Monday, September 10, 2007

How much does juggling slow you down?


Adeel asked a good question relating to my 10K forgot-my-balls mishap: Exactly how much does juggling slow me down?

This is easy to calculate. Below is a comparative chart of my running and joggling PB times and the percentage differential:

400m: 53 secs. vs. 59 secs. (89%)
Mile: 4:22 vs. 4:49 (90%)
5K: 15:05 vs. 17:50 (84%)
10K: 31:59 vs. 36:27 (87%)
30K: 1:43 vs. 1:55 (89%)
Marathon: 2:30 vs. 2:53 (87%)

Joggling pioneers like Bill Giduz say joggling should cost you only about 10% of your time. Mine are a bit higher, but that is likely due to the fact that most of my running PBs were set about five years ago when I was a) younger, b) fitter, c) 8 lbs. lighter, d) less overworked, e) less sleep-deprived.

So I think the 10% figure is about right, and it may be even lower, based on yesterday's 35-minute non-juggling 10K. My running speed is slowing down over the years, but my joggling technique has improved greatly, as have my props; the lightweight Sportballs have made a huge difference for the long-distance events.

2 comments:

A Deal Or No Deal said...

I'm surprised that it's only 10%, but then, it wouldn't make sense for the gap to be any bigger. You wouldn't have been a 27-minute 10k runner originally, I don't think.

It seems that joggling doesn't slow you down as much as it is extremely hard to do.

Perry said...

Great post Michal! I've never kept track of my best times before joggling so I don't know how I'd compare right now. For me, I don't think joggling even slows me down 10%. I'll have to try a track workout.