This Page

has been moved to new address

Steady state run: Comfortably harder than hard.

Sorry for inconvenience...

Redirection provided by Blogger to WordPress Migration Service
5ksandcabernets: Steady state run: Comfortably harder than hard.

5ksandcabernets

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Steady state run: Comfortably harder than hard.

Ok, back to regularly scheduled programming....

Today (Thursday) was our first "quality" day in our Team Rogue marathon training.

We were supposed to do a warm-up, followed by a 7-mile steady state run, then cool down the last 1 plus miles. Yippee. We finally got the green light to run hard.
(This run would be the first this month where my average pace for the entire run was faster than an 8-minute mile. I was getting used to taking it easy on runs and liking it!)

Our coach, who also happens to be the women's cross country coach at the University of Texas, told us not to run this steady-state run too fast. Run by feel, he said, and if you just have to look at your watch/Garmin, don't run faster than marathon pace.

I kept my effort honest. It was a little bit harder than comfortably hard, But I think that's because the course was not flat at all. There were a lot of little rolling hills, so I could never really get comfortable, so even though my effort was consistent, my paces during the steady-state portion of the run were not consistent.

Here are the splits of those miles during Thursday's steady state portion of the run..

1 - 7:12 (Coach told us to start fast, then ease up)
2 - 7:26
3 - 7:33 (As you can see, I'm easing up)
4 - 7:15 (Was kind of down hill)
5 - 7:24
6 - 7:23
7 - 7:21 (Time was actually 6:38 in 9/10ths of a mile. Quick math means my pace was 7:21 for the mile)

So, my average pace for the steady state was 7:22. That's actually faster than the 7:30 pace I meant to hold on to. It felt pretty hard the whole way, but I don't think I overdid anything. I've run faster paces for longer distances, so it's just about getting my body used to running hard again. And, its about being able to run hard in the middle of a 60-mile week, as opposed to running hard in the middle of a 35 to 40 mile week.

There's a big difference, and I'm becoming more and more aware of it.

Labels:

6 Comments:

Blogger Stuart said...

Congrats on the pace! I noticed the title of you blog is called 5Ksandcabernets. It peaked my interest because I'm starting to get into running 5K's myself. Ive actually signed up for a virtual 5k that is being out on by a company called Healthiest Executive. The reason why I choose this one is because I feel there is a certain legitimacy behind this one since an Olympian has organized it. They also have some charitable work they do called Go Healthy Pals. This was put together evidently to fight childhood obesity which is a growing problem. Good luck on your runs!

July 9, 2009 at 11:06 AM  
Blogger Allison said...

Oh JEEZ. I wonder what it's like to run this fast? Me and my 12 or 13 minute miles.

July 9, 2009 at 1:26 PM  
Blogger Marci said...

Wow...look at you go! Nice job on the pace!

July 9, 2009 at 4:12 PM  
Blogger Lindsay said...

excellent job on the steady state kev. you have definitely turned a corner on your training from where you were just a few(+) months ago and in that last marathon! don't you hate the "man i wish i knew all this back then" feelings? or do you even get them... i get them anyway... lol.

July 10, 2009 at 6:56 AM  
Blogger Billy said...

Dude, the move to Austin's treating ya nice. Great run as always.

July 10, 2009 at 1:14 PM  
Blogger A Plain Observer said...

can't wait to see how you do in your next marathon. Your times dont cease to amaze me.
Hope the job hunt is going well

July 10, 2009 at 7:09 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home