Running With Jack

Last night at 5:30 p.m. I ran the 4K/2.5M to the trailhead so I could run with my running club. We had a pretty good turnout, despite it being summer vacation time in Germany. I planned on running a nice easy pace, around 6:00/K (9:39/M), so asked around who was planning on running the same. The other ultra marathoner in our group said he wanted to run fartleks, but I figured this would kill my legs so I declined. Some of the guys that I normally run with said they were going to take it easy tonight, so I joined them.

The first kilometer was indeed an easier pace than what these guys normally run, but it wasn’t long until they started speeding up. My legs felt good so I hung with them. After a few kilometers two of the runners dropped back, this should have been a sign…a few minutes later two of the runners in front started accelerating again, leaving just two of us running together.

Now I don’t know this other guys name, but I did know that he tends to run the first half of our 11K/7M trail at a reserved pace, then starts speeding up. And true to his routine this is exactly what he did a couple minutes later. Rather than being left running alone I decided to try to stay with him, which I did, at least until we caught up with the fartlek running ultrarunner. About this time fartleks appealed to me and I bid the speedy runner farewell.

So for the rest of the run I played cat and mouse with the fartlek runner. I say cat and mouse because when he speeded up, he REALLY speeded up, at a pace that I could not match – so I could only catch him again when he slowed down.

In any case this made the run quite interesting and was a fantastic workout to boot! I ended up running the 11K/7M loop in 56 minutes, or at an average pace of 5:05/K (8:12/M) which is faster than my HM pace. I also know that the last two kilometers were at a 4:40/K (7:31/M) pace, which is redling at faster than my 10K pace. Probably not smart right before a half-marathon…

This morning my quads are seeking vengeance and I feel like I could sleep a couple more hours, but I have a few days to recover before my HM. Tonight I want to go for a 45 minute recovery run to stretch out the muscles, then I am taking two days off till race day (Sunday).