NEW STYLE

This week I’m trying to balance recovery with getting in my miles. Therefore, I’m keeping my runs short, but running twice a day. Yesterday I ran two 6 mile runs and I plan on doing the same today.

Duncan had an interesting post the other day on his other blog where he challenges us to speak our mind and encourage debate amongst fellow bloggers. I have to agree, I mainly fall into category #2 with an occasional #1 post or comment thrown in every now and then. We need more #3 type posts and comments amongst the running bloggers. Sure it’s nice to see a “nice job” comment and I’ve left my fair share. However, I’d like to see people challenge other’s training, race schedule, diet, commitment, etc. Ask questions, seek answers and try to understand better. Hopefully it’ll help us all learn and improve.

With that in mind I’ll start by “ripping” on some of the people at Saturday’s race, then I’ll go after the blogging community.

I don’t care if you wear a GPS unit, HRM, iPOD, cell phone or camera, but don’t let those devices keep you from “feeling” and “listening” to your body. For example, there were 2 guys at the start of the race – literally 1 minute into the race – that were comparing the speed their gadget was transmitting. One guy’s said 6:20 pace and the other’s said 5:40. Keep in mind we’re going down a gradual hill for 3 blocks with a tailwind. Hey dipshits, you probably have 90 minutes left of running, stop playing with your toy and settle into a pace based on what you’re body is telling you – not some electronic gizmo that may or may not be accurate.

Now I don’t expect everyone to run even or negative splits, but you should be able to tell if your first mile is 30 seconds per mile faster you should be going. I’m sure there were guys that did this too, but since it’s easier to pick out the women near the front, I’ll pick on them. 2 gals went through the first mile in 6:15, yet finished well back. Since I know 3 of the first 4 gals (and it wasn’t them), the fastest these two could have run are 6:47 pace and 6:56 pace. I suspect that with their fast early mile, they dropped even further. Again, you should be able to tell the difference between 5k pace and half marathon pace, just by listening to your body. That sound you hear, over your heavy breathing, is lactic acid building in your legs.

I think the guy that was wearing just a t-shirt (with pants) thought he was really cool at the start – remember it was about zero degrees with the wind. He even looked good as he was 2 places behind Jenna at the halfway point. When I passed him just before 10 miles he looked cold, not cool. Yeah, not running in a long-sleeve shirt really saved you a lot of time.

Okay, feel free to leave a comment and tell me how much you hate my “new style.”