Week 18 Wrapup

I ran really fast this week. My short runs were all under my 9:39 target pace. However, my legs started getting really sore, especially from my knees down. For my long run, I deliberately tried to go slower to take it easy, but I still ended up at just abve 10:00/mile. I guess I'm just so excited to be able to run that fast that it's hard to slow down. Plus, it's just more fun to run fast than run slow, and you finish sooner.

I'm going to have to make an extra effort to run slow next week to save my legs from getting worse. Besides saving my legs, there are apparently other reasons to run slower. Almost every training article I've ever read says that you vary your pace, and not just to prevent injury or fatigue or anything. You actually train your body differently at a slower pace than at a faster pace.

Take, for example, two identical runners. They're both running the same race 12 weeks away. Train them both for 12 weeks doing the exact same runs on the exact same days. However, the first runner always runs at the same fast pace. The second runner runs some of the time at that fast pace, and some of the time a minute or two per mile slower. Come race time, that second runner will do better, and not because he's less fatigued or less injured or anything like that.

It's totally counter-intuitive, and I'm still not 100% sure I believe it, but I'm still at the stage where I trust the experts over my limited knowledge, so that's what I'll do. The 29th is coming quickly, and I'm still unsure if I'll be fast enough by then to make my goal of 10k in 1 hour. However, there's still a couple of races after that if I don't. Besides the 29th isn't about me, anyway. It's all about beating Steven.