Monday, Monday!

Tuesday, May 14, 2013 · Mike Davis

Monday in May but feels like Monday in October! Out at the track tonight working with Ashley on intervals and feel. So many runners use their watches or Garmen to pace themselves as they run whatever repeats they are doing. I want to teach my client to feel her pace. We started out by having her run a mile warm up and then stretch. Next I had her run 1200 meters at maximum effort followed by an 800 meter recovery. Then we discussed effort level and to illustrate my point I had her squeeze my index finger as hard as she possibly can and then told her to ease off to 80 percent stength. The goal was to run the next 1200 at 80 percent effort of her max level pace. Without any watch my client ran to fast the first 400, then slowed down some the second 400, went even slower on the final 400 and finished slower than the goal of 4:45 (rough estimate of 80 percent). After another 800 recovery run we discussed her pacing and the idea of feeling her pace. She set off on another 1200 meter and this time she eased up a bit on the first 400 (a good sign), but her next 800 was not close to her goal pace and she ended up being off by even more than her first 1200. As she ran past me she asked her time and was frustrated by the results. After her 800 recovery we talked again and then she set off for her final 1200. Without breaking it down, she again fell short but closer than run number two. Again frustrated at her time, I told her to continue on running a mile cool down. After that we walked a lap around the track and I explained to her that there was nothing to get frustrated about as the concept of feeling pace is not as simple as she might have thought. Understanding this was just the first step of a process that will require time, repetition and hard work. After some back and forth conversation we both knew the plan and the process ahead. Ashley is excited about understanding her feel for pace versus using her Garmin or depending on just her talent. Unrelated; the Bruins win!