Wednesday, March 2, 2011

My speed is going up... sort of...

Yea! I actually made it outside today! It did rain on me a little bit, but really not too bad. In fact, at one point, there was even a little blue sky trying to peek out from under a curtain of gray. Of course that didn't last long and by the time I was done with my shower it was dumping rain again. I guess I timed it just about perfectly!

I tried to focus on pacing today. I didn't do a lot of walking, but I did walk at regular intervals. It seems contrary to what you might think, but walking for short periods of time at regular intervals really can speed up your overall pace. Jeff Galloway on his website strongly encourages these run/walk intervals... even for more advanced runners... as a good way to up their speed. The minute or so of recovery time during your walk will make you much better equipped to handle a slightly higher speed during the rest of your run and your overall average will increase.

I know sometimes it really feels like you're breaking up your run if you do stop to walk for even just a minute or so and it can feel like a total struggle to get the rhythm of your running stride back... just keep in mind that in the long run (yes, pun intended) after all this is a technique for long runs, not sprints, this really will be of benefit to you and your overall running abilities.

Now, if I could only learn to run in the snorkel and flippers that have been required for outdoor runs for most of this week...


Today's Run
Miles: 6.40 (this might be my best outdoor run to date... yea!)
Time: 1:15
Pace: 5.1 mph
Street Run

4 comments:

Reen said...

Great job! I am also kind of following Jeff Galloway's method, and I think it helps a lot! I ran 7.19 miles the other day (my longest so far) and ran it at 8:2 intervals. Was very comfortable.

Unknown said...

Great run, I am have a hard time starting again after taking walking breaks. I need to work on that.

Jo said...

Jen, sometimes what I'll do to get my rhythm back after walking is to run faster than my normal pace for just a minute or so... almost like a mini fartlek... and then slow back down to normal pace. I don't know why this does it for me, but it really seems to help... maybe it gets me over the inertia of walking! LOL!

Jo said...

Reen - Congrats on the run... that's very cool! I really think Jeff Galloway has a good technique for those of us who aren't out to win Olympic gold anytime soon.