Showing posts with label comparison. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comparison. Show all posts

Thursday, May 16, 2019

Running mileage is up, performance not so much

Rat race
I think this running thing is starting to work. I knew that increasing my weekly run frequency would help my overall performance, but I didn't know where the benefits would come. Thanks to my Garmin F35 and Garmin Connect, I can compare my current performance metrics over the past 12 months. While I'm not quite at the pace and cadence levels I was achieving last July, I'm covering 10% more weekly mileage and my May performance metrics are up compared to the last five months.

That said, I'm still embarrassingly slow and that's primarily due to reduced cadence and shortened stride length. When I look back at my metrics on Connect from 2011, it's almost like I'm looking at a different person's numbers. I know I can knock a minute per mile (or more) off my pace if I commit to running at 85% of max. I'd still be well below my peak, but the improvement would be encouraging.

My plan right now is to continue to run six times a week. So far, that's been holding. I've been adding distance carefully and today I did my longest run in May, 3.3 miles. Not the six milers I used to do, but three miles a day, six days a week, would get me to my target of 18. If progress continues, I'll probably step down to five runs a week and go longer on the weekends.

I've needed to stay away from Bethpage State Park this week due to the PGA Championship. That has kept me in my neighborhood for most daily runs. I need to work on my timing to avoid the parade of aggressive parents dropping off their kids at the elementary and middle schools and escape the cavalcade of yellow buses. Just for fun, I Gmapped my entire neighborhood to see how much distance I'd cover if I ran on every street. It's a little more than 9 miles and it looks a lot like a rat's maze. That's definitely not the way I want to cover that distance. Happily, the golf tournament ends on Sunday and then it will be back to the trail for me.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

And all this time I thought I was running!

 It's official!
This past Sunday I wrote a post about my declining pace performance. I showed a graph with speeds in MPH based on GPS watch data. My Garmin often under-counts my distance, so the speeds on the graph are probably 3.2-4% slower than my actual average speed. I was a little surprised to see a comment that seemed targeted to the lowest pace on my graph. The comment said, "The official name of anything below 5.5 is 'walking.'''

This is good to know, because all this time when I was running 10-something paces for ten or more miles on the Bethpage trail, I thought I was actually running. But what about those race-walkers that reach paces in the 6:00/mile range? Very confusing. Technically, I believe it is considered running when both feet leave the ground, versus walking, where one foot always remains on the ground.

I know this commenter was just being sarcastic (if a little mean). Perhaps he/she can clear up some other questions for me, such as, "What's the official difference between rapping and singing?" In the meantime, I'm declaring anyone who calls themselves a runner to be one. And no matter what speed they actually run, it's still running.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Comparing race times is easy but results are confusing.

A tale of three races
Today's run (street): 5.25 miles

This morning I downloaded my recent runs to Garmin Connect. I noticed a feature that compares selected runs, allowing users to see performance data by split (click above picture to read). The difference between this year and the last two year's times are easy to see. One thing that puzzles me is that the times on split 4 are really inconsistent. This year I covered .11 miles in 50 seconds at 7:55 pace, Last year it took me one second less but the pace was 7:18. In 2011, it took one second more to cover that distance, yet the pace showed 23 seconds per mile faster than this year. Very strange.

Today my thoughts were on recovery rather than performance. Due to my tapering, I covered far less than my normal 18-20 weekly miles since last Sunday. I took it easy and aimed for five miles. Although the temperature was a moderate 54°, it felt colder. I wore a light running shirt with 3/4 length sleeves and shorts, along with a pair of light running gloves. It was a good combination to start, although by the end I was wishing for shorter sleeves and no gloves.

I ended up running faster than I planned, but not all that fast. Recovery runs are a strategy to facilitate muscle repair and eliminate the built up lactic acid that causes soreness. I wish I'd taken it just a little easier. I'm looking ahead to November 10, when I'll be running the Hope for Warriors 10K. It's a great event (although the course itself is only so-so). My prep for this weekend's 5K fell short, and I want to do better. 10K means more base runs as well. Better get started soon.
 

blogger templates | Webtalks