The official results from Saturday have been posted online. They gave me a 20:51 rather than the 20:50 I recorded. I was 68th overall of 280, and 10th of 24 in my division (40-49). If there had been a 45-49 division, I still would have only been 5th. If they used single-year age groups, I would have been second. If they used single year and month of birth age groups, there is about an 11 in 12 chance that I would have been first. (Thanks to Dr. Andy for pointing out my earlier error in that last sentence.)
This morning was 8 x 1/2 mile, done on the road, on a rolling loop. Because of the nature of the loop, I knew that I won't run consistent speeds. So, I pay more attention to my median split when I run repeats this way. My median this morning was 3:23. I was happy with this, given the fact that I was running on the road vs. the track. I was also doing 1/2 miles rather than 800s. The 1/2 mile is about 804.5 meters, or about a second slower at the speed I was running.
I'll run for about an hour, very easily, tomorrow morning.
My son's soccer season starts tomorrow night, and he seems to be coming around from the injury problems he's been fighting. So far, we've replaced his cleats and purchased Superfeet insoles for the new shoes. We have an appointment with a podiatrist at the end of the month if everything isn't settled down by then.
5 comments:
I think you mean 11 out of 12 and why median instead of mean?
One could imagine a course with one steep uphill and then gentle down where the median would be much faster than the mean
Nice effort, in any case
Dr. X
You got some good speed going lately. Nice.
Andy, you are certainly right about the 11 of 12 rather than 1 in 12.
I pay more attention to median rather than mean on this course because a rolling course is more difficult than a flat course, even when the net elevation change is zero. So, I know that I'm going to average a slower time than I would on the track, and it doesn't really translate directly to track times.
My median time is always faster than my mean when I do this course. There is one steep uphill followed almost immediately by a second easier climb. My times through that stretch yesterday were 3:49 and 3:46. My mean time was 3:28 - pulled up by those two repeats. My 3rd slowest repeat was my first - 3:28 - on a rolling stretch and while I was still "warming up" to the speed aspect of the workout. All of my other repeats were in the 3:17-3:25 range.
The loop I use, just under 3 miles, has 5 distinct climbs.
So, because of the hills, I simply put more value in the median rather than mean. Maybe it just makes me feel less slow.
Congratulations on your age group win! Hey, I bet if we go down to the minute you're pretty sure to win SOMETHING!
Are all ultrarunners this anal when they crawl out of the woods to run on some roads for a little while? 4 meters?! Really?!
Claire,
I have a math degree. I'm just a geek, that's all.
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