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Michelle said:

I did 4 1/2 miles today. I kept an average 14:40 pace for the first
four miles, but I did the last half mile at a 12:48 pace, for an overall
pace for the full distance of 14:28.

Should I have tried to maintain pace during that last half mile, or was
it OK to speed up as I did?

--
Crossing the starting line is 90%.
Crossing the finish line is the other 90%.

See Michelle walk, walk Michelle walk.

--
_________________
Alric Knebel
http://www.ironeyefortress.com/C-SPAN_loon.html
http://www.ironeyefortress.com

Michelle said:

I did 4 1/2 miles today. I kept an average 14:40 pace for the first
four miles, but I did the last half mile at a 12:48 pace, for an overall
pace for the full distance of 14:28.

Should I have tried to maintain pace during that last half mile, or was
it OK to speed up as I did?

Generally keep easy runs easy, but speeding up a little bit on the last half a
mile because you feel like it won't hurt either.

Cheers,
--
Elflord

"Michelle" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I did 4 1/2 miles today. I kept an average 14:40 pace for the first
four miles, but I did the last half mile at a 12:48 pace, for an overall
pace for the full distance of 14:28.

Should I have tried to maintain pace during that last half mile, or was
it OK to speed up as I did?

--
Crossing the starting line is 90%.
Crossing the finish line is the other 90%.

I'm sure you've seen Charlie has mentioned strides. Have you done any yet?
Strides are a series of pickups each of about 20-30 seconds, done as fast as
you feel comfortable but fluid. They're designed to keep the leg muscles
used to running faster, and to give some dynamic stretch to your legs. Start
with 3-4 maybe and work it up from there. Since you only run 3-4 times each
week, you could do them almost every run. I love strides just because they
make the run less boring.

As for your speedup at the end, I think that's great. My running is all over
the place - unconventional. I have to keep changing things up, keep it
interesting or I wouldn't do it. You do one faster run per week. You can
also mix it up in your faster run. Throw in some faster intervals, either in
a structured manner, or randomly. I really like progression runs, where you
slowly speed up during a set timeframe, finishing fast. A couple of weeks
ago I did 3 longer intervals of progressions, which was fun. In any case
it's always good to plan to end faster running before the end of your run so
you can cool down going slower.

-Tony

In article <dDAGi.530$ec2.414@trnddc03>,

Tony S. said:

I'm sure you've seen Charlie has mentioned strides.

Not that I can recall.

Quoted message said:

Have you done any yet?

Not intentionally. It seems, though that whenever another runner or
bicycle passes me, or encounter one (or a walker) going the other way, I
tend to speed up a bit, and when I realize that I did so, I slow down
again to what I had been doing.

Quoted message said:

Strides are a series of pickups each of about 20-30 seconds, done as
fast as you feel comfortable but fluid.

Sorta like fartleks, but a shorter duration?

Quoted message said:

Start with 3-4 maybe and work it up from there.

So maybe once a mile or so?

Quoted message said:

As for your speedup at the end, I think that's great.

OK, that's two votes for it so far--yours and my friends. I haven't
read Donavon's reply yet.

Quoted message said:

My running is all over the place - unconventional. I have to keep
changing things up, keep it interesting or I wouldn't do it.

I've been trying to keep my pace steady and consistent. I succeeded
fairly well today. 14:42, 14:38, 14:35, and 14:45. I could have done
that fourth mile faster, but I tried to slow it down because I knew that
I was going to open up for the last half mile. I was a bit surprised
that I didn't go quite as slowly as I had thought I had.

Quoted message said:

In any case it's always good to plan to end faster running before the
end of your run so you can cool down going slower.

I walk a quarter mile before and after each run. That's my warm up and
cool down. (I also do some light stretching after the warm up walk
before starting to run.)

Thanks for the feedback.

--
Crossing the starting line is 90%.
Crossing the finish line is the other 90%.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Elflord said:

Generally keep easy runs easy, but speeding up a little bit on the
last half a mile because you feel like it won't hurt either.

Thanks. One thing about that half-mile speedup is that I felt good
doing it, both physically and emotionally.

I've actually been speeding up towards the ends of most of my runs, but
this is the longest I've been able to do it. I started out speeding up
for the last few hundred feet and kept adding a bit to it every second
or third time I ran. This is the first time, though, that I decided in
advance when to start accelerating.

--
Crossing the starting line is 90%.
Crossing the finish line is the other 90%.

Michelle said:

I did 4 1/2 miles today. I kept an average 14:40 pace for the first
four miles, but I did the last half mile at a 12:48 pace, for an overall
pace for the full distance of 14:28.

Should I have tried to maintain pace during that last half mile, or was
it OK to speed up as I did?

There is not a lot of difference between those paces. Pushing pace is
somewhat more relevant once you start going more than 6 miles an hour.

"Michelle" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <dDAGi.530$ec2.414@trnddc03>,

Tony S. said:

I'm sure you've seen Charlie has mentioned strides.

Not that I can recall.

Quoted message said:

Have you done any yet?

Not intentionally. It seems, though that whenever another runner or
bicycle passes me, or encounter one (or a walker) going the other way, I
tend to speed up a bit, and when I realize that I did so, I slow down
again to what I had been doing.

Quoted message said:

Strides are a series of pickups each of about 20-30 seconds, done as
fast as you feel comfortable but fluid.

Sorta like fartleks, but a shorter duration?

Fartlek is a type of workout that means 'speed play', but the efforts in
fartleks tend to be much longer than mere strides, like 3 minutes to 15 or
even 20 minutes.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Start with 3-4 maybe and work it up from there.

So maybe once a mile or so?

Yup, or every 1/2 or 1/3 of a mile. I normally do them ever 2 or 3 minutes,
depending on how I feel that day. It depends on how your body responds to
them. Strides aren't meant to be strenuous. They just recruit more of the
muscle fibers than slow running and provide a dynamic stretch.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

As for your speedup at the end, I think that's great.

OK, that's two votes for it so far--yours and my friends. I haven't
read Donavon's reply yet.

Quoted message said:

My running is all over the place - unconventional. I have to keep
changing things up, keep it interesting or I wouldn't do it.

I meant my race goals, the variety of terrain I run on, and mixing up my
'effort' day workouts. Most of my runs are steady and easy, with strides
thrown in sometimes. The effort days can be creative is all I meant here.
For you that might mean first mile slow, second mile faster than your normal
fast, then repeat.

Quoted message said:

I've been trying to keep my pace steady and consistent. I succeeded
fairly well today. 14:42, 14:38, 14:35, and 14:45. I could have done
that fourth mile faster, but I tried to slow it down because I knew that
I was going to open up for the last half mile. I was a bit surprised
that I didn't go quite as slowly as I had thought I had.

Quoted message said:

In any case it's always good to plan to end faster running before the
end of your run so you can cool down going slower.

I walk a quarter mile before and after each run. That's my warm up and
cool down. (I also do some light stretching after the warm up walk
before starting to run.)

Thanks for the feedback.

You're welcome. I'd be very careful about stretching before runs, even after
a brief warmup. I personally always stretch only after the full run or bike
ride.

-Tony

Quoted message said:

--
Crossing the starting line is 90%.
Crossing the finish line is the other 90%.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

n Sep 14 said:

I did 4 1/2 miles today. I kept an average 14:40 pace for the
first four miles, but I did the last half mile at a 12:48 pace, for
an overall pace for the full distance of 14:28.

Should I have tried to maintain pace during that last half mile, or
was it OK to speed up as I did?

There is not a lot of difference between those paces.

It is a 15% increase in speed.

Quoted message said:

Pushing pace is somewhat more relevant once you start going more than
6 miles an hour.

Speed is everything to you, isn't it? No room for back of the pack
runners in your universe, is there?

--
Crossing the starting line is 90%.
Crossing the finish line is the other 90%.

In article <QqHGi.5307$A72.1938@trnddc08>,

Tony S. said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Start with 3-4 maybe and work it up from there.

So maybe once a mile or so?

Yup, or every 1/2 or 1/3 of a mile. I normally do them ever 2 or 3
minutes, depending on how I feel that day.

Oh, I thought you meant three to four times a run.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I walk a quarter mile before and after each run. That's my warm up
and cool down. (I also do some light stretching after the warm up
walk before starting to run.)

Thanks for the feedback.

You're welcome. I'd be very careful about stretching before runs,
even after a brief warmup. I personally always stretch only after the
full run or bike ride.

As I said, *light* stretching. Just quads and calves.

And I always stretch after a run. Quads, hamstrings, upper calves,
lower calves, and piriformis. I also roll out my legs and back on a
foam roller after stretching.

--
Crossing the starting line is 90%.
Crossing the finish line is the other 90%.

Michelle said:

I did 4 1/2 miles today. I kept an average 14:40 pace for the first
four miles, but I did the last half mile at a 12:48 pace, for an overall
pace for the full distance of 14:28.

Should I have tried to maintain pace during that last half mile, or was
it OK to speed up as I did?

The overall pace is of little interest except to check that you aren't
doing to intense workouts.

I can (well, could) run at better then 3'/km pace for about a mile. When I
do a 10x200 session, with 30' warm up at 5'30/k and 10' jog back (at about
5'45/k) the whole thing works out at about 5'/k pace or so.

That said, my running mates always do their "base runs" with a little
acceleration during the closing minutes. "To get used to the mental
attitude of finishing hard in races" as they tell me.