Run Update and My Secret Revealed

This morning, Wednesday, I met Kerry for a greenbelt run with Karma. Brad had all the intentions of joining us, but I received this text message from him at 5:57am:

Go without me. I'm locked in the gate of my apartment

We ran a nice easy pace around the Pantie loop, and managed to duck UNDER the concussion tree escaping any injuries. About 4 miles worth of running in a nice, cool 40 degree dark morning. I'm starting to get used to cool runnings.

On Tuesday, I had a track workout with my Dallas Marathon colleagues. Sorry Gordon, for boring you with more Dallas stories ; )

After a 10 minute warmup run, that was definitely needed in the 38 degree weather we had... on the agenda were 4 sets of 2000 meters at CV pace. 12 to 15K pace is considered the CV pace, or Critical Velocity pace For me, that's about a 6:30/mile pace.
5 laps around the track is 2000 meters, and my times clocked in as follows:
Set 1: 8:07
Set 2: 8:09
Set 3: 8:07
Set 4: 8:05 (sped up in the last 50 meters to finish in good running form)

Some friends apparently marvel over my ability to keep my pace consistant in workouts. (Tim and Shorey)

So who is this masked man, and how DOES he do it?

Well, it's actually a mixture of two things:
One: Really concentrate on my workouts to feel the pace, so I can learn what paces feel like. The more you run paces and really pay attention to what they feel like, the more you can start hitting those fairly well. I'm very good at 8:15, 8, 7:45-50, 7:25, 7:15, 7, 6:45, and 6:30paces... I really suck at faster than 10K paces. 10k pace being my 6:30'ish pace.

Two: I use my watch a ton, but I also have to know what my workout is. If i'm running a track workout, I use a Pace Calculator like the hyperlinked one. I'm currently slowly reading a book about improving the mental part of my running which eventually marries the mental and physical better. (I'll share more on that when I'm done reading it.)

In the book, the guy suggests to increase your goals by 7%, and from there, decide on a time that you think is achievable.
In other words:
My ultimate goal is a 3:15 marathon. He says to take off 7% percent from the time, and from there(3hr 01min), start counting back towards the initial goal, until you mentally feel like the new time is achievable based on your absolutely perfect race day. Anyway, my time I feel is achievable under perfect conditions and feeling fantastic is around a 3:07, so that's what I go with for all my workouts.

That is the time I plug in as my Marathon Goal in the calculator. Now I have my splits I should be hitting on the track for different workouts. Here's my breakdown. I actually sometimes write the splits down and bring them with me so I remember them. As you see in the link, I need 8:06 for a 2000, which is 48 seconds 200's to hit my 12K pace (the fast side of my CV pace)

Here's the key to my consistant pace though... I don't keep track of 400 meters. Instead I always track the 200 meter splits. It's much easier for me to do math doubling a time than dividing a time. Plus, 200 meters comes up more frequently and I can then adjust my cadence in the 2nd 200 of a lap to hit my required goal time. (hope that makes sense). I also sneak a peek at the 100 meter mark during the first few laps until the cadence is perfect.

There are some other non-track workouts that we do. In those, I really look at my watch on specific points of the particular loop/course/street.

For example, we do a workout called the Warhurst, where we run out off the Austin Highschool track, up veterans towards Magnolia Cafe, then back down around Deep Eddy and back. It's a 1 mile hilly loop. I have 2 markers on that course for a 7 minute mile time. One is the post at the top of the hill as I turn onto Lake Austin Boulevard(3min10sec), and the second is by Deep Eddy pool. There is a metal plate on the ground, and I need to be on it by 4 min 20 seconds, to know that I'm on pace to come in around a 6:55 mile.

I have the same type markers on other courses. It's really just a matter of paying attention to your first lap, and guesstimate where, for example, the 1/3rd or 2/3rds are, or where the half way point is. Remember those times for that workout's subsequent laps, adjust your paces, and do your best to rememeber them for the next time around. (Overtime, adjust the times to get faster.)
Oh yeah, don't pick a car, pick something that will be there like a post or a tree.
There you have it, the secret behind my consistant paces!