Note from coach: run more slowly

Posted by simon on 4/18/2008 on simon's blog

No, not quite what you expect to hear, especially at my age chasing a sub-5 mile and super-fast 5k.

What Ric means is I need to make sure my easy runs are...easy. And yes, the pace has been creeping up again. Even on Sunday's run at Magnolia and especially over the last couple of days, I've been finishing them at a brisk pace. I do start slow, but then finish as if they are tempo runs.

The result: feel-good on the trail; dead-ish legs when I get to the track for my quality workouts.

Tuesday was a case in point. 3 x 1m on the track. Now I KNOW I am in 5:30 mile shape right now, but I struggled through the first rep in 6:14, not only feeling stiff-legged but totally uncoordinated. On the second I felt like I was in the groove, clicking off 400s at exactly the same 90-second place to finish in 6:00. I really thought I was going to be able to let rip on the third, but no, although I negative-splitted it, my finishing punch only got me to 5:53. OK, these are decent enough times, but they are not where I want to be :)

Today's "easy" run? Well, I couldn't resist doing a VERY hilly 5 with another stonking (downhill) finishing burst. Excuse: 1) I've been reading "The Perfect Distance", Pat Butcher's story of the Coe-Ovett rivalry. 2) On Saturday I'm competing in the fourth race of the Colorado Runner Racing Series, which happens to be an 8-mile trail race -- 5 miles of it uphill with a 3-mile downhill finish. So I figured I should get used to it. In fact almost every run this week has featured a massive climb and fast descent.

But tomorrow I have a "sharpening" session at the track: 8x 100m just to loosen up for the race; and I'm wondering what state my legs will be in.

Ric has told me that when I'm not doing the speed work I should just be "shuffling about". He's even threatened to run with me to make sure I get the pace just right :) You know, it's actually difficult to run SLOWLY enough to keep him happy!

* Saturday's race is the Greenland Trail 8-miler, race #4 of the 16-event Colorado Runner Racing Series.