Last week's 800's were so much fun, I think I'll try
them again at Clarke field at 6 pm thursday (oct 10).
The idea is to alternate 800 meters easy, 800 meters
hard. If you can do 10 pairs, there is a simple formula
to predict your marathon time based on the average of
your ten hard ones. Take your average time for each 800
in minutes and seconds, and convert this to hours and
minutes to get your estimated marathon time. For example
if you average 3 min 30 sec for the hard ones, this
indicates you can run about a 3:30 marathon.
The workout is harder than you may think; I find that
if I start too fast I hit the wall before the 10th one.
If you're still getting into shape, you may want to try
just a few, rather than the whole ten pairs.
Anyway, I've been starting at 6 pm and doing 10 pairs;
this takes me about an hour and 20 minutes. Last week
I averaged 3:08 for ten, which means I should be able
to run about 3:08 for a marathon (which would just
barely qualify for Boston, hey Luke!).
Last week the band practiced on the field again, which
was fairly entertaining. They even had the baton twirler
out there.
I'll be out there again on Thursday, join in if you
like!
David Hoffman
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