“If a tree falls in the middle of a forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”
That is the philosophical questions I am wrestling with after my run yesterday. You see, I ran 6 pretty speedy miles for my tempo run last night:
- Mile 1: 9:14
- Mile 2: 9:13
- Mile 3: 9:04
- Mile 4: 9:09
- Mile 5: 9:20
- Mile 6: 9:04
- Total: 55:04 (9:10)
More accurately, I ran the 6 FASTEST miles of my life. I felt strong. I felt in control. I pushed the limits knowing that I would survive. I enjoyed the run and the peaceful night. Last night, I had it in me.
When I felt myself slipping, I turned to my newfound mantra: Fast Feet. I repeated to myself “Fast Feet, Fast Feet” in a reminder to turn my legs over and take quick steps. I have short legs. There is no lengthening of the stride business for me. It’s all about turnover. When my lungs were burning that last mile, I focused on keeping my legs moving quickly. Lo and behold, I survived. I conquered.
I ran 6 miles in 55:04. My 10K PR is 58:25. I would have definitely knocked at least a minute off of that, if not closer to 2 minutes.
Am I sad that I haven’t proven this in a race? Maybe a little.
Am I going to treat this as my new personal best? ABSOLUTELY.
99% of our runs are done outside of an official race. A personal record is just that: it’s YOUR personal best. For most of us, racing is largely individual. We are trying to beat ourselves and our prior bests. A personal best time can be set anywhere!
So, yes. I’m taking my new PR. Perhaps I’ll add a new section to my records page 
I’m not going to stop there. I am going to use this run as ammunition. Fuel for the RnR USA half marathon and the Cherry Blossom 10 miler. I am ready!
QOTD: What do you think about training PRs? What are your mantras that you use to get you there?
WAY TO GO! Relish in your PR! That is so fantastic! As a member of the short legs club you have inspired me to really push it!
Thanks Krysten! It is so much faster than what I used to think I was capable of. All the more motivation to keep running!
AMAZING job! It feels so great to have a good run and a PR. You pushed yourself and your body responded with strength and your spirit with courage. Congratulations!
Thank you Lisa! It is certainly nice to see progress. Very motivating to keep at it!
Nice job!!! I say – definitely call that a personal best, race or no race – you ran that pace WELL and earned that PR in my book. I tend not to think of a PR as only one you get in a race anyway, it can totally happen on an everyday run too!
Thanks Jess. As always I really appreciate your positive attitude! It’s so nice to see progress. I’m slowly adjusting my expectations to see that I am capable of so much more when it comes to running
Take that PR! One day you’ll do that and FAR better in a race!
I hope so! It’s certainly motivation to keep on trying!
I’m pretty puritanical about this one. I think it’s much easier to get a PR in training–the circumstances are much more controlled than in a race–so I personally don’t count training PRs as PRs, but I’m still happy with them all the same. Congrats on your PR
Thanks Theodora! I’m sort of with you. It feels way more official in a race! It is a good indication of future race PRs though. Maybe I’ll start to keep track of both — race and training personal bests
Yeah buddy! Keep the PRs comin!
Thanks Chris! That’s the plan!
Woohoo on the PR! All my PRs are in races, except my one mile time trials. I just can’t match the adrenaline I feel in a race.
BTW, I’m adding you to my VA/DC/MD blogs page…
Thank you! I will add you to my blog page too.
I also had a great run… and funnily, the same mantra while running: Fast Feet! I tend to make to big steps. And today, I was fast with fast small steps!
I ran the fastest 5k since before my bad cold, and it felt great.
So, I had to smile when I read your post!
That is too funny! We must think alike. My great run followed a couple days of being sick, so there must be something to it.
Go Brigid! What a great run!
I keep my PRs and training runs separate. Right now I know that I can run a 5K faster than my 5K PR (my PR is 30:34 and I ran 3.07 miles in 29:xx a few weeks ago). But I still count race PR as my 5K PR and I’m counting down the days until I can officially break it
Nice! I’m looking to run a bunch of shorter races after the RnR and Cherry Blossom. I think it would be fun to work on speed!
That is one speedy pace! Nice job!
I’ve been trying to find a mantra that works for me – I’m a member of the short leg club too so quick turnover is a must!
Thanks Michelle! Let me know if you come up with the perfect mantra. I love to hear what other runners’ sayings are!
That’s awesome! Congrats! I think that the best part is that you felt comfortable and in control. Huge confidence booster I’m sure. Lately, my mantra has been “own my pace” i.e. push myself but stay in control of my run and my pace and not feel like I’m flailing out of control.
Hi, I came across your blog after seeing your comment on Dorothy Beal’s blog. Congrats on the great run. I’m sure it feels nice to blow away your previous records.
To avoid having the issue of deciding if a training run counts as a PR, I began making sure my runs were never an official race distance in length. For instance, I added my driveway to my 10k loop, making it 6.3 miles roundtrip. That said, I think I’d only count a race for an “official” PR, but in your mind you know what your true best run is, so it doesn’t matter whether it’s “official” or not.
But I think the best thing you can do is to actually race a 10k. Your half is still 5+ weeks out, right? You could easily do a 10k this weekend or even next, give 95% or so, and crush your old PR. I’m guessing that in a race your pace would be a touch faster, maybe even 9:00/mile or better. Last fall, I set my own 10k record in a training run, then promptly got sick for 8 days or so. A week after that and I went out and smashed my “training run PR” by a couple minutes even though the race I did wasn’t my “target race” and I clearly wasn’t in any better shape after being sick for about 1 week out of 2. The race adrenaline and mentality just helps that much. I’m guessing you can do the same…and it’s a huge confidence builder! Anyways, here’s a link to some good discussion on tune-up races:
http://anothermotherrunner.com/2012/02/06/tell-me-tuesday-adding-a-tune-up-race-to-your-training-schedule/
Good luck!
-Scott
Congrats on a fantastic run! One of my mantras is “Keep Calm & Carry On”. I love the history behind the phrase and it reminds me to focus on my breathing and keeping moving forward!
CONGRATS!!! THose are incredible splits!! Way to go, speedster!!!
[...] As you might know, my mantra is Fast Feet. I used it successfully to focus myself on a tempo run. All I had to do was keep my feet moving. It distracted me from my doubts. Could I keep this pace up? Was I falling behind? Nope. No negative thinking. Just focus on keeping my feet turning over quickly. Result? The fastest 6 miles to date. [...]
Great run. I actually don’t keep any training PRs because I don’t give a race effort except in races. However, I love that feeling when a training run beats previous races times from 5ks or 10ks.