Class 8 (slow/fast 2 & 4 miles)

Today’s route was a late switch, but the distances were no accident. You’re gearing up for another test – this one at two or four miles later. Today you ran the second part of that distance at test effort.

Six from class are representing all of us in Sunday’s Eugene Marathon. Philip is going that distance… Alex, Gentry, Bill, Kelly and Tyler are running the half-marathon.

They’ll be recovering on Tuesday. For the rest of you the runs are 3.1 and 6.2 miles.

TODAY’S SLOW/FAST 2 MILES

(with total time and comparison of first- and second-half pace; target was to finish faster; if this was an easy pre-race run, no time was taken; * = faster than first week’s test)

Leah – 22:35 (10:54 & 11:11 miles, +17 sec.)

Olivia – 16:39 (8:30 & 8:09, -21 sec.)

Wyatt – 13:42 (7:33 & 6:09, -1:24 ) day’s best speedup

Elizabeth – 22:12 (9:38* & 12:34, +2:56)

TODAY’S SLOW/FAST 4 MILES

(same info as above)

Noe – 29:24 (7:33 & 7:09 paces, -24 sec. per mile)

Mak – ran untimed

Bill – ran untimed

Calvin – 35:20 (8:43s & 8:56s, +13 sec.)

Kelly – 33:44 (8:33s & 8:18s, -15 sec.)

Omar – 28:19 (8:33s & 6:36s, -57 sec.) 2nd best speedup

Kyle – 27:05 (7:01s & 6:31s, -30 sec.) 3^rd best speedup

Colleen – 30:35 (7:47s & 7:30s, -17 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.