PACING

Usually I have a very good sense of my pace. However, lately I’ve felt fairly clueless as to my pacing during some runs. So today I decided to go to the track and just run steady at various efforts and see how that corresponded with various paces. Since I’m racing tomorrow, I didn’t want to go too hard, capping my speed at marathon pace. I ran 10 minutes to the track and then every 800 meters I picked up the pace, dropping from 8:05 to 7:45 to 7:15, then I ran a mile in 6:50 before running home another 10 minutes. All told I ran 5 miles in 38:30.

I think this run helped with my pacing. The 8:05 pace seemed in-line with my easy pace of 8:15ish. 7:45 seemed moderate while 7:15 felt quick, but doable. 6:50 required some concentration and I doubt I could maintain that for 26.2 miles at this point.

This evening Jim had me, Eric, Debbie and her husband over for a dinner party. It was a beautiful night and a terrific setting. We ate in Jim’s screened-in out-building that reminds me of a ski chalet. It’s got a dinner table that sits 6-8 people and a fireplace with another 4 chairs in front of it. Very nice. Debbie and her husband are probably still there, but Eric and I left at 10 PM.