The Pace of Life!

Well, not many miles in the legs this week and we have no excuses that stand up to scrutiny. The weekend training got off to a bad start when we decided against a lunchtime run on friday opting to go to the shops instead - always a mistake.  Saturday's mean only one think parkrun. Strathclyde parkrun is another of our passions. In fact, we love it so much we tend to run it twice when we are not volunteering and on Saturday we did just that! Yes we got there early and ran a 'freedom' run as our warm-up.

  Last Saturday being the first saturday of the month was therefore pacing Saturday.  At strathclyde parkrun we have introduced a group of pacers that run at a particular pace, the idea being to make it easier for fellow runners to get a PB.  It is a different kind of running, normally in a 5K you run competitively.  It is a whole new ball game when people go past you, you have to disipline yourself not to respond.  Believe you me that is sometimes very difficult, I have often wondered how that switch in your head works, someone goes past you and you automatically go up a gear to stick with the person until you break them or they break you. Despite it's difficulty, I do enjoy pacing, there is a certain satisfaction getting close to your target time, ofte enhanced when someone comes up to you afterwards and thanks you for getting them a PB.  The truth is they got the PB themselves, the pacer merely acts as a guide.  If you ever get the chance to pace - give it a go, it's great fun.

The discipline of even paced running at a slower pace than  your normal race pace is good preparation for being a run leader for the Speed of light where e have to judge the pace in accordance with our runners in the group. So I guess what we are trying to say is that we remain on course for the 'big one' in august following Adrian's advice (Run and Become), make the training event specific.