Cooper run test...

As mentioned in last night's blip today was the 1.5 mile run or the Cooper Run Test.
The idea of this run is to push yourself as hard and fast as you can in order to get it done as quickly as you can. There is no point doing this test if you give anything less than 110%.

The basic idea behind this test is that you fall in to a category - this category is based on both your gender and your age. So for example I fall in to the 'male; 20-29' category. Within the categories are time parameters, ranging from 20+mins, to 8.5-mins, and depending on where you fall within these parameters will determine your aerobic ability, ranging from very poor to superb. Obviously these descriptions of your ability and where they fall on the time scale are slightly different depending on your category - so for example a 60-69 female doing 15 minutes would be considered very good, where as a 20-29 male would consider this to be very poor.

The last 1.5 miler I did before today was before the holiday, in fact it was actually 2 weeks ago today, so considering I usually do this twice a week it would be fair to say I was out of practice. That last run was also my best, clocking in at an exhausting 9mins & 13secs, which put me just inside the 'superb' category. It would be honest to say that I wasn't expecting to beat that time today.

Actually, I felt really good on the run. I could feel the aches and pains from yesterday morning's run, but it wasn't hindering my performance at all. Tonight we are looking after our friend's little girl Evie, who arrived at 6 - this meant I needed to get the run done early, which isn't ideal as I have to cross several roads, which makes it difficult to maintain your rhythm during rush hour. This became a problem as I hit the 1 mile mark. The traffic lights turned green and I had to wait. I stopped my watch of course, but I always hate it when this happens, as I feel the time will probably be a few seconds better than it should be due to the rest period, and it ruins your rhythm - not at all ideal. Still, once the traffic had cleared I set the watch off again (or so I thought) and off I went. As I'm sure you've guessed, when I got home and looked at my watch I hadn't started it off again at all - 6mins & 4secs - I can only wish I did it that well.
Knowing that it stopped at 1 mile and that I wasn't timed for the last half mile, I could work out a guesstimate - an average of 3mins & 2secs per half mile would give me a time of 9mins & 6secs over the whole course, give a little for fatigue and I'd probably clock in at around the same as my best, maybe a little under.

It's fair to say I was very annoyed. I hadn't expected to beat my best, but felt good, time wise at least (forget the painstaking fatigue), all the way round, and thought I might just do it. Still, I'll go again Monday, and just have to make sure I push just as hard - cant go falling behind now!