Forums >General Running>Why I'm not a "real" runner...
Feeling the growl again
It's better to say "the effort you could hold for an hour". Depending on the day, that may very significantly. If you use your PR HM pace (or, even worse, goal HM pace) you are not making adjustment for how you feel that day.
Forget pace. Try to remember the effort. If you do a 4-mile tempo run....the first 4 miles of a HM don't feel so bad, do they?
I second...third...the strategy of building into tempo runs. Most people feel better several miles into a run...tempo runs are no different.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
It's better to say "the effort you could hold for an hour". Depending on the day, that may very significantly. If you use your PR HM pace (or, even worse, goal HM pace) you are not making adjustment for how you feel that day. Forget pace. Try to remember the effort. If you do a 4-mile tempo run....the first 4 miles of a HM don't feel so bad, do they? I second...third...the strategy of building into tempo runs. Most people feel better several miles into a run...tempo runs are no different.
Isn't that why McMillian gives you a pace range? You just can't be a slave to the pace.
I think you need a pace range if you're a novice or unseasoned runner because going by "feel" isn't always going to push you into a pace you should be getting too. If you look at some peoples PR's and what they are running everyday, a lot of them are either running too fast on easy days or can't push themselves during races.
The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff
2014 Goals:
Stay healthy
Enjoy life
Beware, batbear...
Good golly gumdrops, folks.
Thanks for all the great advice. This is what I missed so long with m'sore foot last year. This is the type of thread that makes me glad I found this community and eager to get out, run, and (eventually) get faster.
I'm feeling better about as the day has gone along and I've worked the stiffness out. Not even sore any more (sitting on an exercise ball instead of my butt grinder and I think that has helped some!).
Peace and miles, friends...peace and miles.
2014 Goal -- Run 5X per week, pain-free (relatively) by end of summer.
Great thread! Thanks for all the words of wisdom, as I'm sort of struggling with this tempo thing myself.
I think I'm doing them right though, according to all the tips.
For example, if I have an 8 mile tempo run on my schedule, I do 2 mile warm up, 4 mile tempo(try to get a few seconds faster each mile at a comfortably hard pace) then a 2 mile slow jog back to the house.
I'm glad to hear y'all say that some days you got it, some days you don't and that's ok. I was worried about being a slave to my training plan, but some days when it says tempo run, I just feel like crap and can't get it done. Other days when I have an easy run scheduled I feel GREAT and turn it into a tempo day.
You like speed and speed endurance. I have a training program if you need help.
Carnegie
Kalsarikännit
Tempo runs are the one time I really like using the treadmill. Taking the stress of constantly checking the garmin and worrying about and correcting my pace out of the picture, and just concentrating on running is nice. (Of course there is much to be gained by actually running outside and learning what certain paces feel like.) Best thing is, if you do a progression tempo and keep bumping up the speed .1 mph throughout the run, it is broken up into little segments and becomes a very un-monotonous treadmill run.
I want to do it because I want to do it. -Amelia Earhart
Tempo runs are the one time I really like using the treadmill. Taking the stress of constantly checking the garmin and worrying about and correcting my pace out of the picture, and just concentrating on running is nice. (Of course there is much to be gained by actually running outside and learning what certain paces feel like.)
Huh. I think tempo runs are the thing that most helped me to run by feel and to stop "checking the Garmin and worrying about and correcting my pace."
Different strokes!
"I want you to pray as if everything depends on it, but I want you to prepare yourself as if everything depends on you."
-- Dick LeBeau