Barely Running did a 10 min mile!

Ok, I lied... but I did run at a sub 10 min mile pace for .1 mile!  That is good enough for me right now!  WooHoo!  You are probably wondering how I went from not being able to break the 16 min mile barrier, to a 10 min mile pace...

I read email digests from the Google group
Minimalist Runner - Barefoot, Huaraches, FiveFingers at http://groups.google.com/group/huaraches/topics.  Many of the runners in that group talk about interval training for speed.  In my case, I have not run intervals for... what... 42 years???  So, I just ignore those posts.  However, as the miles role along and my mile pace refuses to go below 16 min, I pay more attention.  I think it is a mental thing with me.  I am pretty terrified of blowing myself out on a run and having a difficult time recovering to get home.  Sort of silly considering that I am never more than a mile from home with my current routs!

So, I decided to remove all fear barriers and measure a .1 mile interval track right by my house.  The strategy was to run a few easy, stretchy, warm up intervals then kick it up a notch or to and see how it went.  Whoa!  My first interval was a slightly downhill 13.33 min mile pace!  I was blown away, but not blown out!  It felt fine!  I had promised myself that I would not sacrifice my barefoot form for speed.  That is really important for me because my previous running form would hurt me very fast.  I recovered in just a few minutes and ran the interval back to the starting point, slightly uphill.  To my amazement, that was at 11 min mile pace!  So, then I kicked it back down the hill and got a 9.88 min mile pace... but I paid for it with a fairly long recovery time.  I walked around for quite a while before I was ready to go again.  I noticed a little bit of back pain and heal impact during the fast lap, so I backed off and worked up from 13.50 to 11.67.

I would actually be very happy to be able to run at 12 min mile pace all the time.  I have no great desire to run faster than that.  What was amazing to me is that it did not feel all that different while I was running than it does when I do 16+ min miles.  Except that I soon have to stop for breath... while at the 16+ min pace I feel like I could run all day without panting!

To finish up I decided to do a mile non-stop back and forth over my .1 mile track.  I am sure I lost some time at the turn-arounds but I did it in 15.20 which is a 6:38:24 (6.64 hr) marathon finish!  I would be happy with that! I would be tickled if I could do my next 3 miler at that rate!  Why not!  I will see how it goes and will let you know.  The last few runs I have tried to do short bursts, then recover by returning to my slower pace without stopping.  I will keep that up, but with more confidence now.  The stats are below, and just remember I am Barely Running.

12/15/2009    Split     Laps     Dist      mph     min/mi    marathon

103rd .1 mi                                                                         Hours

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.                      1.33      1           0.1      4.50     13.33         5.82

.                      2.20      2           0.2      5.45     11.00         4.80

.                      0.98      1           0.1      6.10       9.83         4.29

.                      1.33      1           0.1      4.50     13.33         5.82

.                      1.07      1           0.1      5.63     10.67         4.66

.                      2.70      2           0.2      4.44     13.50         5.90

.                      1.20      1           0.1      5.00     12.00         5.24

.                      1.17      1           0.1      5.14      11.67        5.09

.                    15.20    10           1         3.95      15.20        6.64

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Avg/Total       27.18     2                     4.41       13.59         5.94