November 30th, 2010
Speedwork today. 6x.5 miles w/2min rec’s, chosen because it’d been 4 months since I’d done a 5k pace workout and I was really curious to see where I stood. Fully prepared for a rusty one, I was hopeful that my speedier paces of late might account for something. That, they did.
Splits were 3:16, 3:17, 3:15, 3:17, 3:13, 3:16, avg pace 6:30. The fastest set of those I’ve ever done. Total for the run with wu/cd was 7.5 mi @ 7:48.
So, what does this mean? It means I am officially back on the PR prowl again. Finally.
My Goal For Carlsbad
I’m going to go ahead and say it now, because it’s the magic number for the next few weeks…7:05 pace, which comes out to 1:32:47. Now, I need to also say that if it’s a warm day (because it is California and it could happen) then I’ll have to dumb it down on race day, but all my quality for the next couple months will have that race pace in mind.
I actually picked the goal a couple days after the Philly Half, thanks those final 7:05s feeling like they did. But I still need to grow more – the course is supposedly more rolling than Philly and I want to keep the effort dial on 9.5, not go anywhere near 11, so I think that with 8 weeks of steady work, I’ll be in a good position to do it.
Owning New Paces
OK, I find the whole “owning” terminology a little psychobabbely, New Agey, but it’s really the best way I can think of to describe accepting new paces as mine and that I deserve to run them.
I’ve talked about this before, that I envision paces and pace ranges as hands on a clock face, which is pretty funny considering I haven’t owned anything but digital clocks for years. But anyway, I can “understand” the paces I personally come in contact with but anything faster, it’s like that great New Yorker cover, only instead of empty geography, time is the blank. Anything faster than 6:30, I could not, or would not bother to comprehend. Why would I? My clock’s been stuck for so long.
That’s not to say I haven’t touched the 5:xx’s a few times, I have, but that was in strides and Billats. And I’m not talking about 30 seconds of fast, I’m talking about intervals with some meat on them and 5K race paces that land in the 2nd quadrant of 6 o’clock. I’ve held off on going there in my mind because what if I never got to have it? That would suck.
But now I can see some movement ahead. Like the excitement I felt when I was in the 7:xx’s peering at 6:xx’s till they became real and normal, it’s not ridiculous for me to start envisioning paces between 6:15 and 6:30 – a new area of the clock I can call home, that I can possibly get to own. It blows my mind.
Posted in 
Tags: 
I’m not a new ager, but I like the idea of “owning” too — of making something belong to you, rather than treat it as the property of a guest.
Yay. You’re a cool chick so I appreciate you not finding the term too smarmy.
Also, by “owning” the pace, it’s almost an osmosis type of thing, where it’s really in your pores and part of you (how I see it, anyway).
I really like your blog. I “friended” you recently as Ron Abramson spoke so highly of you. You probably don’t know me but I post as MarlborostoMarathons on RWOL
Thanks Eric! Thanks to Ron, too, he’s such a sweetie. I’m glad we became friends, we have so many mutual pals in common, I’ve been seeing your name all year.
Fun to know your RW moniker, too – I had no idea that’s who you were.
Ha, I’ve never run in Philly but the highest point on the Carlsbad course is only 75 feet above sea level, so it’s pretty darn good for around here. I totally feel you on the envisioning new paces. Probably my most ambitious, pie-in-the-sky goal for the spring is getting under 6:00 per mile in a 5K. That’s only 5-6 seconds per mile off of my PR. But I never see 5s when I run (in fact I associate them with lots of suffering), so it feels absurd to say it.
Cool on the elevation info, that is fabu! I am also so glad you have a similar thing towards breaking 6 – it’s always nice to know I’m not the only one thinking the way I do.
But girlfriend, you are on the cusp of that baby!! It’ll be yours in the blink of an eye.
What a great visual with the clock quadrants and pacing. I’ve never thought about it that way… I tend to focus on the “10′s,” which is probably pretty common: sub 6:30′s, 6:20′s, 6:10′s… haven’t given a fleeting thought to 5:xx yet at any of the distances I race. I kind of like the “owning it” psychobabble, particularly with regard to this discussion!
10s make sense, don’t know how that clock thing came about. Can’t get rid of it though, lol. And yay on another “owning doesn’t suck” person. Not that I have anything invested in the term, just makes me feel less silly for using it.
Ooh, Me too with the clock mental model. Also with the intervals in that quadrant. It doesn’t seem that long ago that you were talking about “hanging out with the 6s” as a novelty. You’re going to kill at Carlsbad!
Oh, you Sweetie for remembering “hanging out with the 6s”! What a friend. So cool that you’re a fellow clock face person. Maybe that’s a sign of our age, though.
You’re going to kill at CIM! So there.
i love half mile repeats. great job on them lady! i guess i’ll live vicariously through you as it’ll be a few weeks before they get put on my docket.
great time goal! you will rock it. that whole owning thing is something i need to steal from you. if i feel like something is mine then that means i’m gonna go and TAKE IT. so gooooooooo you
Well you go on and own Dallas this weekend! It’s yours for the taking.
Wait…so this was your fastest workout ever? Well. Hot damn. I can also attest that simply being in California during the winter will knock a few seconds off your time, just because of the delight of not being in the Northeast when it’s crappy. That’s a fact! Google it.
I like the idea of adjusting to new paces, if only because it keeps you from sliding back into your old “fast” paces, which are now the new slow paces and are no longer appropriate (but feel so good…). A nice kick in the pants to remind you that it never gets easier, you just get faster.
Yeah, my fastest for that workout (I don’t do them on a track, btw, so it’s not flat).
You spoke the truth! “never gets easier, you just get faster” I really wish it didn’t work that way, lol. Then again, it wouldn’t be a challenge if it did. Now to Google the number of seconds I’ll win by being in Cali in the winter…
Congrats on the fast workout!
Holy socks! The wind this morning kicked my ass but I enjoyed the refreshing soaking rain. This weather is crazy, who would have thought that in December it would be 62 degrees?!
That is crazy. And crazy too is that by the time I go out this afternoon it’s supposed to have dropped by 10 degrees. I always find it weird when the temps lower as the day progresses.
Yeah I never quite got that either
I can’t find Australia on that New Yorker cover!
Those were some very good half miles. It’s great to have affirmation that you’ve moved to a new level with a different workout. The 1:32:47 looks very doable. We drove through Carlsbad on 101 and I don’t recall it as overly rolling. There’ll be sea breezes though… pushing you to a new PB!
That’s because Australia was so big and detailed, they had to put it on its own cover. Just don’t ask me to find it.
Cool on the not especially rolling. Two people told me it was rolling but Adam and Kristin and now you have said it’s not, so “not” wins. Yay!
Carlsbad is rolling, trust me. I’ve run it several times. It’s a fair course, but not at all flat.
So you were one of the rolling people! OK, I trust you. I always do, sucka that I am.