What a simple GHASTLY day! Wet, dull, chilly, miserable - PERFECT for a saunter outside with my Brooks, lycra leggings and long sleeved top (bright yellow). Having almost recovered from DIY shenanigans where my hands took a beating with a 5lb lump hammer, got cut to shreds on shards of stone and my head took a lot of scratching as I pondered "Is that straight?", I set off on the first run of the week.
runningnearbeirut and ionaddatruffe on here were talking recently about PACE. RNB posted a very useful link
which is full of stats and ideas about how fast one should go so I thought I would try and do what Juicyju has been telling me for AGES;
SLOW DOWN (you wazzuck)!
I've been finding it hard to go slow. Dunno why, just do. My usual pace these days is around 5'30 per K and that is comfortable'ish for me. I mean that I don't get TOO knackered pushing that pace, but today was gonna be an aim for almost 7 min per K!! "That's just a fast walk" I told myself. "Oh shurrup you ludicrous poppinjay" I admonished myself. "Just jog slowwwwwly and see what happens". I decided to do what I'd told myself.
First of all, it was a terrific feeling reining back my speed and deciding to be mega comfortable in my jogging. My breathing was relaxed and legs felt good. I'd done my pre run stretches so my hips, glutes and side leg muscles thingy's were awake and finely tuned, ready for 5K.
I ran along the river on my usual route to Richmond, up over the bridge and down the high street, then a left back down t'river. ALong the river to Old Deer Park and across the park. This was K3 and I was holding back my speed whenever I felt like I was going to fast. Despite my best efforts to "crawl" along, I was still moving briskly - or at least that's what it felt. It would be good to check Endomondo later and see just what I was doing. I could have made a bloomin' speech at a political rally, let alone kept up a conversation, my breathing was that steady and relaxed! I reached the A316 busy main road and took the long slow climb to Twickenham bridge which months before had almost killed my legs and made me want to scream for my Mum in a two year old bawling sort of a way - "Muuuuuummmm!!! Waaaaaaa!!!" (like that). Not today dear reader! For today I glided up the hill effortlessly, like one of those incredibly expensive patio doors that closes gently with just the push of a little finger! Down the other side and then homeward bound.
"This is good this "easy pace" malarkey" I thought. Perhaps there IS something in this after all. I knew I wouldn't be hitting any good times today but what the heck, I was moving along quite nicely and if this had been a 10K, I would have to say that THIS is the way I would run it, because mentally knowing you've got some juice left in the tank is a beautiful thang, especially if there's another 5K to go. But not today folks, no sirrreeee! I was going to stop at "Fave Lamppost #2" and check my app.at 5K. There it was.....just a few metres to go.....aaaand STOP!
Stats as follows ;
K1 6'15
K2 6'05
K3 5'57
K4 5'56
K5 6'02.
The first K was my slowest, yet I still did two of them under 6 mins. I wonder if I could slow down even more? Or should I stay at this comfortable pace rate? OR indeed, is this all a mental game? I'd convinced myself to go slow - ergo, be RELAXED and not force anything. Hmmm.....questions, questions....
The main thing is that I think I know how to approach my first official 10K run in 2 weeks time. I'll knock out a 10K this week sometime to practice and see what happens. So in the meantime, let me wish you all a fantastic BH Monday!
Tally Ho!
Dan.
Written by
danzargo
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Sounds like a rather splendid run you had, Mr Dan, with perfect weather for it as well. A very interesting message you proffer too, about pacing oneself; I really must try harder to do that myself although it's really not easy trying to adopt a steady pace.
I hope all goes well with the 10K training run, sir, and of course, have a simply wonderful Bank Holiday yourself.
Slower, Dan, slower...............I averaged 6.20m/k this morning, of which I am really proud, and the next run I will attempt to be even slower! It certainly puts a different complexion on a run and I found I was pootling along in a settled mode, quicker than usual. No five minutes to get into the rhythm for me. Whether I can resist trying to improve my 5 and 10k pbs for much longer, I don't know and as for slowing down to 7.26m/k for a long run, that sounds impossibly slow.
Slow down, enjoy any run you do, put some intervals in, and you'll find your pb improves (well that's what it says on the tin anyway...). The point is - don't run flat out every time.
Pace is sooo difficult to get right, and its on the long runs where I aim to start slow so I have gas left in the tank, but I go way too fast and then wonder why I get so tired?! I think its good to practice going really slowly to get you in the groove for a mega run.... And how exciting, a 10k race. I hope you have planned a suitably outrageous outfit?
I was planning on wearing my fluorescent lime green crop top and pink running knickers (with added frills) topped off with massive cellophane wasp wings. Or am I being too conservative do you think?
Ah - a full week ahead there KittyKat... Well done! My B210K pain train leaves tomorrow (it was due to leave today but was cancelled due to faulty equipment)..
Ahhh no KittyKat007! Don't be demoralised. We are ALL of us different people with massively varying fitness levels but I suppose my post could be construed as a tad insensitive perhaps, for which, please accept my most humble apologies. I never tried the B210K personally, preferring to work up to 10K bit by bit - which took me a year - so maybe that program might have sped things up for me. Who knows. In any case, I am going to adopt my new "method" for the next long run and see what occurs.
The mind boggles - in fact I may need to lie down in a darkened room!
I too have been interested in the slower pace debate and went out this morning doing a run walk pattern of 4:2 and averaging about 8 mins per km. It felt nice and easy and I extended my run to cover 7.5km which is a whole km longer than my previous longest run. I could have gone further too, so feeling pretty pleased with that. Makes me feel I can gradually press on to 10k which I hadn't seriously contemplated before.
KittyKat, have a look at the link that Dan posted and complete the entries and check out your suggested paces for different types of running. We are all different and the pace references are based on your own best time. You may be surprised at the results. Don't be demoralised.....it's all part of the learning curve.
I too have been inspired by RNB and Iannoda's post about pace - in fact this very morning I went out and did a deliberately 'easy' 10k. At least I think it was 10k because, honestly, I completely zoned out at one point and forgot how far I'd gone (I didn't take my phone so didn't measure it). Anyway I ran for just over an hour which is the longest time I've ever run without stopping, and I still felt like there was something left in the tank. I suspect I was probably still going too fast though, according to that Runners' World calculator. But it's a VERY interesting new concept.
I agree with the others - please don't feel demoralised. We are all different and have different natural running paces. I did my first deliberately "slow" run on Saturday - about a minute per km slower than I normally push myself to run at and it truly felt SO different. If you were struggling and struggling, then ignore any numbers you see on here and slow down. I do think that my running pace on Sat was pretty close to how quickly I would walk if in a hurry (but I'd only manage it for a short time). Several people have talked about running slower than they walk, but I don't think that matters at all because running uses different muscles and at the moment you are presumably trying to build up your stamina to be able to run for an hour - no mean feat at all.
Be proud of what you've achieved so far and of how you are further aiming to improve. So what if you have to slow down to 10 min/km or 12 min/km or whatever it turns out to be? If you find your comfortable running pace, you'll be much more likely to keep running because you enjoy it (rather than struggle) and because you'll stay injury free, unlike some who push themselves to their limits every time they run and burn out through injury and over-enthusiasm which doesn't last.
Please don't be put off KittyKat! It has also taken me a year to get to the stage where I realise I have more than one gear, so to speak, and that there is a difference between 'easy' pace and race pace. (There are other paces too, like the mysterious 'tempo' run, which I have yet to discover). This has only come slowly, with time and putting in the miles. Also we are women and are never going to be as fast as the chaps - it's really unfair but apart from reincarnation there's not a lot we can do...
Sounds like you had a perfect run this morning. BUT if it tells you to go at 7 min/km, go at SEVEN min/km, not 6!
Are you the type of person that looks at the instruction manual and thinks - "it says I should use 4 nails but I can only see 3 (the other one rolled off under a chair or something), so I'll just use 2 and see what happens" ...?
Wow! I always run only 1 min per mile at most slower than my 5k pace time on long runs, looks like I should be looking at over 2!!!! Might need to find my gears, don't think I ever had any so maybe I might need to buy some hmmmmmm.........also interesting to note my VO2 max pace would be 10:07 mins/mile so I think I can safely push aside that niggling 'must try to do 5k in 30 mins' voice that is always nagging me (to which I shout back, ' I have short legs')
Really interesting, all of this - even for those like me whose best speed is about 6.30min/k. I look forward to the day when I can grandly slow down to that, rather than gasp along at it for 30mins and think that I've done pretty well!
Apparently, and I believe it cos I read it on t'internet, that Kenyan elite runners run very, very, very slowly as part of their training. So if it's good enough for them ........
Yeah, but now we are getting back into "relative" territory (not that I have any Kenyan blood in me). Those guys running very, very, very slowly would flash by the likes of us.
Your post has come at precisely the right time for me,Dan. I'm aiming to start back this week with some speed walking to get my ruptured calf back into the game. The notion of SLOW has never felt so apt!!
KittyKat - my pace is also between 7-8 minutes per K -- depending on what I am doing. I have done 7 minutes in a 5K flat terrain Parkrun - and I did 8 minutes per K in a very hilly 10 klm run yesterday. If I had been with anybody there wouldn't have been much talking happening!! But I am also 5'5" 67 YO - so I will use that as an excuse I also NEVER run to the point where I am exhausted nor have I ever suffered from a run afterwards in any way. You (and I) are both doing fine
and Baz you lived to tell the tale. Well done mate. You'll be able to keep running, injury free, beyond the horizon and back. I'll join you shortly I hope
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A new first for me (and hubby) today
Slow, slow, quick, quick slow!
A lovely day for a run and a 10k PB
How slow is slow enough? 
