Saturday, August 12, 2006

Time Trial Results

Met the Striders at Stratford High School for the first of two, one-mile time trials. On May 11, 2006 I ran my first time trial as part of Summer SMART training. My mile debut time: 7:09. The goal for today's run was a sub-7:00 minute mile. Would I be able to finally check off one of my running goals for 2006? I was worried because Keith's MonkeyBuddha said: Solution to your problem is to throw poop at it

Coach Steeve divided us among like abilities. Luckily I ran the first of three separate heats. One could reason that I had better conditions. Yeah, advantage to Bill! Coach gave me instructions for the following splits: 1:45 x 3 and 1:44 for the last lap. There were seven people in my heat. The very talented Joyce took the lead, giving me advantage number two. I managed to match her stride for stride for most of the mile. Joyce ROCKS!

At the end of the first lap the clock read 1:40. Two thoughts ran through my head. One was... I might be able to hold this pace and make a killer PR. Excitement overcame me when I overheard Steeeve yell "you're on a 6:40 pace". My second thought was I probably went out too fast and will regret it SOON. Well, the later was the correct assumption. I stayed in a state of confusion trying to predict my time at the 200 meter pole, where Chris was calling out times. Thanks Chris, you Rock!! I slowed down at 600 meters and it showed on the second complete lap. I don't remember the exact time, but I went from 5 seconds in the bank to OVERDRAWN in the matter of one lap. Joyce pulled away slightly on the second lap. My ever changing strategy was to hold the pace and just see what happens. As warned the third lap was tough. Lap number three was probably the least eventful though Joyce and I were much closer in distance. I didn't worry about predicting my times. I could see that Joyce was holding a solid pace and as long as I kept her close we would both have a good run. With 200 meters to go, the finish clock was in eye sight and it was rapidly approaching my goal. Honestly, I thought I had blown my opportunity. With the clock at 6:40+, I gave it all I had. Fortunately, I stopped the clock at 6:57. One-mile PR by 13 seconds. Yeah me!

Schedule: 2-mile warm up, abbreviated silly walks, strides, 1-mile time trial, and 2-mile cool down.

Lots of GREAT times out there. In fact, too many to mention. Everyone was a superstar today. This isn't a blanket term. There was a serious number of PR's and a couple first-timers. Must be nice when people like Steve B. run their first time trial and log a 6:11 mile!

Erin and Alison joined me at the track which lead to slacking on my warm up and cool down. Ok, it's wasn't their fault, but I was concerned with their boredom level. The warm up was shorted by a 1/4 mile and the cool down was 1/2 mile shy of the 2-mile mark. I picked up an extra mile as soon as I got home. Erin took some great pictures for your viewing pleasure. ENJOY!

Activity: Time Trial Run
Mileage: 5.3 miles, total
Time: 52:08 -- 9:50 overall pace
1.75 mile warm up - 18:04
1-mile Time Trial -- 6:57
1.50 mile cool down -- 16:00
1-mile mileage make-up -- 11:11
Location: Stratford High School
How I Felt: 9.5

4 comments:

Steve Bezner said...

Fantastic effort today! I knew you were going ot make it after lap 3 when you started to bring the horse to the barn. It was a lot of fun to watch. You keep getting better and better!

Congrats!

Unknown said...

WOOHOO, Bill!!! I got home earlier than expected and went straight to my computer to see if Bill broke 7. You had not posted yet. Just checking againg this afternoon and there it is. Never a doubt. WTG!!! Missed you this morning.

Unknown said...

Nice job, the 7 minute mile has been a goal of mine too for a while, and I've never done it.

And maybe it's just me, but I'm starting to think that that monkey's advice really sucks.

Anonymous said...

William "Bill",

Another cool thing about your run is how quickly you recovered. Yup, bounced right up and called splitz at the 200m mark for the next heat. Your body is adapting to the hard training!

Steeeve