I readily admit that pacing, and being able to 'feel' my pace, is not something I'm very good at. I've been working at it, and thought I was getting better, so I decided to test myself a bit last night. Running has been going pretty well for me lately since the week off to rest my ankle. It still gets a little sore, but the pain hasn't returned. I suspect I've got a little tendinitis going on, but feeding it ice seems to be keeping it happy. Left calf and shin are generally grumpy these days, but I'm opting to strangle them with compression sleeves and not listen to them. Something always seems to hurt, so the wheel-o-hurt seems to have settled on lower left leg right now. All part of the joy of running/aging.
I had to do a late-night run yesterday, so I decided to try a tempo run for the 5 miles on the plan. Planned to go-out with a moderate pace for the first mile, then do 3 miles at around marathon target pace (shooting for 8:00/mile), then slow things down again for the last mile. Since it was dark anyhow, I decided not to look at my Garmin throughout, and just listen for the beeps at the mile-marks to know when to hit the gas or the brakes.
Net result - I still suck at pacing. It ended up being a really good run, but way faster than it should have been. I'm still anticipating ankle pain every time I step with my left leg, so I think that is screwing with my ability to just 'feel the run', but other than that I don't really have an excuse. Pacing for the run:
Mile 1 - 9:04
Mile 2 - 7:46
Mile 3 - 7:32
Mile 4 - 7:20
Mile 5 - 8:23
Too fast starting with the first step of mile 2. Oh well - I do pretty well with this if I'm checking the Garmin, and I have no problem looking at that thing every 10 seconds. If I paid all that money for it I want to get everything out of it I can. I'm a slave to the machines.
9 mile long run on the plan for Sunday, and I'm returning to the path where my knee unraveled before my last marathon. Not typically superstitious, but I'm a little nervous about running there again. Hopefully uneventful.
Thanks to my desire to follow along with Emz and her 100-mile treadmill ownage, I have been officially sucked into the world of Twitter. For someone that spends most of his life working on computers for a networking company, I'm pretty slow on the uptake for social media. Have to admit Twitter is pretty amusing, and seems to have more momentum than Facebook these days. Also nice to be limited to only a couple sentences worth of characters if I just don't have anything blogworthy to say. If you want to find me in Twitterland I'm @EvolvingThruRun. If I say anything embarrassing, or more embarrassing than usual, it's all Emz's fault.
Best of luck to all running races this weekend, especially the folks getting after it in Fargo. Mind over Miles.
I had to do a late-night run yesterday, so I decided to try a tempo run for the 5 miles on the plan. Planned to go-out with a moderate pace for the first mile, then do 3 miles at around marathon target pace (shooting for 8:00/mile), then slow things down again for the last mile. Since it was dark anyhow, I decided not to look at my Garmin throughout, and just listen for the beeps at the mile-marks to know when to hit the gas or the brakes.
Net result - I still suck at pacing. It ended up being a really good run, but way faster than it should have been. I'm still anticipating ankle pain every time I step with my left leg, so I think that is screwing with my ability to just 'feel the run', but other than that I don't really have an excuse. Pacing for the run:
Mile 1 - 9:04
Mile 2 - 7:46
Mile 3 - 7:32
Mile 4 - 7:20
Mile 5 - 8:23
Too fast starting with the first step of mile 2. Oh well - I do pretty well with this if I'm checking the Garmin, and I have no problem looking at that thing every 10 seconds. If I paid all that money for it I want to get everything out of it I can. I'm a slave to the machines.
9 mile long run on the plan for Sunday, and I'm returning to the path where my knee unraveled before my last marathon. Not typically superstitious, but I'm a little nervous about running there again. Hopefully uneventful.
Best of luck to all running races this weekend, especially the folks getting after it in Fargo. Mind over Miles.
i love twitter!! i shall find you... :D
ReplyDelete** keep in mind, the rule of Twitter is, if someone request to follow you (if your acct. is private) or even if it's not, it's customary to return the request. :)
ReplyDeleteI have no sense of how fast I'm going either. Like I might think I'm flying and I look and I'm doing a 16 minute mile. No joke.
ReplyDeleteJust 'followed' you on Twitter!
oh no! don't you go all twittering on us. crap. i know i may need to get an account. oh well.
ReplyDeletei am also really bad at pacing. it happens to the best of us. have a good long run!
I am now following.....
ReplyDeleteI really wish the funds allow for me to get a Garmin soon! I need a new running toy. Have a nice run on Sunday!
I think twitter is fun, you can get some great conversations going.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the same boat as you, I think that something is going to be hurting, somewhere, for the rest of my running life.
Thanks for voting for me on the Circle of Mom's thing : )
feed pain with ice then strangle it, sounds like a good plan to me! i shall try this routine with my pet pain!
ReplyDeletenow following you on twitter! twitter does cause me a little bit of anxiety though, it moves so fast and im so slow.
I love the idea of strangling your left calf/shin with compression sleeves and not listening to them - I can so relate!
ReplyDeleteI can't seem to pace myself at all without my Garmin - I'm seriously dependent!
Glad you joined the fun on Twitter :)
Pacing can be tough...spend some time on the track w/ a watch that isn't a Garmin and it will help you "feel" it.
ReplyDeleteTwitter--I have an account and still haven't used it. One of these days I'll get modern.
I suck at pacing -- but hope with this round of training to get a bit better. I run with a girl who is awesome at it - but she says it kind of just came naturally. I'm still hoping I can improve.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the wonderful world of twitter! The "live" conversations on twitter have sort of led to the downfall of my blog-writing & blog-reading... but it's fun nonetheless. :)
ReplyDelete@diaryavgrunner
i'm not good at pacing either
ReplyDeleteI'm not good at pacing either. Every day feels different and I have no sense of where I am. At least you're going too fast rather than looking down and realizing you've been going at a snail's pace! It could be worse!
ReplyDeleteTwitter can be fun, eh? I'm always afraid to get sucked into a convo at work. Speaking of work, not sure if you read about my company and it's impending WFR's. I think we'll both be a-okay.
ReplyDeleteSelf-pacing can be really hard. And, you are just getting into the swing of running again. I love running at night - I find that I can get into a groove pretty easily.
I so need to jump on the Twitter bandwagon - I think the thing stopping me is I don't know what name to use :).
ReplyDeleteI always have a hard time pacing, too. Thank God for the treadmill!!
I'm quite good at pacing but that's because I've been running nearly 30 years now. It also helps that I never look at my watch during a run. I just feel it and that works for me. I'm not on twitter and don't plan to be real soon.
ReplyDeleteI am terrible at keeping pace... I need a pacer, but then I think we are going to fast. haha
ReplyDeleteIm not on Twitter. Blogging is enough to keep me busy.