Can you run a mile and be off by five seconds or less?

ski jumping
but I don’t have the first clue how to ski jump

Can set a time target (say 6:00, or 7:10) and run the mile and be off by five seconds or less. Bold claim? Yep. How? Why? Been running with a handheld stopwatch for about seven years.

I study cadence, stride length, breathing efforts, knee lift, arm pump, the presence of lactic acid and my tolerance of it…

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And just to be clear on focus

trash containers
it may sound like trash talk, but it’s not (Finland dumpster, 2009)

You’re here because you get it. You get that sustained motivation is rare, and you get that Mid Life Celebration has it. You also get that my blogging style has changed. And continues to change. But what you don’t see is the incredible consistent accuracy I can run the pace I project I’ll run….

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Positive splits will kill your finish

motivation
get some motivation, and pass some on

Remember the 5:46 mile from a few days ago. Well, for the first time in years, I ran a positive split. The first half 800 was faster than the second 800. Splits of 2:50/2:56.

Here’s the thing, had I run a 2:56 first 800, a 2:49 was doable for the second 800. Running a full six seconds slower at the beginning would have netted a time one second faster.

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PS. Analyzing the situation, my eyes were bigger than my stomach. Was excited (too excited in this case) to go out fast. About 90 seconds in I realized the split was not going to be negative. What happens then is how long can you hold the pace without crashing and burning. Fun stuff. You’re having fun too, right?

Negative splits

stories
stay with me, this will make sense...

If you are looking for creative ways to play games with yourself, in any form or function, to stay motivated with exercise, one of my favorites is running negative splits. Say you run one mile. The second 800 split will be faster than the first 800 time. This is very difficult to do when your pace is fast, but sissy-easy to do when you stroll for the first half.

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