Start time: 01/18/06, 6:45pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 9:05min/mile
It was indeed just me today, although I had to give serious thought to if I was even going to run. I forgot my iPodShuffle, and the only non-black-or-navy-colored clothes I had was a white hat, hardly a brilliant outfit for running at night. Oh yes, and I also was starting late and unlike other times hadn’t remembered to bring anything to eat beforehand. Oof.
Still, out I went. I hadn’t decided up until the last second if I was going to just run it, or if I’d stick with the 6:1 and see how that would do. I was really quite happy with the end results; the last mile slid a little bit (9:00, 8:54, 9:09, 9:18) but considering that fourth mile by the rules of math ended up with a second walk cycle, I’m not complaining. It’s always fun playing with a new ratio. I’ve got a 10K in March and while I know planet3rry is saying I should just run the entire thing all the way through, I still haven’t decided if I’d plug in a run:walk or not. If I could nail under a 9min/mile average for the St. Patrick’s Day 10K then I’d be delighted. (My last 10K, which was a PR, was a 9:22.) Shouldn’t be a problem, I hope.
I’m totally rooting for you for a sub-9 average for St. Patty’s Day! I know you can do it, you speed demon, you!
OKay, I will offer a compromise. First of all… those were GREAT times to:
1)Not really wanted to run
2)being by yourself
3)chilly weather I presume when a Grands Toffee Nut Latte sounds yummy
4)on a rather empty stomach (been there before!)
My compromise would be as follows:
Run 4 miles uninterrupted, take a walk break of 1-2 minutes depending on goal time. Then ATTACK the last 2.2 miles as the first 4 were warm-up and now the last 2.2 are the meat of the race. I did a crude Excel calculation guessing that your walk speed is a 14 min mile:
With a run/walk 6:1 at 9:00 pace you finished in 58:42
with a run/walk/run at 9:00 pace you finish in 56:12
either way you can reach your goal, but you are the one that has to run the race, so you need to be comfortable with it. But I have total faith that you’ll be getting that new PR!