Nike Human 10k Race Training Run Number 7

I am really excited about running.  I have been running again since February 2005 without a watch or timing device.  This year starting in January I challenged myself to run 1,000 miles in a year.  So far I have run 589 miles this year.  Most of the miles have been around LBJ Lake by myself.  Well in July I started training with RunTex and the Fit City Team to train for the Nike Human Race 10k.  I just ran my second run using my new Garmin Forerunner 405.  I am now collecting data to improve my strength and speed.

Today I ran again with the 9 minute 5 mile group.  The pace leader also had a Garmin Forunner 405.  we ran for about 1.5 miles at 7.5 minute miles. This was faster than I was use to, but I kept up. The Garmin 405 sends data to my computer wirelessely when it is in range. When I looked at the data from today's run I was amazed that I averaged 8.23 minutes per mile.  The after the last part of the run up the hill I was running as fast as at the start of the run.

During the RunTex training on Thursday the coach had us run repeats up a hill.  He taught us a technique that would spare the calves from working too hard and we would rais our legs to work our gluts on the hill.  I was really tired as we turned from Lamar onto 24th Street to climb the hill back to Starbucks.  I decided that I would try to do what the coach said.  As I ran the hill I mad sure that I kept my knees high and I put my down step on thew ball of my foot.  I did not want to slow down on the hill and I wanted to give my calves a rest.  I found that when I finally got to the top on the hill that I recovered and had enough energy with my rested calves to run some sub 8 minute per mile pace back to the finish.

If you click on any of the images in this post then you will see some of the data collected from the Garmin 405.  I used a feature of the Garmin Training software to lay the data onto Google Earth images.  When I click on the square box that represents the spot that the data was collected from a pop-up shows the actual data collected at that spot. The last image shows how fast I was running right before the finish after running up the hill.  At thsi point I did not want anyone to pass me so I was really hauling as fast as I coulfd go. In my mind I never think how fast I am going.  When you ahve data collectin devices you can know for sure.  At the finish I was running 7.38 miles per minute.

I talked to the pace setter who finished with the fast runners in the group that were behind me about the 5 mile pace that we just did.  He said that his goal was to finish the 5 miles at 8.45 minutes per mile. He reminded me that when you say that you are going to run a 9 minute mile race that you are talking about the average pace.  Sometimes you will run faster and sometimes you will run slower.  After looking at my data from my Garmin 405 I can see how true that statement is.  My slowest pace was 12 miles per minute and my fastest pace was 3.45 minutes per mile