The whole Chickamauga craziness has mandated that I change up my normal routine in order that I might be in good shape (but not peaking) for next Thursday's Autumnfest on the UT campus. It is my goal to run a 37:30 for the 5 miles (7:30 pace) which is something that I think I can accomplish. Of course, the East Tennessee weather is usually blustery cold on Thanksgiving morning from 6am until Noon and then becomes mild until the mid part of January. Don't get me wrong we still get a cold day and a threat of snow for elevations not in the Smoky Mountains, but for the most part the weather is in the mid 40s throughout winter. The great stuff is when they forecast ice in these there parts… we have so many mountainous back country roads that calling for ice is what calling for snow in a city causes… pandemonium and school closures. Anyway, back to the story…
So, I decided that this week, I would move my speed work to later in the week and shorten it a bit to prevent injury. Plus, I didn't think with the extra 8.75 miles on Saturday that I would be very spry for a good speed workout. So much for that silly 10% rule… I don't think I have EVER followed it, but it makes complete sense. The 10% rule is actually a 3 part “rule of thumb.” Unlike Newton's laws that are agreed upon by great scientific minds, this rule is more of a nice rule to follow, but you won't go to jail or stop being a runner if you do break it. The rule is as follows: a) Weekly mileage that includes running classified as speed or intervals shall not be more than one tenth of the sum of the weekly mileage inclusive. b) Weekly miles shall not be increased by more than one tenth of the previous week's total mileage. c) Long runs should not be increase by more than one tenth of previous week's long run distance.
Reads like a Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) huh? In real person terms… your speedwork should be less than or equal to 10% of your total weekly mileage and you shouldn't increase next week's total mileage by more than 10% of what you did this week. Also, next week's long run should be about 10% more than this week's long run (Recovery runs excluded).
So let's just examine some of my running this month:
Week beginning 10-31 I ran 12.2; This means that last week, I should have only done speedwork of 1.2 miles (I did 3.15 – 260% what I should have) and I should have only ran about 13 miles last week (I did 30.3 – 225% what I should have run). So what does all this mean other than me following the 200% rule??? It means that I need to watch what I am doing because I am exceeding the 10% rule and even though I am more than capable to running despite my departure from this rule, I am putting extra strain on my body and that only a smart runner will take extra time off to NOT run, enabling them to run faster. Crazy huh… but it is the truth. If you do not rest, your body will break and then you won't be running. If you take rest days, your body will strengthen and you will run faster, longer.
The reason why this came to mind was that I was listening to Phedippidations podcast #5 and he was mentioning the 10% rule. I was listening to a podcast about running while I was doing 800 meter repeats today at lunch. I must say that I am an addicted to running and now I have an escape from the mindless Sports Talk around here about the stumbling Vols. Granted, I love hearing about and watching College Football (and NFL) but my goodness, it has been crazy this season. It's nice to hear about running except when the UT Track and Field does well and makes their way on a small spot between Football and Basketball updates.
Since I am a fledgling in this podcasting realm, I am up to #5 out of currently 18 episodes. Now I want an MP3 player that I can sync up with iPodder so that I can have the podcasts with me when I have a chance to listen… bastard! I just got an MP3 player for myself for my birthday… maybe Santa will get me one. Oh crap, that means I have to be nice!
So what did I do today? Here are the splits:
| Split | Split Distance | Overall Distance | Split Time | Split Pace | Overall Time | Overall Pace | Comments |
| 1 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 2:13 | – | 2:13 | – | Warm up lap |
| 2 | 0.25 | 0.5 | 1:46 | 7:04 | 3:59 | – |   |
| 3 | 0.25 | 0.75 | 1:42 | 6:48 | 5:41 | – |   |
| 4 | 0.25 | 1.0 | 2:15 | – | 7:57 | – | Recovery Lap |
| 5 | 0.25 | 1.25 | 1:42 | 6:48 | 9:39 | – |   |
| 6 | 0.25 | 1.5 | 1:45 | 7:00 | 11:24 | – |   |
| 7 | 0.25 | 1.75 | 4:11 | – | 15:35 | – | Recovery Lap, walking |
| 8 | 0.25 | 2.0 | 1:37 | 6:28 | 17:12 | – | I had no idea I was going this fast |
| 9 | 0.25 | 2.25 | 1:45 | 7:00 | 18:57 | – |   |
| 10 | 0.25 | 2.5 | 2.13 | – | 21:10 | – | Recovery Lap |
| 11 | 0.25 | 2.75 | 1:44 | 6:56 | 22:54 | – |   |
| 12 | 0.25 | 3.0 | 1:47 | 7:08 | 24:41 | – |   |
Upcoming Races:
11/24 Autumnfest 8k (Knoxville, TN), Goal time 37:30
12/04 Reindeer Run 5k (Maryville, TN), Goal time 21:55
(indicates potential Personal Record for distance)
PLANET3RRY 