TracePace

Yesterday Eileen and I met at Sawyer for some two-mile repeats. She's training for her second half, so she did two sets; I did three. I think I may have essentially run faster than my 10k PR. (Which isn't very good, so maybe I shouldn't be too proud.)

Sawyer has a gravel loop that is almost exactly a mile (my garmin pegs it at .97 or so) -- it's also flat and not usually crowded. (Lots of people come walk from maybe 5-7 p.m. when the weather is nice.) It was pretty cold yesterday, so I did a 1.75 mile warmup to get everything loose, not to mention checking on any kinks lasting from Sunday and Monday.

After talking to a couple of guys with way more experience than I have, we estimated my VDOT at 52, which makes 6:40 a nice pace for me on this workout. Then again, my times are a little all over the place, so I range from a 48 to 52, depending on race distance.

Times: 6:28/6:40, 6:42/6:36, 6:33/6:32.

Oops.

So I'm not sure what that means. My VDOT is higher for my 5k PR I ran last May than the marathon I just ran, even though I think the marathon was a much bigger accomplishment and required a lot more work. And is a much more impressive time than my 5k. Curious stuff.

The Mason-Dixon Games are this weekend at Broadbent Arena -- if you live in Louisville or nearby, it should be a fun meet to watch.