Sunday, September 11, 2011

Running has made me a math maniac

I have some real signature flaws; driving, sleeping (never never never do I sleep ((except in a movie theatre)), getting birthday cards out to people on time (but I am getting better), forgetting to change out of my PJs on the weekends, swearing, and anything related to....math.

I remember failing grade 7 and 8 math at Northridge PS and not really caring.  I had tough teachers and never made a connection and therefore didn't "get math" till Mrs. Cartwright in grade 11 at Lucas SS who really seemed to care if I finally "got it".  But, my formative math skills such as being able to make calculations fast in my head suck and it drives my math wizard of a husband nuts.

So, this past weekend I drove him up the wall as I decided to spend some time analysing last year's marathon stats and to do some 2011 marathon calculations. I spent over 2 hours looking at my time stats from last year and punching number after number into my calculator all with the same answer - I AM A SLOW RUNNER!

Here are my stats and break down from last year.
5k -      00:39:12  - 39 minutes
10k -    01:20:34  - 41 minutes
15k -    02:02:45 - 42 minutes
20k -    02:47:22 - 45 minutes
Half -    02:57:41
25k -    03:35:38 - 48 minutes
30k -    04:24:30 - 49 minutes
35k -    05:13:54 - 49 minutes
40k -    06:07:59 - 54 minutes
Finish - 06:28:41 - 21 minutes

I didn't even have a chance. I got slower and slower with every 5km while it got hotter and hotter out.  I also got so disappointed at the 10km and 1/2 splits because I knew I was not going to break 6 hours.  Imagine knowing you are not going to make your goal within the first hour of the race and then "carrying it" the rest of the way.  What a load!

My overall pace was 9:12/km.  Are you kidding me, that is embarrassing even being near the 9 minute per km zone. 

After I calculated all my splits for each of the 5km chunks I spent an hour trying to figure out where I can make up time from last year.  I was counting and talking to myself and punching more numbers.  My husband was in the dinning room working and was trying to listen to my go over and over again my thoughts, calculations and predictions.  

For the 100th time I was sharing all the excuses about why I was so slow last year and how I am going to be better this year.  All of sudden he appeared in the family room to share his thoughts about why I took so long to finish in 2010...his conclusion..."because you ran too slowly".

Really, that is all?  In your humble opinion I just need to run faster??!!

Bite me!

I am going to focus on improving my 5km times and see if that helps with my overall times.

Oh, and use a calculator more often.