Splits and Paces

My analytical tendencies force me to look at my splits to really assess what was going on during a run. Recently, I haven't been looking much either because I am too busy or my runs were too short to have any meaning. Yesterday after work I ran 3.1 miles at an easy pace. As much as I really wanted to up the speed and run progressively, I told myself that it is indeed okay to run easy at times. In fact, many training guidelines suggest it as the better alternative to always pushing yourself to the limits. Okay....perhaps that makes sense as long as you do push yourself at times.

Here are my splits from yesterday's run on my incline treadmill.

My overall pace was 10'17"....just a couple of seconds faster than what the Smart Coach says I should run at for an easy run. The paces were based off of my most recent half marathon time. Check out those splits.

Somehow I lost the timing for the final mile but it was on par with mile 12. You can see where the physical effects started coming into play due to mental frustration causing me not to hydrate appropriately. My overall pace was 9'22".

But to get back to comparing apples to apples. My last 5K race splits are below.

I could be down on myself that my last mile was my slowest but hey, look at that pace for mile 2. I pushed myself....hard. And at the end, I had nothing left. I wasn't able to pull out that final burst of speed like I usually do. My overall pace was 8'13". According to my Smart Coach app, my tempo runs should be at 8'45" and my speedwork at 8'11". And that makes me very happy with my race results on this day.

Do you analyze your runs?
How important are splits and paces to you?

Today I am grateful for:

• Becoming a better runner
• Being able to show appreciation
• Courage to admit it when I am wrong
• The ability to see the strengths in myself and others
• Antihistimines when allergies start getting really bad