What does an injured runner do to pass the time and keep his mind off of running? Why, yes, he goes through his running log books and Garmin 305 history to put together a list of fastest miles run within a workout or race for the last several months! Nothing like a little obsessive/compulsive behavior to alleviate some of the frustration!
I haven't run an all-out mile in many years, so these are just mile splits from either workouts (mostly tempo runs and intervals) and from races.
Here's what I came up with:
These are the total amount of sub-7 miles I've run since last October. So what does this all mean (besides a chance for all of my ultrarunning friends to shake their heads in disappointment over my obsession)? Well, in the words of Sammy Hagar in
There's Only One Way To Rock..."it's all just mental m..." (go look it up). Actually, I guess it means that I'm not terribly fast*. It also makes me want to
work on getting faster (eye rolls from aforementioned ultrarunning friends). And I'm still curious what I could do in a mile time trial if I trained for it. Which I don't intend to do. I would, however, like to increase my overall pace and maybe do a little speed work soon...heel willing. With Ragnar coming up, I'd like to run my legs faster than, oh, say...marathon pace!
That's about all I got right now. If you haven't already, check out the latest
Runner's Round Table episode 85, where I had the pleasure to co-host, along with
Matt,
Margaret,
Toni and
Dan. We talked about staying motivated as aging runners. It was a fun discussion.
[*I know, speed is totally relative. To some, I'm somewhat fast. To others, these are recovery mile times.]
That's still much faster than me! I don't think I've ever broken a 7 minute mile. But then again, I think I'd be categorized in with the "ultrarunners". ;)
ReplyDeleteThat is fast. I'm super slow, but me too fall in the ultra runner category. I love stats like that and often go back to logs from years ago. I love it.
ReplyDeleteSeems fast enough to me! But you're right, speed is ALL relative.
ReplyDeleteDamn you by the way - now I want to go do this with all of MY miles. Although, I've been pretty conservative with my running, so it wouldn't be neraly as impressive as yours.
Look at taking a little trip down memory lane. I need to be a little more detailed with my running stats.
ReplyDeleteDo you know what relay legs you are running?
Adam, your paces are plenty impressive. And I actually don't run hard all that often, which is why I've only gone sub-7 21 times in the last 8 months.
ReplyDeleteJulie, I'm not positive which legs I'll be running just yet. I'm pretty sure my first one will be a little over 8 miles, and listed as "very hard". Yipee.
I'm definitely not knocking ultrarunners, either, as I'm pretty sure I'll be one eventually. I should be running one in October. I can assure you that there will be no sub-7 paces from me then.
That is fast! I can do a mile or two at that pace, but I cannot sustain it. Someday I hope! I just got a Garmin 305. I love it! Unfortunately, I can't stop staring at it during my runs.
ReplyDeleteHere comes a dumb question, but is your Garmin set up to automatically record each mile as a "lap"? Way to quote the Red Rocker Colin.
ReplyDeleteChris, yes, I have my Garmin set up to record each mile as a lap. As for Sammy...Classic Rock, baby. That's how I roll.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the Garmin, give a listen to the latest Run, Run, Live podcast (ep. 125) to hear my latest parody song. You'll find out just how much I love my Garmin.
OMG, that was hilarious. "I'm gonna charge ya, charge ya, charge ya till we have fun". Classic. Speaking of classic. Top 10 RnR albums of all time: Montrose. Sammy sings, Ronnie Montrose shreds.
ReplyDeleteThat was a fun one to sing. Had to wear REALLY loose pants.
ReplyDeleteI never listened to much Montrose (except for the radio hits), but I've always liked Sammy. But I preferred DLR with VH.