 sec.)

Nathan – 12:15 (6:07s, -36 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.

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.