Second up-tempo Tuesday

I know, I know, everyone hates the prospect of a hard workout. Everyone dreads it, gripes about it, tries to defer it, but let's face it, hard workouts are an important part of what makes you great, or at the very least, your very best. Growing is painful because it stretches you... the more you're willing to stretch, the greater your potential growth.

I went for the track today for a combination of reasons:

• Your distance is not long enough yet for a full 3-mile tempo
• The Wilson course is not accurate enough and is difficult to monitor
• Pacing is more readily learned on a track
• The track offered a direct comparison to last week's workout
• In the early stages of pace work, being able to establish a constant pace is critical

So the distance was upped today to a full 2-mile run. This works out well because optimal tempo distance is up to 20 minutes of running (usually) at about 15 seconds per mile off race pace. It's not an all-out effort, just a strong effort. I think that's exactly what I saw happen today. To the numbers!

Athlete	Time	Pace	Projected	Improvement
Alli	14:59:00	7:29:30	23:13:27	0:29:00
Bret	14:48:00	7:24:00	22:56:24	0:12:00
Danielle	14:48:00	7:24:00	22:56:24	0:18:36
Morgan	14:50:00	7:25:00	22:59:30	0:15:30
Carrie	14:48:00	7:24:00	22:56:24	0:42:36
Diana	17:06:00	8:33:00	26:30:18
Zoe	16:39:00	8:19:30	25:48:27	2:09:00
Chloe	16:39:00	8:19:30	25:48:27	0:34:33
Chelsea	16:41:00	8:20:30	25:51:33	0:13:27
Carlee	18:57:00	9:28:30	29:22:21	0:22:39
McKena	18:57:00	9:28:30	29:22:21	0:53:39
Lauren	8:33:00	8:33:00	26:30:18	0:52:42

Clarification: The improvement column shows how much time was gained (or lost) off last week's projected race time. This is not per mile, but total time. I would have expected to see all times slow slightly as we ran farther today, but for the most part folks went faster. Point is, even if you went slightly slower today, it was a great run.

First impressions: Ladies, I must tell you, to see that front group clustered the way it was... that's been a long time coming and one of the most welcome sights I've seen since I've started working with you. That was a controlled run, and you all looked great!

Second group looked great too... Chloe did a great job setting you guys up on pace - great leadership there - and Diana made the right move after the first mile to help with the lead, as did Zoe after that.

Third group: You guys beat the pace I gave you, I don't know if you realize that. You were smooth. Very mature running!

Overall: This is easily the best the returning runners have looked. We are a solid team. I mean that. We are good, we are deep, and we are healthy.

A short note about pacing... right now, these are loose targets. I wanted to try to break you into groups of approximate fitness, so at this point this was a loose fit. If you were a little off the target I gave you, don't worry about it. We'll get it locked to your specific numbers soon enough. For now, the effort is the main thing.

Now for a little deeper analysis... after a year of coaching, I have the data to look back and compare where we were last year. Why? We want to see growth. I like to put things on the curve, so to speak, because that can be a great predictor of future improvement. So where were we on the first tempo last year (which happened in July, by the way)? I don't have numbers for everyone, but here's who ran the first one:

Athlete	Time	Pace	Projected
Alli	23:30:00	7:50:00	24:17:00
Bret	24:00:00	8:00:00	24:48:00
Danielle	22:36:00	7:32:00	23:21:12
Carrie	23:40:00	7:53:20	24:27:20
Morgan	24:25:00	8:08:20	25:13:50
Diana	19:06:00	9:33:00	29:36:18

Getting the picture yet? Think of it this way... how many girls went on to run in the 21's, 22's, 23's...? You are all at least 30 seconds to a minute (or more) faster than last year. True, this was a 3-mile tempo, and we'll soon get to those, but I still believe this is a valid comparison. You folks weren't dying today. You were in control, and I have full confidence you could have carried it another mile. 

Here's another nugget for you... we have seven (7!) girls on this team who could do a road 5k under 23 minutes. That's today, early in the training cycle, not even three full weeks into the summer. What will it be by August? September? October? We're just starting and you guys are already very good. That has to get you pumped.

Believe you are good, because you are! Run like you are great, because you are! Run like you'll win, because you can!