Cavorty wrote:
No. I'm a 59-year-old guy and ran similar times to MD when younger. Also did similar mileage/intensity. I'm trying to come back from injuries now, and have been told to keep steady runs to 8 min/mile and it feels ridiculously slow.
When I was 50, I would have definitely wanted to be sub 7 min/mile, so I can well believe that 7-8 min miling would have felt like shuffling to a woman of that class, even at 50.
"wanted to be sub 7:00" and having 7:00 miles "feel like shuffling" are two very different things.
I'm not buying what you or Mary are stating, sorry. (especially the 7:00 pace. if she wanted to say 8:00 and above, she should have, she didn't).
In High School I ran basically equivalent to what Mary's all-time PR's are in the 1500/mile. I ran a lot of miles with my teammates (most who weren't as fast as I was), so I did run "with in" myself, and I know we ran a fair amount of 7:00 miles, and no, even then it didn't "feel like shuffling." nope. It was pretty easy for me, but still felt like "real running", not slogging/shuffling, not at all. In my 30's, I came back after many injuries, and ran a few track races, and ran close to my HS times, and again, 7:00 pace on training runs didn't "feel iike shuffling." And yes, I was an 800/1500 guy with more pure speed than Mary. And everyone knows, as you age and slow down, the "feel" of running a slower speed is often similar to how you felt running the faster speed when younger. For instance, if I hit the track now, I feel like I am moving at sub 5:00 pace (for some shorter repeats). It's an effort, but it still FEELS fast, because I never hit those really fast speed any more, this is as fast as I move, so it feels like a sprint.
So.....even if she ran 6:00 pace for her training runs, 7:00 pace decades laters, when she doesn't do ANY speed or track races, should feel like she is MOVING, certainly not shuffling.
Same with you. Sorry, don't buy it.