Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Tempo Tuesday Sans Jimmy

The weather threatened - of course it did, without Charmin' Jimmy present, inclement weather is always all but a certainty. We did somehow find a window of opportunity on a day that saw over an inch of rainfall, and at least 10 hardy souls made the effort.

To the times:
Athlete Mile 1 Mile 2 Mile 3 Mile 4 Total Avg
Aaron 6:03:00 6:03:00 6:03:00 6:03:00 24:12:00 6:03:00
Bill 6:16:00 6:24:00 6:30:00 19:10:00 6:23:20
John T. 6:57:00 6:58:00 7:00:00 20:55:00 6:58:20
Allen 6:55:00 6:57:00 6:53:00 20:45:00 6:55:00
Tim G. 6:56:00 7:03:00 7:12:00 21:11:00 7:03:40
Chris S.  7:31:00 7:35:00 7:08:00 22:14:00 7:24:40
Scott B. 7:31:00 7:35:00 7:08:00 22:14:00 7:24:40
Sandy 9:30:00 9:16:00 9:22:00 28:08:00 9:22:40
Danny 7:40:00 8:14:00 7:59:00 23:53:00 7:57:40
Dan D. No Watch

Aaron did a terrific job tonight, easily winning the "Even Split" contest. Four straight 6:03 miles was a huge boost to the confidence. He looked really good afterward too.

John T. had another great run. Those were some nice splits, John.

Allen, Chris, and Scott were up-and-down, but that last split really came in. I overheard some discussion about the Garmins and adjustments to the second mile. My guess is all their splits were actually more even, and they simply need to trust the course.

Tim G. gave blood today. Another data point, Sully.

Dan D. didn't bring a watch. Too bad, run doesn't count!

Sandy had a nice drop in second and third splits. Really nice job there, Sandy. I can see your confidence rising, too.

Danny got off a little quick again, but he held a sub-8 average for the first time. It's getting better all the time.

I didn't have a great one. I got slowly worse as the run went on. My hip hurt a bit, not severely, but some. The real culprit was, I believe, the absence of Jimmy. It's your fault, dude!

Those racing Saturday - take Thursday and Friday easy or off. 10k is not a distance to disrespect. No need to get hurt, no need to break yourself down too far. You want to leave the race with confidence you can run farther, not feel destroyed.

See you all this weekend.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Cruise Intervals

The weather wasn't great tonight - very cold and brisk, with a stiff WNW wind. Under the circumstances I strongly lobbied for cruise intervals. Tempos are tough when it's windy, and besides, there is no reason why tempos have to be done every week. Cruise intervals serve the same purpose.

The setup was easy - three one-mile intervals with a one-minute break between each mile. The goal is like tempos - keep even splits. The pace should be slightly slower than tempo pace. This is why I thought it would work well under the conditions... with only one mile to complete at a time, it would be easier to maintain the proper pressure for the allotted time. The reasoning was sound.

The wind turned out to be lighter than I thought. By the time we hit Industrial I admitted to Jimmy we could have gone ahead with the tempos. Oh well. Change is good.

Here are the numbers I got. I apologize to the rest of the guys - it was cold when we finished and I jumped in the car and left before I got them all. Here are the numbers I have:

Athlete Mile 1 Mile 2 Mile 3
Allen 6:45 6:39 6:50
Bill 6:28 6:16 6:28
Dan 8:13 7:58 7:57
Jimmy 6:28 6:17 6:27
John T. 6:43 6:40 7:10

Dan appears to have done the best job overall. Jimmy and I went too hard in the middle, but we were chasing Allen and John T. For my own part, I was struggling a little finding pace. So was Jimmy. He started hard, then backed off. He started the second mile hard, then backed off again. By the midpoint I was warmed up and ready to go, and was in full hunt mode when Allen and John T. were within range. Anyway, the last mile was handed to Jimmy, and he did a good job bringing it in right.

Allen's numbers look pretty good, too. The last mile is the climb, so you have to allow a bit. John T. said he took his third mile easy.

Maybe if we can get some warmer weather we can hit this a bit harder...

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Tempo Tuesday again

First, let's start this for Allen. He wanted a link to the DumonStrong 5k, so here it is:

DumonStrong 5k

Next, let's get to the numbers of tonight.

Athlete Mile 1 Mile 2 Mile 3 Mile 4 Mile 5 Total AVG
Danny 7:32:00 7:42:00 7:58:00 23:12:00 7:44:00
Kathy 7:30:00 7:25:00 7:25:00 22:20:00 7:26:40
Bill 6:29:00 6:26:00 6:22:00 19:17:00 6:25:40
Danny L 8:45:00 9:16:00 9:21:00 27:22:00 9:07:20
John T. 6:58:00 6:58:00 7:00:00 20:56:00 6:58:40
Allen 6:58:00 6:57:00 6:49:00 20:44:00 6:54:40
Tim G 6:52:00 6:32:00 6:38:00 20:02:00 6:40:40
Scott B 7:25:00 7:37:00 7:11:00 22:13:00 7:24:20
Sandy 8:15:00 8:30:00 9:11:00 25:56:00 8:38:40
Jimmy 6:29:00 6:26:00 6:24:00 19:19:00 6:26:20
Aaron 6:01:00 6:09:00 6:15:00 6:19:00 6:29:00 31:13:00 6:14:36

Okay, let's refresh... the goal is for a 20-minute run at 85-90% effort. If you stay there, you should be able to maintain even splits. So... who did the best job?

Compare the first split to the average. This tells the story better than anything. If the first and the average are close, you've done your job.

Winner(s):
John T. - 6:58.00, 6:58.40

Runner-up(s):
Kathy - 7:30.00, 7:26.40
Bill - 6:29.00, 6:25.40
Allen - 6:58.00, 6:54.40
Tim G. - 6:52.00, 6:40.40
Scott B. - 7:25.00, 7:24.20

The runner-ups all negative split, which is good. However, it also means each runner should be a bit more aggressive first mile next week. Five seconds a mile is a good place to start. That would net a 15-second drop next week overall.

Now we get to Aaron... he did his own thing with a 5-mile run. This falls outside tempo and into steady-state running. However, one thing should stay the same - pace should be even.

Why harp on the even pace so much? Easy. If you can't hold even pace, you're not in control. You're racing. That is not the way to train. Race stress is hard on the body and will quickly lead to injury, and it has a negative impact on growth. This sounds counter intuitive, but getting better isn't only about working hard. It's about working the appropriate amount of hard. The body has an exercise/feed/rest cycle that cannot be ignored. Assuming you race on the weekends, it might take a week to recover from a 5k. Racing again on Tuesday cuts the rest cycle short, and that just leads to a degradation of performance.

Tempos teach you to handle lactic acid, improve form, helps you learn to bear up under stress, help focus... but they don't break you completely down. For this reason, you can do them year-round IF you do them right. Look at what you did... did you feel under control all the way tonight? Did your form feel ragged by the end?

Do them right and grow!