The Walk Breaks Have It

So, I dragged myself out for my three-miler this morning at a little past 6am. It was 6:35 by the time I got out the door, and it would be an understatement to say that I was "undermotivated." That said, I had some positive stuff rolling around in my head. I was determined to get out there and see what happened. It was sunny, 59 degrees, and perfect for a morning run.

So, I got through the first mile or so with my usual "the first mile is the hardest--keep going" mantra. I got to about 1.5 miles and decided I would try a short walk break. I walked for 60 breaths (probably longer than 1 minute) and kept on trucking. I decided against shortening my route at the loop; I did the loop, got past the 2 mile mark and took another walk break (again, 60 breaths) at about the 2.5 mile mark. I got right back into my stride and pointed home; by then, I was starting to get really interested in what my time would be. I do that 3-miler in 32 minutes by myself and with Steve. What did those walk breaks do to my time?

They added only 1 minute. My time was 33 minutes. I slowed down to walk speed for more than 2 minutes and only added 1 minute to my overall time.

I think I am going to like walk breaks. Hey, and that interval watch arrived today.

I am thinking of doing that 3-miler with a 4:1 or 5:1 run/walk ratio to see what happens to the time.

The Watch

I am a bit too tech-savvy to be blown away by the features of a wristwatch, but this thing is really going to help me. The interval mode is easy to program and put on repeat. When on repeat, the alarms are clearly different for RUN and WALK. You can also switch to other modes while the intervals cycle. Very cool.

Thoughts on the 8k

So, I checked some recent Crim results for the 8k for my age group. The times range from 34 minutes (6:51/mi pace) to 1:33 (18:49/mi pace). Looking at the results, I see that my neighbor across the street did it in 2007 and finished 25th for the age group (I also see that he is 5 years older than me). He ran it in 51:32 or a pace of 10:22/mi--that's similar to what I am running the 3k in now. Looks like the average finishing time was about 48 minutes.

I think it would be cool to finish this race in 45 minutes. Depending on the year, this gets you in the top 15 for the 40-44 age range. Not terrible.