New "comfy" pace!! (Read 1152 times)

I'm really very excited about this. I have finally moved my comfortable pace into the 8-9 minute per mile zone ! I was in the 9-10 minute zone for the longest time and I didn't see an end in sight but then something changed recently and I find that my runs are mostly closer to 8:00 minutes per mile. It's such a good feeling to see improvement. So whether I'm running my short 3.1 mile course or venturing into my longer courses, I maintain an even speed, even on the hills, and it feels great!! Yesterday I ran 7.5 miles on a course with 5 fairly steep long hills, and I kept my pace on all of them. That's all. I just wanted to share that with RA since I have made this change since belonging to RA...It's that incentive thing!

Good question - looking back at my calendar it's only been about 5 weeks, checked it again, actually only about 4 weeks. Ask me again in two weeks! I don't plan on backing down now.

I am waiting for something magic to happen like suddenly I'll get faster?

I keep waiting for magic for my 5k goal time (21 minutes) and so far magic isn't quite doing it's job!! Seriously though, I'm happy with this new time. It's not so much the time as it is the effort, like you were saying. I am running this pace with easy effort, that is what has me so happy about it. If I were huffing and puffing through my runs I wouldn't feel so happy about reaching this new pace...Of course then I wouldn't be able to call it a comfy pace. I made up the "comfy" pace (Probably not a real runner's term!) for my workout summary page. The huffing and puffing pace is what I put under Tempo--- may not be the correct way to use Tempo, but I understand what I mean. But of course, now I have to wonder if in another week that means that it should be time to "kick it up a notch" and make it so I'm huffing and puffing through my comfy runs, or rather, do more temp runs. I still need to work on my workout schedules and figure out when to do intervals, hills, tempo, and easy runs. Running on the treadmill I was doing more speed workouts than I have been while back to running outside. I think the speed workouts help me in a big way so I need to make time for them.

I think I'm not as excited now, Scout7 brought it to my attention that it hasn't been that long. Maybe it's just a fluke! I'll have to work hard to make sure it's the real thing. *sigh* It's still a good sign that I'm getting a little better at least.

wtg! that's gotta feel great! I, OTOH, was looking at my training runs from last year vs. training runs this year and For instance, I ran 18 miles 2 weeks ago. exactly 4 seconds faster than last years 18mile training run. Although, now I can cruise the 2.4 miles of hills that used to have me taking walking breaks. So I guess I got that goin for me... I think I've just found this comfortable place that will take a lot more *work* to push through. Not sure I want to do that, LOL.

nice job on the new 'comfy' pace miss-iamgoingtoshortenyournametojustmisscauseittakestoolongtotype...do you go just by perceived effort or do you use HRM too ? i am waiting for that same magic to happen to me after my mileage bump to 40 - 46 mpw the past 5 weeks, just in time for this week's 10K race. My 'comfy' pace actually went up (slower) a bit when i bumped the mileage and now have slowly gotten back down again to pre-bump level. I am definitely getting comfortable at current mileage range so we'll see if it translates to race pace. Keep on keepin on..

I need that Garmin 205 and I'd clean up my look so much more!

yeah you do. Its all about the style. How do you get your HRmax ? the simple 220- age thing seems to work fine for me based on comparing it to perceived effort and breathing..

WHERE WAS I....oh I was going to reply and say that I don't own a heart monitor. I usually judge how tired I am by how much more I'm huffing and puffing. If I have to slow down going up a hill then I know I'm going faster and getting tired. When my husband and I run together I think he purposely speeds up the hills because he knows I can't talk then. Maybe I'll ask for one of those gadgets for my b-day.