Yesterday, as I took my after lunch walk at work, I thought about how odd it is here in America that the primary race distance for running events, especially events to help raise money, go 5 kilometers. What this means is that my projection of running about 10 min/mile pace was going to result in me running somewhere around 31 minutes, and I thought about how if there had been no metric system, maybe the 3 mile race, a 3M (licensing issues notwithstanding) might be the more common race report to be told and written.<br><br>
It also means you have to run 9:40 min/mile pace to start working on breaking the half hour mark, the 30 minutes, that sort of odd breakline between casual runner and a runner who might be a bit more serious about running. Heh. It seemed as though the metric system stood between me and a little more respectable time. A 3M? I'd be chasing down that breaking 30 today, at 5K, unh unh, going to have to wait on that one.<br><br>
So there I was this morning, perfect weather for July, temps down in the 60s, dry air, a little wind. It was also 3 months to the day that I began running again after a long time of no running because of the broken left tibia.<br><br>
The start of the race went well for nearly 800 entrants, I remember hearing at the awards ceremony, a new record of participants. I had managed to find a good spot where I wasn't slowing up people behind me and I wasn't having to dodge around too many in front of me. I fairly quickly got my heart rate up to near 160 bpm and settled in to try to run my race.<br><br>
At the very least, I felt confident that I would establish a PR today with an accurately measured time. No bunch ups at the finish, please! The first mile passed with an average heart rate of 161 bpm and I was happy with that. I worked on trying to maintain that range of somewhere between 160 and 165.<br><br>
The second mile worked out to an average HR of 164, I was needing a bit more effort to try to maintain my pace, and my legs were feeling it. I knew that I would have to keep working though. I wanted that PR to be a solid upgrade and I was going to embrace the pain. Still, I had to ease back a bit at time during the 3rd mile, I could feel my stride at times wanting to break down. It was an average heart rate of 163 bpm, and now that last .1 mile, that last .16 kilometers stood between me and my new PR. I managed to reach into the legs and squeeze them a bit more, passing a person who had passed a little bit prior. Keep at it. The last .1 mile would return an average of 165 bpm.<br><br>
That last .1 mile would also be my victory over the nasty metric system. Final time on the watch, 29:35. A sub 30! Woah. I knew I had been picking up some speed, but this blew me away. I had been nearly blown away at the 1-mile marker when my split was 9:03, the fastest mile I've ever run.<br><br>
1M -- 9:03<br>
2M -- 9:20<br>
3M -- 10:17<br>
3.1M -- 54 sec<br>
Total -- 29:35<br><br>
Nice. I'm pretty happy. I didn't run negative splits, but I didn't give in to walking at some points during the 3rd mile.
It also means you have to run 9:40 min/mile pace to start working on breaking the half hour mark, the 30 minutes, that sort of odd breakline between casual runner and a runner who might be a bit more serious about running. Heh. It seemed as though the metric system stood between me and a little more respectable time. A 3M? I'd be chasing down that breaking 30 today, at 5K, unh unh, going to have to wait on that one.<br><br>
So there I was this morning, perfect weather for July, temps down in the 60s, dry air, a little wind. It was also 3 months to the day that I began running again after a long time of no running because of the broken left tibia.<br><br>
The start of the race went well for nearly 800 entrants, I remember hearing at the awards ceremony, a new record of participants. I had managed to find a good spot where I wasn't slowing up people behind me and I wasn't having to dodge around too many in front of me. I fairly quickly got my heart rate up to near 160 bpm and settled in to try to run my race.<br><br>
At the very least, I felt confident that I would establish a PR today with an accurately measured time. No bunch ups at the finish, please! The first mile passed with an average heart rate of 161 bpm and I was happy with that. I worked on trying to maintain that range of somewhere between 160 and 165.<br><br>
The second mile worked out to an average HR of 164, I was needing a bit more effort to try to maintain my pace, and my legs were feeling it. I knew that I would have to keep working though. I wanted that PR to be a solid upgrade and I was going to embrace the pain. Still, I had to ease back a bit at time during the 3rd mile, I could feel my stride at times wanting to break down. It was an average heart rate of 163 bpm, and now that last .1 mile, that last .16 kilometers stood between me and my new PR. I managed to reach into the legs and squeeze them a bit more, passing a person who had passed a little bit prior. Keep at it. The last .1 mile would return an average of 165 bpm.<br><br>
That last .1 mile would also be my victory over the nasty metric system. Final time on the watch, 29:35. A sub 30! Woah. I knew I had been picking up some speed, but this blew me away. I had been nearly blown away at the 1-mile marker when my split was 9:03, the fastest mile I've ever run.<br><br>
1M -- 9:03<br>
2M -- 9:20<br>
3M -- 10:17<br>
3.1M -- 54 sec<br>
Total -- 29:35<br><br>
Nice. I'm pretty happy. I didn't run negative splits, but I didn't give in to walking at some points during the 3rd mile.
