Class 15 (4.1 & 7.5 miles)

One long run remains before the final test. It takes you next Tuesday to four or eight miles – which happens to be double the length of your first day in class. You’ve worked up to this in manageable steps.

Thursday’s run will be a final set of intervals. If forced to move off the turfs (which is likely), we’ll go to Pioneer Cemetery. Because of the path configuration there, everyone will need to run half-miles – either two or four of them with an equal-time recovery break between. If we keep our “home course,” the shorter intervals will be 4 x quarter-mile.

In case you’re wondering who the gift-givers were this morning, their identities: interim directors of P.E and Rec Tiffany and Brent, head of P.E. Chantelle and lead teacher of running (among other activities) Dave. Good people in high places!

TODAY’S 4.1 MILES

(with per-mile pace and comparison to your last long run here; target was to match that pace for this longer distance; if you didn’t time yourself out at stoplights, you probably ran faster than listed here)

Gentry – 33:50 (8:15 pace, -23 sec. per mile)

Olivia – 35:20 (8:36s, -2 sec.) 2nd best pacer

Wyatt – 30:04 (7:20s, -28 sec.)

Tyler – 27:18 (6:39s, +4 sec.)

Elizabeth – about 3 miles in 35:50 (11:56s, -14 sec.)

TODAY’S 7.5 MILES

(same info as above)

Alex – 55:50 (7:26s, +9 sec.)

Daniel – 1:00:43 (8:05s, -1:12)

Philip – untimed

Bill – ran in Arizona

Calvin – 7.7 miles in 1:14:10 (9:38s, +10 sec.)

Omar – 52:44 (7:02s, -3 sec.) 3rd best pacer

Kyle – 51:32 (6:52s, +1 sec.) best pacer, earning extra credit

LESSON 15: 5K TRAINING

You routinely run 5K and beyond in training. The quickest way to improve your race time, then, is by upping the pace one day a week for a distance well below 5K (one to two fast miles total, excluding warmup, cooldown and recovery intervals). Run at projected 5K or slightly faster, so you become familiar with that pace. On another day, extend the length of one weekly run to above the race distance (four to six miles). Run at least one minute per mile slower than race pace, to make the 5K seem shorter. The three to four easy-day runs each week average about a half-hour each at a relaxed pace.