In my last blog entry I posted my first attempt at this month’s cross team challenge (www.c2ctc.com), and discussed the tactics that I thought would work better for it. Yesterday evening I put into practice my thoughts on pacing for the challenge. Last time I had aimed for 1:39.8 pace / 601m on each of the first 7 reps, and this allowed me to do 649m / 1:32.4 pace for the final rep. My conjecture was that I could go as extreme as 1:45 pace for the first 7 reps and go enough faster on the final rep to beat the fastest + slower challenge score. Somewhere in the middle therefore has to be the optimum pacing for the first 7 reps, so this time the aim was 1:41.5 / 591m for the first 7 reps.
CTC 8 x 2mins / 2min rest:
591m / 1:41.5 / 31
591m / 1:41.5 / 30
591m / 1:41.5 / 30
592m / 1:41.3 / 30
592m / 1:41.3 / 30
591m / 1:41.5 / 30
592m / 1:41.3 / 30
677m / 1:28.6 / 38
16:00.0 = 4818m / 1:39.6 / 31
Fastest + slowest = 591 + 677 = 1268m
With the fastest + slowest rep distances all that counts in this challenge this was clearly a much better tactical row. 18m further than the previous attempt, but a slower overall set average, meaning less energy was expended for a better results, therefore more efficiency in achieving it. I’m pleased with the final rep too, over 2/3rds of the way to a solidly sub3 for 1k, so without the 7 reps before it I’m sure I could do that.