Quarters for Dan

Ladies,

Consider today the first psuedo-speedwork of the season. Our first meet is two weeks from today; we need to start becoming familiar with our speed.

The workout was an interval drill, the pattern being 1/4, 1/2, 1/4, 1/4, 1/2, 1/4. There was a 1/4 rest interval between each hard run. How did it go?

Danielle and I ran together, so I can give you her splits (and mine). Shelby joined us in the second half of the run, so she shares some of the harder splits. The breakdown:

1. 1:29 - 5:56 mpm
2. 3:09 - 6:18 mpm
3. 1:31 - 6:04 mpm
4. 1:27 - 5:48 mpm
5. 2:56 - 5:48 mpm
6. 1:24 - 5:36 mpm

Things to consider - this was the first work at high speed we've done for some time. As such, it's difficult to nail down the precise pace you want to run at any given time. This will explain how the pace jumped from the first to second split. I was leading, and I wanted to bring the pace back to a reasonable number, something I felt you could do. It was a guess, pure and simple. It became clear to me as the run progressed I wasn't really pressing Danielle (and later Shelby). From that point on I let the pace pick up. Ultimately, the girls dusted me on the last quarter. 

Okay, analysis time. If I combine the halves, I get 6:05 mpm. Combining the quarters gives 5:51. Add it all up and you get 11:56, or 5:58 mpm. What can we make of those numbers?

First, the quarter speed. The high end was 5:36 mpm pace. That absolutely confirms top-end speed. This you are born with, and there's little you can do to create it. It's also worth noting the final quarter was the fastest, suggesting the real top-end speed would be much greater. I'd guess quarter speed could easily be more in the neighborhood of 5:20 mpm or less. That's very good. 

Second, let's consider the half speed. The average here was considerably less, which makes sense because the distance was double. Now consider the length of a 5k - that's 3.1 miles, or a bit more than 12 quarters. It would be a good bet that the overall pace for the distance might be 15-20 spm slower. That would give us a race speed of 6:20-6:25 mpm on the road. 

Our cross course is hilly, worth anywhere between 30-40 second increase from a road time. So, extrapolating out today's pace with the predicted slowing from running our course... I'd race predict 20:30 under similar weather conditions. That's a rough number, but I'd guess it's in the ballpark of what we could expect in the not-too-distant future.

Now let's look at Alli's run - numbers I have because of the Garmin.

1. 1:35 - 6:10 mpm
2. 3:23 - 6:46 mpm
3. 1:38 - 6:16 mpm
4. 1:32 - 6:04 mpm
5. 3:13 - 6:26 mpm
6. 1:37 - 6:14 mpm

Okay, halves give us 6:36, quarters 6:22. Applying the same logic as before, you get a road race pace of approximately 7:00-7:05 mpm, or right about 21:50 total time. Add the adjustment for our course, and you get right at 22:35. That sounds about right.

All of this logic is contingent upon a couple of points - first, that you all ran the appropriate level of effort, and secondly, that you run the proper race first race. Further, understand this represents how things stand today. It can (and will) change quickly over the next few weeks. 

We'll do a tempo later this week. I think I have an eye-opener for a couple of you on that day!

Allie's run.