Monday, April 13, 2009

Getting better.

Short, quick run on Friday. Yoga on Saturday. Easy 5-miler on Sunday.

I'm trying to vary my pace more; to run intervals fast, and slow runs slow. In the past, I've been known to run most of my runs right around 8:40/8:50 pace. Boring. For about a month or so, I've been rocking the intervals and making an effort to slow down my slow runs.

It's the slow runs that get me. I get into a groove and just start running without thinking about it and before I know it, I'm going too fast. But not fast enough for speedwork. Just in between. That lovely in between pace where my breathing feels just right and my legs feel like they could run forever and I'm gliding along happy as can be.

Yeah, that terribly wrong pace.

That's why it's tough: I love the way I feel running at my in between pace but I know that doing so isn't going to do much to help me improve. I need to run fast(er) and I need to run slow(er) and then I can toss in some lovely in between pace runs.

So that's what I'm doing. Or trying to do. Yesterday I met with success on my 5-miler. I kept it slow and felt decent. Now I just need to keep it up.

In other news, June 10th can't come soon enough. My toes are killing me. I have very high hopes for this podiatrist that I have never met and have no knowledge of, other than his listing in my insurance's provider directory. Yes, yes, yes. High hopes that this foot doctor will heal me just like that! Oh, and he will! Mr. Magic Foot Doctor . . .

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Happy Monday!

~ Felice

18 comments:

tfh said...

Oh, yes...that terribly wrong pace...it is a tough habit to break. It's also tough for me to convince myself, deep down inside, that it's so wrong.

Ace said...

Man I love that terribly wrong pace. Its so peaceful....

Marlene said...

I get stuck in that place all the time, too. Really need to work on slowing down for easy runs because then I know I'll get better performance from my speed runs, which will eventually make me faster... RIGHT?!

J said...

I think that running the "right" pace for a run is the toughest thing for any runner! I know that even for intervals sometimes I go too fast and its not beneficial at all!

joyRuN said...

I don't understand - if your breathing feels right & your legs feel good, why would you need to slow it down? Wouldn't it be an easy run as it is?

Maybe this is why I can't get any faster - this pace thing is confusing me!

Oh, & I'm also ignoring the mess that is my house :)

Felice Devine said...

Joy -- I guess because it is really more effort than it seems. So, if runs that should be easy and slow are run faster than they should be (even if it feels good) then the runs that should be hard and fast suffer. And, recovery suffers, too.

For so long, I ran at more or less one pace and I improved by running hills and varying the distance of my runs. I think you can only improve so much that way. So, I think I'll have more success now that I'm varying the pace (and still running my beloved hills!).

Heather said...

I love that wrong pace too - how can something that feels so good be wrong? But you're right, mixing in that faster and slower runs really does make a huge improvement.

Mel-2nd Chances said...

yep, that wrong place was comfortable for me too, but now with focusing on heart rate training, it's forcing me to slow it down even more. Who thought running was easy!

Lindsay said...

it's tough to slow down from that 'just right' pace. you know slowing down would have so many benefits but it's still tough. good luck! i was doing decently at it by focusing on my hr and keeping it low but somewhere along the way my brain flopped back to "let's just hurry up and get this thing over with" mode. so, hope that doesn't happen to you!

RunnerMom said...

I fall into that "terribly wrong pace" all the time on my long runs when I start out too fast. Sure, for the first three miles it feels fine, but it comes back to haunt me in the later miles. I blame the fast people with whom I run!

Somehow, I have gotten on the "free stuff" list and was asked to sample and review some products. I'm pretty excited about that!

Have you read EAT THIS, NOT THAT? I'm in love with the book. I have the version for kids.

Anonymous said...

I'm horrible about the pace thing. I just run and hope it all works out in the end...terrible way to do it, but eh, I'm good with it. :-)

BeachRunner said...

Good job with the discipline on the pacing. And I hope your toe is ok. (I am still catching up on blog news).

Rookie on the Run said...

I'm so far away from that "terribly wrong pace" that I don't even know what that is... well, I kind of do now since you explained it to joyRuN.

Why so long until you can see the podiatrist? I hope it goes well and he can fix the problem... magically or not. :)

X-Country2 said...

I need to work on varying my pace. I'm terrible at it right now.

The Laminator said...

Yes, pace variation is good no doubt, but don't beat yourself over it if you run fast(er) or slow(er) than you originally intended. Factors of weather, stress, time, etc, all can make up for slight variations in pace. Just shoot for effort and the rest will fall into place.

RunToTheFinish said...

agreed, I am awful at really slowing down. I just let my body run

Alisa said...

I'm not very consistent at maintaining paces. I'm really trying hard in my Yasso 800's to run them hard but not so hard that I can't complete all of them in the set.

On long runs I think I sometimes psych myself out and go too slow.

I Run for Fun said...

Great post!

I think we all struggle with pace. Hope the podiatrist's magic works.

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