37 seconds of feeling like a pro

After a fantastic week of fast 400-meter intervals, a marathon-pace 13-miler, and easy short runs that were still strong, I crapped out on Thursday with an awful attempt at a tempo run, a six-miler that fell far short of the intended half-marathon pace, and an agonizing long run at a 8:45 pace.

Yesterday morning, I changed it up and did eight 200-meter intervals in preparation for this weekend's Passaic Chanukah 5K Race. The point of these short repeats was to push the pace as much as possible, to teach my body what it really means to truly go all out.

These short bursts averaged 38 seconds apiece, but one of those repeats was 37. This was monumentally significant. Why, you ask?
 
Since a mile is 1609 meters (or a slight bit more than four laps around the track), 200 meters (a half-lap) is roughly an eighth of a mile. Multiply 37 seconds by eight and you get 4:56.

That's right - for a little more than a half-minute, I ran at a sub-5:00 pace. Wow.

Of course, I would never be able to sustain that, even to 400 meters.  My best 400 was 1:18, four years ago, and that extrapolates to a 5:12 pace.  But for just a moment yesterdat - or 37 of them - I was able to feel the speed of the pros.  And it was quite amazing.