My fast is slow and my slow is fast

Wednesday's dismal speed work (6:15 miles when I should have been doing 5:58 miles) was followed by a surprising fast short run Thursday.

Physically and mentally hurting from the previous day, I vowed to keep it slow for my five miler. Okay, not "slow", but comfortable - putting in some effort but not pushing it. The outer part of my left leg was in a bit of pain or discomfort. Was it ITB related? A ligament? A tendon? Didn't know, didn't care. I was going to go easy and that was that.

Thinking I was doing a 7:30 pace, I was surprised to see that I finished with a 35:25. That's a 7:05 pace, right around marathon speed.

Clearly, I am way out of tune with my body and have lost ability to know how fast I'm going simply by the amount of effort I put in.

Comments

[Derek]

I wish I was even close to your times. I have a long way to go just to get close to a 7:30 pace and hope to one day be able to have enough experience to know how well I'm pacing.

[Daniel Galioto]

Derek:
Nice of you to say, but no need to wish for my times or anyone else's. Unless you're Geb Gebremariam or Robert Cheruiyot, there's always someone faster. The rest of us will just keep working toward our next PR. But, you will find that with the right kinds of training (speed intervals and tempo runs) you'll get in tune enough that you won't even need to check your splits on long runs. Keep up the good work!