I ran my PR of 3:21:54 in the Suzuki Rock 'n' Roll Marathon on June 1, 2003. Wow, that was a long time ago! But with all of this talk about running smart and negative splits and starting too fast, I thought I'd go back to see what my splits were like way before I started caring about such things. I was actually really surprised to find my splits jotted on the back of my race number from that fateful day. I never analyzed times back then or recorded my training runs. I ran because it felt good and I liked to do it. I had tons of free time. Rick and I love to reminisce about how we could have written a guide about "what not to do the day before a marathon" at this race. We walked all over the San Diego Zoo the day before, and we ate a huge Mexican lunch. Tired and stuffed, I would imagine we slept well and then used all of that youthful energy we had back then to run our PRs the next day.
Here were my splits:
1-2 16:25 (I guess slow from the number of people. I never saw the mile marker.)
3 7:29
4 7:10
5 7:19
6 7:38
7 7:49
8 7:25
9 7:53
10 7:19
11 7:40
12 7:23
13 7:33
14 7:27
15 7:37
16 7:42
17 7:37
18 8:05
19 7:41
20 8:05
21 7:44
22 7:50
23 7:56
24 7:57
25 8:04
26 8:04
.2 1:36
As soon as I saw the 7:10 at mile 4, I realized that I always have gotten carried away in the excitement of the race early on. But I managed to hold the pace very well and only slowed to 8:04's for the last 2 miles. I also see the advantage of having a Garmin versus just a watch. My splits were a little all over the place, and I bet I could've kept them more even with a Garmin's help. This looking back and analyzing stuff is getting addictive, but these suitcases are not going to pack themselves! Enough walking down memory lane tonight!
WOW--fantastic splits-and GREAT time!!
ReplyDeleteSorry for all the questions...but does the pace on your Garmin seem to jump around while you're running? I don't know if mine is just crazy or if everyone's does that!! (Like I'll be running at a very steady pace-say 10:00-and I'll look down and it might say 12:30 or 7:30...the average will be okay, but the "real-time" could be way off. (Doesn't seem to have anything to do with where I'm running, it does it everywhere.) I've started trying to just keep an eye on the virtual partner and not really look to closely at the "current pace".
Hi Dana, I don't think Rick puts the "current pace" on our Garmin, just the lap pace and/or the overall pace. I seem to remember the current pace being a problem during another run for the same reasons you mentioned. I prefer using my stopwatch and just pressing "lap" at each mile marker. It gives me something to do when I hit the mile marker. It makes me sprint that last little bit so that the number will be lower. And once I get going, I can stay at a pretty even pace per mile (until the end!).
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