Statistics is Just a Fancy Way to Lie

There are lots of ways to look at the raw data (provided by Garmin the Great) from my tempo run last night. But first I have to talk about a mild injury. It seems I have strained a glut—which is fancy medical talk for saying my left butt cheek hurts. I went to the sports doctor yesterday and she said it was a simple strain, nothing serious at all. What is strange is that it doesn’t hurt at all when I run. But it causes mild and very dull pain at random times during the day. The good Drs advice was to stretch and rest but no need to alter my training. Whew.

Now to manipulating the numbers to make myself feel better; my goal for the tempo run was to hit a 7:30 first mile, then crank it up to 6:40s to 6:45s for the remaining 7 miles. Well my first mile was a 7:10 (FAIL). Mile 2 was a 6:32 (faster than goal, but still a FAIL). Mile 3 was a 6:44. Miles 4 and 5 were 6:51 (slow and therefore FAILS). Mile 6 was a 6:38 (faster than goal, but still a FAIL). Mile 7 was a 6:41. Mile 8 was a 6:39 (close, but a FAIL).

I don’t like all those fails in the above paragraph. So, like all great slackers, I’ve downgraded my standards to meet my performance. And by that I mean I’ve decided that going faster than 6:40 is good, thereby removing three fails. Just like that, things are looking up. The two 6:51 were against a headwind and on the hilly part of the course, and six seconds is pretty close considering those two factors…and presto, they are qualified fails. Moreover, my average pace for my tempo run was 6:42, right within range! And the 7:10 fail, who cares what my first mile is so long as it is not slower than what I had originally planned. Therefore, all things considering it was a very successful tempo run.