Now running is a very relative sport. We are always running relative to something. Mostly we run relative to ourselves. We run relative to our own individual PR's, relative to our own expectations, and relative to how we are feeling and perhaps our mood of the day. Then there are times when we run relative to someone else. This could be during a race where suddenly you may find that your pre-race goals, the ones that you set relative to yourself will change and you adjust them to fit relative to the people you are running against. Despite these two forms of relativity we are ALWAYS running relative to the clock. (but some might argue that this infact an ABSOLUTE measure, and not a relative one).
Now let's go running at the track. Most people go to the track not because they find it mentally stimulating, not because it is the best running route in town, and definitely not for the pure enjoyment of it. They run at the track because they want to improve themselves; they are looking for a quality workout. So, relative to their normal speed or normal workout, a track workout will be relatively fast. Therefore, since you are going so fast today, you should be entitled to the inside lane right?
Well, the answer to that question is, who else is on the track and how fast are you going relative to everyone else? Just because YOU think you are going really fast, you may be going relatively slow compared to another runner out there. Also, just because you and your 2 running buddies are all running relatively the same speed (shoulder to shoulder) in the first 2 lanes around the track does not mean that you are entitled to be running in those lanes if there are faster runners out there. Basically, it is sometimes frustrating when general curtosies are not adhered to. However, it is a good reminder for me to - when I am out running I am trying to make sure that I am relatively more patient and curtious, but sometimes it is really hard when you are trying to jam out an intense workout. Today I was really good though - perhaps I am getting more docile with my old age!
Today's workout called for the following:
2mile warmup
4x (1200m at Interval Pace + 800m recovery)
2mile cooldown
Interval Pace: 4:07/4:03/4:00 min/1200m for VDOT=59/60/61
Here are the actuals:
2mile warmup (7:28, 7:29 min/mile)
4x1200m
1. (78, 80, 80) 3:58 min
2. (79, 81, 81) 4:01 min
3. (78, 81, 81) 4:00 min
4. (79, 81, 82) 4:02 min
Cooldown (7:26, 7:17 min/mile)
Total Miles: 9My favorite way to look at Interval workouts is with my HR (red) and Pace (blue) chart:
The cool thing that I want to point out about the plot today is that AFTER my first interval I was able to recover to my base HR that I had during warmup. AFTER my 2nd and 3rd intervals, I had a new recovery HR level, which was maintained throughout my entire cooldown (also pace was slightly faster too). Why is this important? I notice that if I go too hard too early for hard runs (i.e. races) I can never recover back to a relatively comfortable feeling - I have put my body to an elevated state where I am working harder just to maintain the same pace. I now remember this especially during the first 4 miles of a marathon - I have become very cautious to keep my system from working harder than necessary just to crap out with 3 miles left to go due to pushing my body too hard too early. I have yet to find the perfect balance - the last couple marathons I came very close to ideal race execution but made other miscalculations along the way....
Rambling aside, I hope you have a relatively great day!
A+
2 comments:
I find this to be a very interesting topic and in a different way I pondered quite heavily the other night.
I did my usual run along Terry Hershey park and for some reason there was an atypical number of bikers kept saying "left" as they passed me. I certainly understand the curtesy of doing this, but I got to thinking about it.
Was I running all over the track and had to be told to move over? Did someone put a sign on my back that said "I like to jump out at bikers as they pass me by." I struggled with these questions for most of the run, and have yet to come up with an answer. Dave, Im sure youll no doubt have several thoughts on this in a subsequent blog entry.
ugh. math.
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