Data junkie

Well, I am a bit of a data junkie. I download and look at the details of each run, looking at how I have run.

I find it fascinating to see the changes over time. One useful thing is to be able to look at split times to see how well I have managed to pace myself. Before I start a race I have worked out the pace I need to run at to achieve any target time I have. During a race I tend not to look at the total elapsed time, but I do look at my split time for each mile (my watch beeps each mile to make it easy to check) this lets me know how I am doing compared to my target.... I also try and run on feel.... So I know what the pace feels like (aka quite how knackered it is making me feel....) and carry on running on that "feel" I can tell if I am slowing down or speeding up on how out of breath I am, is it making my lungs burn... and am I about to throw up....

The other thing I have learnt is that it gradually gets harder to knock the same amount of time off your pace because proportionally it becomes far more..... To improve by 30 secs a mile from a 10 min/mile pace is a 5% improvement.... To improve by 30 secs a mile from a 5 min/mile pace is a 10% improvement. So the seconds really start to count...

I now have no races planned until Brighton marathon, I may enter something between now and then but my training will be geared to getting round the marathon. I have no time target and I will be running with Holly so our aim is to finish rather than race. If it goes well I may run another marathon, if I don't enjoy it I won't. I really quite enjoy running half marathons so I may just work at improving my time for these events... But, at this point in time who knows what I will do :)

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