Wow - what a difference a month makes!

Today's assignment was to run another "magic mile," which can be used to measure improvements in conditioning and to predict finish times for a race.

Today's splits

400 02:27.9
800 02:41.4
1200 02:49.7
1400 03:05.4

Last month's

400m 2:08.0
800m 2:45.5
1200m 2:50.5
1600m 3:30

Although the times look similar, compared to my first one, I felt great. I didn't have to walk during the last 200 meters. I wasn't breathless. I didn't achieve the inverse split that was ssigned, but I had a lot of fun. I'm tempted to try it again tomorrow with the intention to make every segment faster than the last. Today, however, I just padded along, trying not to try too hard.

Monday, I'll add my HRM chart, which tells the inside story. I feel so proud of myself.

new coaching instructions

Mr Galloway has added some faster running to my non-long-run weekends. He says, "Do these on a track if you can. This will help you improve speed for the 16K and the Amsterdam Half. The 800 meter repeats can be run in 5 minutes. Walk for 3 minutes between each. It helps to pace yourself so that you are running the first 400 in 2:20, walk for 30 seconds and run the second lap. Keep the watch running."

**But on the long runs, Please run them using a run-walk-run ratio of (run one minute/walk one minute). This should eliminate the aches and fatigue you had on your 13K run this past weekend. RUNNING 1-1 IS VERY IMPORTANT AS YOU INCREASE DISTANCE.

Yes it would help to use your GPS or a measured course. The GPS gives you freedom to run where you want.

On the short runs during the week, you should do 1-1 for the first 10 minutes. Then, you can run at whatever pace you wish. I have added some magic miles into the schedule. Please read the original letter for instructions about how to do this. On the first one, don't run as fast as you can--just run to get a time. From that point, you want to try to run faster on each successive MM.