You must do the things you think you cannot do.
~
Eleanor Roosevelt

Monday, August 16, 2010

Mile Repeats Aren't So Easy

This morning I ran my first training run with my amazing new Garmin 310XT. I am just gaga over this thing. It is so seriously cool.  (Insert disclaimer that I am *not* a technical person and have only scratched the surface of this device's true capabilities.)

It downloads my run to my computer and shows me a Google map of my run - it's not entirely accurate though....it showed me jumping off the overpass and running on the highway for about a 10th of a mile this morning.  It gives me an elevation chart which I love since I run so many hills...and it turns out they aren't as steep as they feel. My elevation gain is just 176 ft -whatever that really means, all I know is the picture isn't a dramatic as I expected it to be.

Anyway, the whole point of my post is mile repeats. I've been running with Hank's track coach and he suggested I add mile repeats to my training. Run a mile at HMP (10:30 for me), rest a minute, run another mile at HMP and so on. Sounds easy enough, but I kept running too fast. And running too fast - in the beginning of a race - has been a real killer for me because I just peter out at the end so I'm really glad he suggested this for me.

I loved being able to look at my little Virtual Running Partner to see how far ahead of him I was, but he's kind of small and I don't run with my glasses so I had to switch back to the regular screen to watch my time.  The only mile I ran close to HMP was mile 2 which has my big hill in it.

So as you can see, my breakdown went like this
Mile 1 - 10:01
Mile 2 - 10:29
Mile 3 - 10:06
Mile 4 - 10:07

I felt really good despite the humidity and I'd be tempted to adjust and plan to run my race at a 10 m/m pace, but the course is really hilly so I don't know that I could maintain that pace the whole race. I'd rather be conservative (at this point) and find I have some gas in the tank the second half of my race rather than be aggressive and have it mess with my mind if I can't maintain it on the hills. I'm going to have to work really hard on paying attention to my pace. I think it will pay off in the long run...and for the long runs, too! lol!

Tomorrow I'm going to do hill repeats (instead of Thursday) because I'm running a 10K this weekend so I'll let you know how that goes. Fun stuff!

2 comments:

The Green Girl said...

Aw, congratulations on your new Garmin! I swear these things are the greatest inventions ever.

In terms of the elevation gain, also remember that a slight hill for a long period of time is going to very different from a short, steep hill.

Have fun with your new toy!

*~*~* Tracy said...

Thanks Green Girl!

I realize any hill is better than no hill. I just hoped my hill looked as big on the screen as it does in my mind. lol!

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails