The Crim is Coming

Okay, so my last run before the Crim was yesterday. I modified my 5-miler to make it a true 8k and ran it in 47 minutes; I used a 4:1 ratio for the whole run. I am starting to think I can do the 45 minute time on Saturday. That was a 9:27 pace--I am sure I can do better than that. Below is my Crim plan:

• Steve N. is running the 10M Crim, and we're going to take the bus into town together. He's coming by at 6:30, which is 3 hours before the start of my race. That's fine. I'll soak it all in and find a place along the route to cheer for Steve and Bill.
• Bill just chatted to say that he'll be there when I finish. That will be cool.
• Going to try to do my plan. Looking at the course, I want to modify it. At least one of my walk breaks is scheduled for the Bradley Hills. I don't want to break on the Hills, so I am not sure what to do. Probably ignore the watch on the hills. I had planned to switch my interval timer from 4:1 to 6:1 after the second mile. That happens on the Hills. Here's an idea: ignore all breaks on the Hills; take every other break during Mile 4, and ignore all breaks on Mile 5. That means essentially a 9:1 break ratio for Mile 4. The good thing about this plan is no re-setting of the interval timer.
• I think the most important part is those early walk breaks. My time in the Muskegon 5k would have been much shorter if I had taken walk breaks in the first 2 miles. That 8:14 mile at the beginning killed me. Frankly, if the splits are good in this 8k, I might be motivated to run that fast at the end!

SPLITS FOR 43:00 FINISH

1. 8:39
2. 17:18
3. 25:57
4. 34:36
5. 43:00

SPLITS FOR 45:00 FINISH

1. 9:03
2. 18:06
3. 27:09
4. 36:12
5. 45:00

Okay, so I think this is the strategy: set the watch to 4:1 and leave it. Take every walk break until you get to the Bradley Hills; ignore the walk breaks on the Hills; skip every other break until the end of Mile 4, and ignore the breaks during the last mile. That way the only watch activity is SPLITS.