Der DK way

I've never really been any good at pacing when I run in races or even in my tempo training runs. My first lap or first kilometre or so will see me really pushing the pace before I start to slow down and try to average out my pace. This is what I call der DK way.

Anyway this monday the same thing happenned at the KLCC track. I was planning a 8 lap tempo run in under 58 minutes. This would have required me to average a 7:15 pace per lap. My target was to start at 7:30 and slowly increase the pace by 5 secs per lap.

In the end I started too fast and clocked 6:43 in my first lap and didn't do enough to reduce the pace on the second, clocking 7:07. By then I was already tiring so what to do... but switch the plan to complete a 5 lapper. Just maintained my pace for the 3rd lap and picked up the pace on the last two to clock a personal best time of 34:43.

Yesterday I couldn't make it to KLCC as I got a last minute overseas phone call. By the time I left the office it was 7:30pm. My wife was waiting to go out for dinner when I got home, but I just had to clock some mileage or risk feeling 'empty'... so I decided on a 3 lap tempo run.

I started with a really strong pace and didn't know if I would be able to hold such a pace for the 3.4k. At the end of the first lap, my split time was 5:07. I decided to slow down a little on the second to reserve energy so I could really push on the last lap. Second lap split time was 5:23 and I had recovered a bit of wind by then.

My target was to average a 4.5min pace per kilometer, so I knew that I had to really push in the last lap. Both legs were already starting to feel the lactic build up but I kept on pushing a hard pace. With just 300m to go, I turned on my finishing kick all the way. Total time clocked for 3.4km was 15:30.20. Average pace per kilometer is 4:33, still slightly below my target.