I think Ramon has it in for the advanced group.
Tuesday we had our first "test". Now, last year I missed the first test, but I was told that it was running 3 miles at 80% and then running 1 mile as fast as you can. That timed mile was your "base" for the rest of the season.
This year it was a five mile test.
I got very nervous when I read the email detailing the test and had to try not to think about it all day. Apparently, my running buddy, Lauren, felt the same way. We were both NOT looking forward to it.
Luckily, it was the first Tuesday that was not either unbearably muggy or rainy. Although, Lauren said, it almost made it worse because we had no excuse if we did poorly :)
We all met on the bridal path at 86th. Steve described the test as a "5-mile race" and we should treat it as such. Therefore, faster than a tempo run but without the crowd support or water stops of a race. Yuck. We were supposed to ditch our running buddies and run for ourselves. Oh yeah. And to save some for the end, because Cat Hill was in the last mile and a half. :( My goal was to not take it out too fast because that is my fatal flaw when it comes to running. We warmed up to 90th and then took off on our loop.
I didn't have to worry about running with my running buddy, because she took off and was maintaining about a 50 foot lead on me. I was thinking "Nice and easy, nice and easy." And I felt really good. I looked at my watch on the first mile. 7:28. Whoops. That's not exactly nice or easy. Who even knows what Lauren did! She was about 75 feet ahead of me now. I gave up on following her (this is a big deal for me ;) and concentrated on slowing it down.
Second mile: 8:28. (Lauren was too far ahead to even worry about). I have to admit, even though my plan was to get this pace, I was a little disappointed with myself. Coach Steve was standing on the path by W86th and said "Now's the time for you to pick it up, Em! But be sure to save some for Cat Hill!" I was very confused. Because he said to pick it up halfway. According to Mr. Garmin we were around 2.2. I was thinking "Whatever. I can't pick it up yet!" But I said "OK! Thanks!"
But I guess I did pick it up because my next mile was 8:01.
Now we were in the dreaded lower loop and coming up on what I call the "tricky hills" (they don't look like hills but they FEEL like them). I could swear that I was closing in on Lauren.
Then, right by the carousel, I passed her. I know that the only reason this happened was because she took that first mile out so quickly, but the competitive girl in me was like "Yay!"
But then karma bit me on the butt because my shoe came untied and I had to stop to tie it. My shoe has NEVER come untied. I soon passed her again but we had Cat Hill. She told me I was kicking ass (I didn't feel like it) but I couldn't respond because I was breathing way too hard. I tried not to psych myself out AND I tried to run like her. (Lauren has a super efficient short and quick stride and therefore flies up the hills, passing everyone. I am definitely trying to learn that from her.) No dice. Lauren, the hill killer, killed me on the hills. :)
Somewhere in there, my 4th mile was a 7:56.
I was all excited now. I love a challenge, AND I love running with Lauren. We are really good for each other because we are like, exactly the same pace, AND we are both competitive. My goal was to catch her again and finish together.
I caught her right around the bend. She was like, "6 blocks to go!" I said, "Thank God!" (I was eyeing those block markers on the lampposts too.) Those 6 blocks lasted forever. But we finished (pretty much) together (she finished like 2 seconds ahead of me.)
According to Garmin, my time was 40:57 for those 5.14 miles. That's an average pace of 7:58!
Yay!
And my other running buddy, Molly, was right behind us. Unbeknownst to me, she was doing the same thing I was doing. She said that she just kept looking for my pink shirt and trying to pace off of me and that I kept her on track the entire time. She thanked me for it, because she said she never would have finished the test like she did without me. I guess I paid karma back for the time that David did the same thing for me. :)
Showing posts with label test. Show all posts
Showing posts with label test. Show all posts
Friday, June 19, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Slow Down, Sister!
Last night we had a "time trial".
The object was to find out how we should pace ourselves for our long, slow distance runs. We divided into event again (so I was running with the SF marathoners). Beginners did one loop of the Reservoir, Intermediates did 2 loops and Advanced did 3 loops. We were told that each loop was about 1.5 miles. (Turns out it is actually 1.58 miles, but who's counting :). The coaches were going to run the first loop with us and then call out times for any subsequent loops. The object was not to run fast, but to run at our comfortable long distance pace. We should be able to talk to our neighbor easily and without much effort (this was, in fact, encouraged).
Since the Reservoir loop gets pretty crowded, we also broke into approximate pace groups. I went with Coach Pete who was running with the 9:00 milers.
The first loop felt great. I was talking to the coach almost the entire time. He asked me if it felt like a 9:00 mile because he had already run this morning and felt like his pacing was off. I said it did, but the fact is, I think I am adjusting to this new pace as well. At the 1 mile marker we were at 8:40. Whoops.
When he stopped at the first loop I realized that the rest of our group had dropped back significantly. I was running by myself, which made me crazy, because I was afraid my pacing would fall off.
But I shouldn't have worried. Soon, this other girl from our group caught up with me and we ran the next loop together. I was chatting with her about all of her marathons (this is her 9th) including her 2x running Boston. (Yes, Boston.) And what do you know? I found myself speeding up. Like, a lot. But I didn't realize it until we got to the end of the loop and I couldn't talk as easily. (Yay for the talk test.)
Pete called out a 27:06, which I thought was for 3 miles flat, and I was like, "NO WAY." Because if I took out the first mile at 8:40, and felt like I sped up on the next two miles I didn't think that was possible. (Turns out if you figure it out for 3.16 miles it is more like a 8:34 pace, which was much closer to my head calculations.)
I let Speedy Speedster go ahead of me for the next lap and ran by myself again in a much more comfortable "me" pace.
I have no idea what I netted out at because Pete wasn't there when I got back (turns out that only me and Boston Girl did the three loops). Everyone else was stretching on the dirt.
It would have been nice to know what pace I had for that last lap, but I am pretty sure that it was somewhere in the neighborhood of an 8:50 mile.
We'll see what this means for my long slow runs. I just have to remember that "talk test".
The object was to find out how we should pace ourselves for our long, slow distance runs. We divided into event again (so I was running with the SF marathoners). Beginners did one loop of the Reservoir, Intermediates did 2 loops and Advanced did 3 loops. We were told that each loop was about 1.5 miles. (Turns out it is actually 1.58 miles, but who's counting :). The coaches were going to run the first loop with us and then call out times for any subsequent loops. The object was not to run fast, but to run at our comfortable long distance pace. We should be able to talk to our neighbor easily and without much effort (this was, in fact, encouraged).
Since the Reservoir loop gets pretty crowded, we also broke into approximate pace groups. I went with Coach Pete who was running with the 9:00 milers.
The first loop felt great. I was talking to the coach almost the entire time. He asked me if it felt like a 9:00 mile because he had already run this morning and felt like his pacing was off. I said it did, but the fact is, I think I am adjusting to this new pace as well. At the 1 mile marker we were at 8:40. Whoops.
When he stopped at the first loop I realized that the rest of our group had dropped back significantly. I was running by myself, which made me crazy, because I was afraid my pacing would fall off.
But I shouldn't have worried. Soon, this other girl from our group caught up with me and we ran the next loop together. I was chatting with her about all of her marathons (this is her 9th) including her 2x running Boston. (Yes, Boston.) And what do you know? I found myself speeding up. Like, a lot. But I didn't realize it until we got to the end of the loop and I couldn't talk as easily. (Yay for the talk test.)
Pete called out a 27:06, which I thought was for 3 miles flat, and I was like, "NO WAY." Because if I took out the first mile at 8:40, and felt like I sped up on the next two miles I didn't think that was possible. (Turns out if you figure it out for 3.16 miles it is more like a 8:34 pace, which was much closer to my head calculations.)
I let Speedy Speedster go ahead of me for the next lap and ran by myself again in a much more comfortable "me" pace.
I have no idea what I netted out at because Pete wasn't there when I got back (turns out that only me and Boston Girl did the three loops). Everyone else was stretching on the dirt.
It would have been nice to know what pace I had for that last lap, but I am pretty sure that it was somewhere in the neighborhood of an 8:50 mile.
We'll see what this means for my long slow runs. I just have to remember that "talk test".
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Test Run
Last night we had a "test run" in Central Park. This is something that Coach Ramon does so that we can see how much we have progressed. Unfortunately for me I wasn't around for the first test run, so I had nothing to compare it with. So I just figured I would run hard and remember my time for next time we do a test run.
The advanced group's test consisted of two two-mile repeats wedged in between a warm-up and cool-down run. The first 2 miles was from East 72nd, up Cat Hill to East 102nd and across to West 102nd. This was tough because it included Cat Hill. I was breathing heavily and trying to not get too hung up on the fact that people were passing me. I just kept thinking of what everyone (mom, dad, teachers, husband) has told me my whole life which is "Don't worry about what everyone else is doing, just concentrate on doing your best." But, as a side note, I think the reason that I push myself to do my best is because I'm concentrating on what everyone else is doing. Ha ha. Anyways, I was happy to see as I was crossing 102nd street that I had caught up to the girl who usually runs just a little bit behind me. I also noticed that The Mentor That Paces Way Too Fast was right by me. So I figured I wasn't THAT far off. When I finished the repeat I was at 17:03 which is roughly an 8:30 pace.
Our recovery (ha!) was Harlem Hill to East 102nd. I had to keep telling myself to slow down because it was a recovery, because I can't help wanting to speed through that hill to get it over with.
The next 2-mile repeat was the same course backwards (West 102nd to East 102nd to East 72nd). The Mentor That Paces Way Too Fast, the girl I run with sometimes and I decided to do the last two miles together. I was a little wary of this since I had a really bad experience with her going out too fast. I think she was trying to make up for it though. She kept giving us running advice and updating us with our pace like every minute via her Nike+ wristband. She was telling us how we could keep pace until Cat Hill and then we needed to sprint in. She was telling us that we all should run together in the Marine Corps and that by our pace tonight (8:30 mile) we could totally do a 3:55 marathon (8:58 mile). Fast pacer was overwhelming me by talking about a lot at once when I was trying to concentrate ("Have your boyfriend cut up oranges for us three at mile 18. Hey guys slow down we're going to die on this pace. You aren't too talkative are you? Guys, slow down, for real!") I also felt like they were flying, so I cut back a little. They flew ahead of me and kept looking back and making sure I was there. I kept telling myself that I knew what I was doing. I needed to take it at a hard pace where I could breath heavily but not too heavily.
They kept being further and further away from me. At Cat Hill though, I was right up with them again. Fast pacer said she was worried about me. I said "Nah. I've got to do my own thing. I have to start out slower and build up."
I think I've been stressing way too much or something, because I found the whole thing very distracting. I mean, it was no fault of the other two girls, who were just trying to help me out and make sure that I had a good run, but I just felt like I needed to do my own thing. For me, trying to improve on my running takes a lot of concentration...especially on speedwork days. I am just not used to people talking the whole time on speed days. Most everyone I ran with in the past is panting too heavily to do so :)
I sprinted in the last 50 feet or so, finishing that one with a 17:17.
I was a little bummed to get 15 seconds off, but all in all I think it was a good run.
The advanced group's test consisted of two two-mile repeats wedged in between a warm-up and cool-down run. The first 2 miles was from East 72nd, up Cat Hill to East 102nd and across to West 102nd. This was tough because it included Cat Hill. I was breathing heavily and trying to not get too hung up on the fact that people were passing me. I just kept thinking of what everyone (mom, dad, teachers, husband) has told me my whole life which is "Don't worry about what everyone else is doing, just concentrate on doing your best." But, as a side note, I think the reason that I push myself to do my best is because I'm concentrating on what everyone else is doing. Ha ha. Anyways, I was happy to see as I was crossing 102nd street that I had caught up to the girl who usually runs just a little bit behind me. I also noticed that The Mentor That Paces Way Too Fast was right by me. So I figured I wasn't THAT far off. When I finished the repeat I was at 17:03 which is roughly an 8:30 pace.
Our recovery (ha!) was Harlem Hill to East 102nd. I had to keep telling myself to slow down because it was a recovery, because I can't help wanting to speed through that hill to get it over with.
The next 2-mile repeat was the same course backwards (West 102nd to East 102nd to East 72nd). The Mentor That Paces Way Too Fast, the girl I run with sometimes and I decided to do the last two miles together. I was a little wary of this since I had a really bad experience with her going out too fast. I think she was trying to make up for it though. She kept giving us running advice and updating us with our pace like every minute via her Nike+ wristband. She was telling us how we could keep pace until Cat Hill and then we needed to sprint in. She was telling us that we all should run together in the Marine Corps and that by our pace tonight (8:30 mile) we could totally do a 3:55 marathon (8:58 mile). Fast pacer was overwhelming me by talking about a lot at once when I was trying to concentrate ("Have your boyfriend cut up oranges for us three at mile 18. Hey guys slow down we're going to die on this pace. You aren't too talkative are you? Guys, slow down, for real!") I also felt like they were flying, so I cut back a little. They flew ahead of me and kept looking back and making sure I was there. I kept telling myself that I knew what I was doing. I needed to take it at a hard pace where I could breath heavily but not too heavily.
They kept being further and further away from me. At Cat Hill though, I was right up with them again. Fast pacer said she was worried about me. I said "Nah. I've got to do my own thing. I have to start out slower and build up."
I think I've been stressing way too much or something, because I found the whole thing very distracting. I mean, it was no fault of the other two girls, who were just trying to help me out and make sure that I had a good run, but I just felt like I needed to do my own thing. For me, trying to improve on my running takes a lot of concentration...especially on speedwork days. I am just not used to people talking the whole time on speed days. Most everyone I ran with in the past is panting too heavily to do so :)
I sprinted in the last 50 feet or so, finishing that one with a 17:17.
I was a little bummed to get 15 seconds off, but all in all I think it was a good run.
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