Today I ran a solid workout, mostly alongside Daniel "Darko" Blech. He's usually a pace machine, with some supercomputer in his head that makes some pretty good calculations on the spot. I never truly rely on anyone to know pace down pat like I do, but I was just along for the ride today.
The workout was a ladder -- 400, 800, 1200, 1600, 1600, 1200, 800, 400 with 400m jog R in between and 800m jog R in the very middle of the workout. Some didn't have the mile repeats to complete. Overall, this workout seemed to take up more practice time than anticipated.
The first one we did was 1:23, then 2:54 (+2 slow), 4:30, 6:10, then Darko put on his racing flats and took off. The next mile was at 5:35, and I found myself dragging and sucking wind after a mere 200m. I told him I was done, feeling like something was wrong with me. I was going to finish this interval and re-evaluate the rest of my workout. Then, I looked at my watch. The mile pace was 5:00! I yelled to Darko to slow the hell down, but to no avail. Wearing my Brooks Glycerin 9's, I continually closed in on him, eventually running a way too fast 4:28, but only after jogging the last 100m. I was literally on pace for a 5:18 the whole time! I was done after this...my calf was experiencing a slight twinge, so I decided not to ignore it because I have no major races lined up until March 2012.
I'm quite happy with the ease of my workouts lately. I've felt smooth and relaxed, and noticed I'm really enjoying my Glycerin 9's as my go-to shoe on the track and roads. Last week's mile repeats with the last two at 5:28 and 5:27 seemed effortless. I wonder what kind of shape I'm truly in at this point. I imagine that donning racing flats or track spikes could yield some quick 200 and 400 repeats.
Tired now. Time for bed.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Keeping the Pace
Coaching (runners) is the pinnacle of teaching. If done correctly, you can elicit new mental and physical behaviors from your runners; it's just a matter of providing them with the necessary tools to unlock different parts of themselves they didn't know they had access to. Of course, figuring out which tools each runner is lacking is part of the challenge. The rest involves getting in their head and figuring out what makes them respond best. Pacing oneself is a recurring topic and problem.
Pacing is a very difficult craft to master, and something that most of my runners are struggling with. Usually the best way to do it is to take watches away and have runners do quarter mile repeats at a prescribed pace until they learn it by feel within +/- .5 seconds. Garmin GPS watches abound in this day and age, bringing a whole new element to running. They also bring reliance on something that may or may not be accurate. On the track, I say go with a Timex. Your time is your time, and there's no worry about mileage. Hit the split button for your lap time and you know where you stand. Garmins on the track, if one has ever looked at an overhead of their workout, are grossly inaccurate. They work much better on a straighter route. Garmin finishes the mile a full 20 or more meters before I actually complete 4 laps. Four laps is only 1600m. A true mile is 1609.344 meters, so it's a bit beyond 4 laps. So my "mile" splits on the track with my Garmin are way the hell off every time, guaranteed. The 310XT model shows me that my accuracy is usually within 18 feet. To me, that's a long way. A lap on the track is 400m if you run 6 inches out from the inside line. Anything further outside of that, you are running extra on the curves.
Furthermore, to pace oneself accurately, one must be well-versed in the pacing table and be able to convert to/from quarter mile and mile paces readily. Usually one only has to be familiar with a handful of paces in one's own repertoire. I say, familiarize yourself with paces from 4 minute to 10 minute miles. Four minutes is the easiest pace to discern; 1:00 per lap. I can go on all day doing these in my head and figuring it out in 10 seconds or less. After practicing pace in one's head over and over, one should eventually be able to determine one's lap pace based on this simple formula, without using some crazy phone app to do it for them. Here's a highly detailed pace table. The 1600m and 400m Columns are the ones we will reference most, seeing as we don't really do a whole mile.
Pacing is a very difficult craft to master, and something that most of my runners are struggling with. Usually the best way to do it is to take watches away and have runners do quarter mile repeats at a prescribed pace until they learn it by feel within +/- .5 seconds. Garmin GPS watches abound in this day and age, bringing a whole new element to running. They also bring reliance on something that may or may not be accurate. On the track, I say go with a Timex. Your time is your time, and there's no worry about mileage. Hit the split button for your lap time and you know where you stand. Garmins on the track, if one has ever looked at an overhead of their workout, are grossly inaccurate. They work much better on a straighter route. Garmin finishes the mile a full 20 or more meters before I actually complete 4 laps. Four laps is only 1600m. A true mile is 1609.344 meters, so it's a bit beyond 4 laps. So my "mile" splits on the track with my Garmin are way the hell off every time, guaranteed. The 310XT model shows me that my accuracy is usually within 18 feet. To me, that's a long way. A lap on the track is 400m if you run 6 inches out from the inside line. Anything further outside of that, you are running extra on the curves.
Furthermore, to pace oneself accurately, one must be well-versed in the pacing table and be able to convert to/from quarter mile and mile paces readily. Usually one only has to be familiar with a handful of paces in one's own repertoire. I say, familiarize yourself with paces from 4 minute to 10 minute miles. Four minutes is the easiest pace to discern; 1:00 per lap. I can go on all day doing these in my head and figuring it out in 10 seconds or less. After practicing pace in one's head over and over, one should eventually be able to determine one's lap pace based on this simple formula, without using some crazy phone app to do it for them. Here's a highly detailed pace table. The 1600m and 400m Columns are the ones we will reference most, seeing as we don't really do a whole mile.
Pace Table - Track
| Mile | 100m | 200m | 300m | 400m | 500m | 600m | 800m | 1000m | 1200m | 1600m | 2000m | 2400m | 3000m | 3200m | 5000m | 10000m |
| 4:00 | 00:14.9 | 00:29.8 | 00:44.7 | 00:59.7 | 01:14.5 | 01:29.5 | 01:59.3 | 02:29.1 | 02:59.0 | 03:58.6 | 04:58.3 | 05:57.9 | 07:27.4 | 07:57.2 | 12:25.7 | 24:51.3 |
| 4:10 | 00:15.5 | 00:31.1 | 00:46.6 | 01:02.1 | 01:17.6 | 01:33.2 | 02:04.3 | 02:35.3 | 03:06.4 | 04:08.6 | 05:10.7 | 06:12.8 | 07:46.0 | 08:17.1 | 12:56.7 | 25:53.5 |
| 4:20 | 00:16.1 | 00:32.3 | 00:48.5 | 01:04.6 | 01:20.8 | 01:36.9 | 02:09.2 | 02:41.6 | 03:13.9 | 04:18.5 | 05:23.1 | 06:27.7 | 08:04.7 | 08:37.0 | 13:27.8 | 26:55.6 |
| 4:30 | 00:16.8 | 00:33.6 | 00:50.3 | 01:07.1 | 01:23.9 | 01:40.7 | 02:14.2 | 02:47.8 | 03:21.3 | 04:28.4 | 05:35.5 | 06:42.7 | 08:23.3 | 08:56.9 | 13:58.9 | 27:57.7 |
| 4:40 | 00:17.4 | 00:34.8 | 00:52.2 | 01:09.6 | 01:27.0 | 01:44.4 | 02:19.2 | 02:54.0 | 03:28.8 | 04:38.4 | 05:48.0 | 06:57.6 | 08:42.0 | 09:16.8 | 14:29.9 | 28:59.9 |
| 4:50 | 00:18.0 | 00:36.0 | 00:54.0 | 01:12.1 | 01:30.1 | 01:48.1 | 02:24.2 | 03:00.2 | 03:36.2 | 04:48.3 | 06:00.4 | 07:12.5 | 09:00.6 | 09:36.6 | 15:01.0 | 30:02.0 |
| 5:00 | 00:18.6 | 00:37.3 | 00:55.9 | 01:14.6 | 01:33.2 | 01:51.8 | 02:29.1 | 03:06.4 | 03:43.7 | 04:58.3 | 06:12.8 | 07:27.4 | 09:19.2 | 09:56.5 | 15:32.1 | 31:04.2 |
| 5:10 | 00:19.2 | 00:38.5 | 00:57.8 | 01:17.1 | 01:36.3 | 01:55.6 | 02:34.1 | 03:12.6 | 03:51.2 | 05:08.2 | 06:25.3 | 07:42.3 | 09:37.9 | 10:16.4 | 16:03.2 | 32:06.3 |
| 5:20 | 00:19.9 | 00:39.8 | 00:59.6 | 01:19.5 | 01:39.4 | 01:59.3 | 02:39.1 | 03:18.8 | 03:58.6 | 05:18.2 | 06:37.7 | 07:57.2 | 09:56.5 | 10:36.3 | 16:34.2 | 33:08.4 |
| 5:30 | 00:20.5 | 00:41.0 | 01:05.1 | 01:22.0 | 01:42.5 | 02:03.0 | 02:44.0 | 03:25.1 | 04:06.1 | 05:28.1 | 06:50.1 | 08:12.1 | 10:15.2 | 10:56.2 | 17:05.3 | 34:10.6 |
| 5:40 | 00:21.1 | 00:42.3 | 01:03.4 | 01:24.5 | 01:45.6 | 02:06.8 | 02:49.0 | 03:31.3 | 04:13.5 | 05:38.0 | 07:02.5 | 08:27.1 | 10:33.8 | 11:16.1 | 17:36.4 | 35:12.7 |
| 5:50 | 00:21.7 | 00:43.5 | 01:05.2 | 01:27.0 | 01:48.7 | 02:10.5 | 02:54.0 | 03:37.5 | 04:21.0 | 05:48.0 | 07:15.0 | 08:42.0 | 10:52.5 | 11:36.0 | 18:07.4 | 36:14.9 |
| 6:00 | 00:22.3 | 00:44.7 | 01:07.1 | 01:29.5 | 01:51.8 | 02:14.2 | 02:59.0 | 03:43.7 | 04:28.4 | 05:57.9 | 07:27.4 | 08:56.9 | 11:11.1 | 11:55.8 | 18:38.5 | 37:17.0 |
| 6:10 | 00:23.0 | 00:46.0 | 01:08.9 | 01:32.0 | 01:54.9 | 02:17.9 | 03:03.9 | 03:49.9 | 04:35.9 | 06:07.9 | 07:39.8 | 09:11.8 | 11:29.7 | 12:15.7 | 19:09.6 | 38:19.1 |
| 6:20 | 00:23.6 | 00:47.2 | 01:10.8 | 01:34.5 | 01:58.0 | 02:21.7 | 03:08.9 | 03:56.1 | 04:43.4 | 06:17.8 | 07:52.3 | 09:26.7 | 11:48.4 | 12:35.6 | 19:40.6 | 39:21.3 |
| 6:30 | 00:24.2 | 00:48.5 | 01.12.7 | 01:36.9 | 02:01.1 | 02:25.4 | 03:13.9 | 04:02.3 | 04:50.8 | 06:27.7 | 08:04.7 | 09:41.6 | 12:07.0 | 12:55.5 | 20:11.7 | 40:23.4 |
| 6:40 | 00:24.8 | 00:49.7 | 01:14.5 | 01:39.4 | 02:04.3 | 02:29.1 | 03:18.8 | 04:08.6 | 04:58.3 | 06:37.7 | 08:17.1 | 09:56.5 | 12:25.7 | 13:15.4 | 20:42.8 | 41:25.6 |
| 6:50 | 00:25.5 | 00:51.0 | 01:16.4 | 01:41.9 | 02:07.4 | 02:32.9 | 03:23.8 | 04:14.8 | 05:05.7 | 06:47.6 | 08:29.5 | 10:11.4 | 12:44.3 | 13:35.3 | 21:13.8 | 42:27.7 |
| 7:00 | 00:26.1 | 00:52.2 | 01:18.3 | 01:44.4 | 02:10.5 | 02:36.6 | 03:28.8 | 04:21.0 | 05:13.2 | 06:57.6 | 08:42.0 | 10:26.4 | 13:02.9 | 13:55.1 | 21:44.9 | 43:29.8 |
| 7:10 | 00:26.7 | 00:53.4 | 01:20.1 | 01:46.9 | 02:13.6 | 02:40.3 | 03:33.8 | 04:27.2 | 05:20.6 | 07:07.5 | 08:54.4 | 10:41.3 | 13:21.6 | 14:15.0 | 22:16.0 | 44:32.0 |
| 7:20 | 00:27.3 | 00:54.7 | 01:22.0 | 01:49.4 | 02:16.7 | 02:44.0 | 03:38.7 | 04:33.4 | 05:28.1 | 07:17.5 | 09:06.8 | 10:56.2 | 13:40.2 | 14:34.9 | 22:47.1 | 45:34.1 |
| 7:30 | 00:27.9 | 00:55.9 | 01:23.9 | 01:51.8 | 02:19.8 | 02:47.8 | 03:43.7 | 04:39.6 | 05:35.5 | 07:27.4 | 09:19.2 | 11:11.1 | 13:58.9 | 14:54.8 | 23:18.1 | 46:36.2 |
| 7:40 | 00:28.6 | 00:57.2 | 01:25.7 | 01:54.3 | 02:22.9 | 02:51.5 | 03:48.7 | 04:45.8 | 05:43.0 | 07:37.3 | 09:31.7 | 11:26.0 | 14:17.5 | 15:14.7 | 23:49.2 | 47:38.4 |
| 7:50 | 00:29.2 | 00:58.4 | 01:27.6 | 01:56.8 | 02:26.5 | 02:55.2 | 03:53.6 | 04:52.1 | 05:50.5 | 07:47.3 | 09:44.1 | 11:40.9 | 14:36.2 | 15:34.6 | 24:20.3 | 48:40.5 |
| 8:00 | 00:29.8 | 00:59.7 | 01:29.5 | 01:59.3 | 02:29.1 | 02:59.0 | 03:58.6 | 04:58.3 | 05:57.9 | 07:57.2 | 09:56.5 | 11:55.8 | 14:54.8 | 15:54.5 | 24:51.3 | 49:42.7 |
| 8:10 | 00:30.4 | 01:00.9 | 01:31.3 | 02:01.8 | 02:32.2 | 03:02.7 | 04:03.6 | 05:04.5 | 06:05.4 | 08:07.2 | 10:09.0 | 12:10.8 | 15:13.4 | 16:14.3 | 25:22.4 | 50:44.8 |
| 8:20 | 00:31.0 | 01:02.1 | 01:33.2 | 02:04.3 | 02:35.3 | 03:06.4 | 04:08.6 | 05:10.7 | 06:12.8 | 08:17.1 | 10:21.4 | 12:25.7 | 15:32.1 | 16:34.2 | 25:53.5 | 51:46.9 |
| 8:30 | 00:31.7 | 01:03.4 | 01:35.0 | 02:06.8 | 02:38.5 | 03:10.1 | 04:13.5 | 05:16.9 | 06:20.3 | 08:27.1 | 10:33.8 | 12:40.6 | 15:50.7 | 16:54.1 | 26:24.5 | 52:49.1 |
| 8:40 | 00:32.3 | 01:04.6 | 01:36.9 | 02:09.2 | 02:41.5 | 03:13.9 | 04:18.5 | 05:23.1 | 06:27.7 | 08:37.0 | 10:46.2 | 12:55.5 | 16:09.4 | 17:14.0 | 26:55.6 | 53:51.2 |
| 8:50 | 00:32.9 | 01:05.9 | 01:38.8 | 02:11.7 | 02:44.6 | 03:17.6 | 04:23.5 | 05:29.3 | 06:35.2 | 08:46.9 | 10:58.7 | 13:10.4 | 16:28.0 | 17:33.9 | 27:26.7 | 54:53.4 |
| 9:00 | 00:33.5 | 01:07.1 | 01:40.6 | 02:14.2 | 02:47.7 | 03:21.3 | 04:28.4 | 05:35.5 | 06:42.7 | 08:56.9 | 11:11.1 | 13:25.3 | 16:46.6 | 17:53.8 | 27:57.7 | 55:55.5 |
| 9:10 | 00:34.2 | 01:08.4 | 01:42.5 | 02:16.7 | 02:50.9 | 03:25.1 | 04:33.4 | 05:41.8 | 06:50.1 | 09:06.8 | 11:23.5 | 13:40.2 | 17:05.3 | 18:13.6 | 28:28.8 | 56:57.6 |
| 9:20 | 00:34.8 | 01:09.6 | 01:44.4 | 02:19.2 | 02:54.0 | 03:28.8 | 04:38.4 | 05:48.0 | 06:57.6 | 09:16.8 | 11:36.0 | 13:55.1 | 17:23.9 | 18:33.5 | 28:59.9 | 57:59.8 |
| 9:30 | 00:35.4 | 01:10.8 | 01:46.2 | 02:21.7 | 02:57.1 | 03:32.5 | 04:43.4 | 05:54.2 | 07:05.0 | 09:26.7 | 11:48.4 | 14:10.1 | 17:42.6 | 18:53.4 | 29:31.0 | 59:01.9 |
| 9:40 | 00:36.0 | 01:12.1 | 01:48.1 | 02:24.2 | 03:00.2 | 03:36.2 | 04:48.3 | 06:00.4 | 07:12.5 | 09:36.6 | 12:00.8 | 14:25.0 | 18:01.2 | 19:13.3 | 30:02.0 | 00:04.1 |
| 9:50 | 00:36.6 | 01:13.3 | 01:50.0 | 02:26.6 | 03:03.3 | 03:40.0 | 04:53.3 | 06:06.6 | 07:19.9 | 09:46.6 | 12:13.2 | 14:39.9 | 18:19.9 | 19:33.2 | 30:33.1 | 01:06.2 |
| 10:00 | 00:37.3 | 01:14.6 | 01:51.8 | 02:29.1 | 03:06.4 | 03:43.7 | 04:58.3 | 06:12.8 | 07:27.4 | 09:56.5 | 12:25.7 | 14:54.8 | 18:38.5 | 19:53.1 | 31:04.2 | 02:08.3 |
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