AT SOME POINT

Ryan had a good comment/question yesterday asking if I settled in to 6:10s because I was fatigued or because it was more of a conscious choice. Looking back, I really think it was a conscious choice. I didn’t feel that fatigued, but I never really made an effort to push the pace either. I don’t know if it has to deal with not wanting to hurt, lack of motivation for shorter races or what. I think if I spent a year doing 5K – 10K races it’d either lead to my “retirement” or a breakthrough.

One thing I really need to figure out is if 6:00 pace is a physical or mental barrier. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think there’s some type of wall surrounding that pace for me. I guess if it is a mental barrier, the good thing is that at some point, as I age, my mental barrier has to match my physical limits. If I’m still running 6:00 pace 20 years from now, I won’t be so upset.

Bill sent me an email outlining a bunch of runners that had slowed down significantly from last year. I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one that does this kind of stuff. I’d already compared a bunch of people’s pace as Human Race compared to Get in Gear. Of course, some were faster over 10K and some were slower, so it’s hard to get a real feel. I guess it’s safe to say that my 7-8 seconds per mile increase is “in the ballpark”.

Anyway, here’s a training update; Saturday's mileage gave me 57 miles for the week. I kept my string of taking Sundays off alive. Monday I doubled up with 6 in the morning and 5 in the evening. Those runs gave me 254 for the month on 24 days of running and 28 runs. That’s lower than where I had been because I dropped down to Pfitz’s 70 mpw plan. This morning I was up at 4:10 for a 15 miler. That’s a nice way to start off the month of May.

Quote of the day;

“I have been gearing all my training this year for the 10,000. I didn't have a very good 5000 meter race at Mt. SAC on April 13 to open my outdoor season but now I have the reassurance that I am doing the right stuff for what I am focusing on. It goes to show that when you have a bad race, you just need to stay confident in your training. I'm really excited about achieving my qualifying time because now I can start racing.” – Katie McGregor, after obtaining the Olympic qualifying standard for the 10,000m.