May 25, 2005
gazelles
it's great to have fast people around you to really get you to push yourself. unfortunately, i usually train on my own, and it's only on long runs that i seek out the occasional company. the back bay trail rarely has folks on it that are moving at a decent clip, either. so, i was pleased yesterday when i ended up with not one, but three fast guys that got me to push my pace.
the run was a short six, with the last two miles at a hard effort. as i started out, i was running in front of a guy that was slowly gaining on me. hearing his footsteps behind me had me unconsciously picking up the pace. the first mile ended up being just a hair under what was the fast end of the acceptable range for a warm up.
i kept the pace consistent for the next three miles and then picked up the pace to work on the hard effort at mile four. at 4.5, i linked back up with the back bay trail and ended up behind one guy and in front of another. they were about 100m apart and i was smack dab in the middle.
the guy out in front was moving pretty fast, looked really fit and was a perfect target for me. i hoped to catch him and pace with him for the remainder of the run. i stepped up the pace a little more and began slowly gaining on him. i figured by mile five or shortly thereafter, i'd catch him.
that's when, like the wind, the guy that was behind me came whooshing by. he was really moving. he caught the guy in front of me, called to him by name and they began keeping pace with each other. they both slowly began to move away from me, so i picked it up a little more.
with the effort i was putting out, i couldn't do much to actually catch them before the end of the run, but i wasn't about to let them get away, either. i ate up a little ground, but they continued at a quick pace and when i hit six, they were still about 25m ahead of me.
but, the great thing was that without them, i'd have only pushed for about a 6:50-7:00 pace for the last two miles. instead, i ended up with 6:42 and 6:21. again, i'm giddy with excitement about being able to maintain that sort of pace.
it's great to have those lickity-split-fast folks out on the trail to really help show you what you're capable of.
Posted by jeff at May 25, 2005 7:46 AMComments
Great Post! I completely agree with you. I am very thankful for the “lickity-split-fast” runners out there–especially on race day when I want to slow down.
Posted by: aprilanne at May 25, 2005 11:16 AMaprilanne,
i always hit 'respond' to your comments and get the silly bounce-back due to your spam preventions. foiled again! but you're right, especially on race day. and especially when the lickity-split-fast runner is wearing an orange hat...
Posted by: jeff at May 25, 2005 11:19 AMgazelles is the perfect word to describe them. they look so effortless like they are almost floating. couldn't agree more, it's like a force field around them drawning you in
Posted by: ali at May 25, 2005 7:26 PMHey Jeff...that’s weird about the comment thing. I didn’t even know I had spam preventions with the blog. ~ (You are right---If it were not for the lickity-split-orange hat runner, I would always be at a 10 min. mile pace.) :)
Posted by: aprilanne at May 25, 2005 8:27 PMAwww..you two are sweet!
And I agree...I like to pace with the faster runners; keeps me from daydreaming. I may be able to beat them, but I can try to hang on and draft behind them. Tee hee.
Posted by: Dianna at May 26, 2005 7:31 AMThe fast runners in my group were talking about exact same thing yesterday. One of them said it's the testosterone that kicks in when the footsteps behind start getting closer.
Posted by: Deene at May 26, 2005 8:20 AMI think I've been missing that lately, but this Tuesday one of the skinny-fast runners recovering from winter abdominal surgery ran just slightly ahead waited for me at the tops of hills. It spurred me on to try a little harder.
It DOES help :)
Posted by: Karen in Calgary at May 26, 2005 8:38 AMI need to run trails more often. Running alone through neighborhoods (with the Labrador who wants to pee on everything) is a terrible way to train!
Posted by: tracy at May 26, 2005 10:20 AMi'd like to find some one to run with...it always makes for a better training sessions. i have cycling patners but have yet to find a runner. perhaps most of the people in floirda are to old to even walk let alone run!
Posted by: Oldman at May 26, 2005 12:12 PMaprilanne,
what i was refering to was how you put -@yahoo.com as your email address. when you comment, i get an email in my inbox with your message. i'll usually just hit reply and respond that way - rather than here. but, the -@yahoo.com address bounces back and i always forget until i've already sent you a response. make sense?
Posted by: jeff at May 26, 2005 2:13 PMOhh...now I get it (you would think I was a blond!) :) ~ I normally don’t put my real address in blog comments because my last name is part of my e-mail address and I’m afraid of stalkers. I know I can trust RBF members, but I am afraid of other weird blog lurkers.
Posted by: aprilanne at May 26, 2005 8:16 PMaprilanne,
wise of you. just so you know, my blog is set up so that when you post comments, your email address is never displayed or available to the public. it only ends up on the return address of the email notification i get that you've commented.
Posted by: jeff at May 27, 2005 9:50 AMHeh - that's why my training group has that as its name: Gilbert's Gazelles. Fast folk like that are truly monuments of efficiency in motion, too. Great news that you got the extra push.
Posted by: Richard at May 27, 2005 3:57 PM