Race with Pace Band (Read 2139 times)

I'm getting ready to make pace bands for my next marathon and it got me thinking about a past marathon, I actually noticed someone point to a friend and then to me and laugh when I was putting on my pace bands.  I wear two, sometimes you just don't know how you will feel once the race starts.  I have to admit all my fast friends (2:30 to 2:40 runners) give me crap for wearing a pace band.   I run around 2:55.   Anyone get laugh at by friends or strangers for wearing a pace band?  Do you find that it really helps you run a smarter race?   I actually think it's one of the most important things I do for running a successful marathon,  picking the right pace and following the pace band prevents me from running too fast for the first half or more of the marathon, eventually I end up running more by feel and not looking at the pace band much.

i thought this was going to be about live musical accompaniment to one's racing.

imagine my disappointment.

I'm with L Train - who cares what others' think if you're crushing it and meeting your goals?

That said, if you need the mile-by-mile feedback then I would stick to what you're doing. Another idea is to tape the band, upside down, to the front/side of your bib. Instead of spinning a band around your wrist, you can pull up your bib to view your paces.

In the past, what I have done is to take 5-mile splits and scribble them on my bib (upside-down) so that I can check my progress every so often. I do think it helps to have a data available so that you don't have to do (sometimes frustrating) math in the latter miles.

If you believe you're racing well because you're wearing a pace bracelet, or because you're not wearing a pace braclet, or because you wear women's underwear then you ARE!  And you should know that!

The whole world could line up and laugh at me for all I care if I could run 2:55.  I don't use pace bands but would have no problem doing so.  I'm usually trying to do it in my head or rely on Garmin to generally keep me on track though. 

You have to be a little careful relying on the garmin. My last marathon (Amsterdam in October) the garmin was a few seconds per km slow. As it turned out this was probably a good thing - as I was using it to pace myself and I blew up in the last few km - running faster early on probably would have made things even worse.  

A pace group is okay, but having them play live music as they run would be awesome.  If they're any good, that is.

if they run with you, you don't get that doppler effect either

I'm with L Train - who cares what others' think if you're crushing it and meeting your goals?

 

That said, if you need the mile-by-mile feedback then I would stick to what you're doing. Another idea is to tape the band, upside down, to the front/side of your bib. Instead of spinning a band around your wrist, you can pull up your bib to view your paces.

 

In the past, what I have done is to take 5-mile splits and scribble them on my bib (upside-down) so that I can check my progress every so often. I do think it helps to have a data available so that you don't have to do (sometimes frustrating) math in the latter miles.

 Many years ago, I was shooting for a sub 3 and ended up with 3:02,  somewhere around mile 24,  I started doing math in my head and was like I got sub three no problem, turns out I did FUZZY math.  I forgot that my band is just not for controlling me in the beginning of a race but also has a purpose at the end of a race.  I still wear my GPS but it never seems to be accurate to a measured course.  I only trust the mile markers on the course and my total time on watch.      

 Many years ago, I was shooting for a sub 3 and ended up with 3:02,  somewhere around mile 24,  I started doing math in my head and was like I got sub three no problem, turns out I did FUZZY math.

And you think that if you had only known you were going to be 2 minutes over you would have picked up by that much over the last 2 miles of a goal marathon?  Okay then.  Like Crash Davis said above, whatever works.