Nice article from Amby Burfoot.
Run Your Best Marathon
Short term goal: 17:59 5K
Mid term goal: 2:54:59 marathon
Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life. (I started running at age 45).
uʍop ǝpᴉsdn sǝʇᴉɹʍ ʇI
LtH, I read the article and makes sense, but do you think that applies to a fittest time marathoner? I wonder how many years/miles you need under your belt before you can trust BB after 15 miles or so?
Beer-and-waffle Powered
Thanks for posting, it's a great concept and I believe in it. I never race with a GPS or a HRM, just a regular watch I take splits with (that I don't necessarily follow).
In the words of my late-coach : Just hang in there, relax... and at the end of a race anyone you see.....just pass them
Are we there, yet?
Sounds good on paper but back in the day without digital watches and mile splits runners still started too fast and bonked. It takes experience and discipline, especially in the marathon when the early pace can feel very slow and still be too fast.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
Sounds good on paper but back in the day without digital watches and mile splits runners still started too fast and bonked.
I work with a guy whose PB is 3:21 from the early 80's, who said he bonked because his strategy was to try to keep up with the women's leader. Hilarious!
Honestly, you should have a very good idea of what you are capable of doing based on your training. I went into my first marathon predicting 3:10-3:15 and ran 3:11. Still, knowing how to use that B-B feedback can keep you from having a disaster. I went into my second marathon looking to run around 3:03. Instead, it was hot and muggy so I backed down. The question is, "how much should you back down?" There isn't a good answer for that so I ran based on how I felt and ran 3:08. I had an 80 second positive split that day which is a very good split and there were tons of people blowing up everywhere because they didn't back down from their planned pace.
Honestly, you should have a very good idea of what you are capable of doing based on your training.
I ran the last 10k of my marathon Sunday (#6) without a Garmin (screen crapped out) and as it was a small
race on a local walking path I was without timing clocks to look at and without a pacer or anyone to run with.
My previous splits have been in order of the marathons: +11, +5, +6, +5, +3:14.
So by experience and listening to my body I have gotten faster each time and lowered the splits each time.
I ran and raced without a Garmin or any other kind of timing device for 10 years until I got it in 2010. I learned to
run by perceived effort and Sunday was one of those days where I was very grateful for that. Even now when
wearing the Garmin I only check at the 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 point of a half or full to make sure how I am feeling is in
line with my goals for that day. I only pick up the pace if I feel like I can and sustain it for the distance I would need
to, otherwise I don't.
A Garmin can be a great tool but (for me at least) it can also be a mental hindrance and distract your from
actually listening to what your body is telling you as opposed to that screen with the little number flashing.
So when the Garmin screen locked me out at the 32k mark I didn't panic, it didn't particularly bother me because
I knew how I felt and I knew that as usual I would do what my body was telling me she could.
Sunday my 2nd half was only 2:08 slower than the first half and that included a potty break of over a minute..
I chose my "A" goal of 4:10 based on how I felt during my training and my previous marathon performances. I
knew the 4:20 I ran in Sept didn't feel particularly hard (until the usual last 2 miles) and that I was running faster
than ever since that and knew I was capable of better. And turns that by listening to my body cues I did
exactly what I set out to do that day.
I was telling another forumite the same thing the other day. I think that being able to correctly evaluate what you are truly capable of based on your training is one very important quality for anyone wanting to race. I've raced over 25 times and I think I only truly missed my goal finish time once. It was in my first marathon, where I had "hopes" of running 10 minutes faster of what I ended up running. I learned that hope does not make you run faster.
PRs: Boston Marathon, 3:27, April 15th 2013
Cornwall Half-Marathon, 1:35, April 27th 2013
18 marathons, 18 BQs since 2010
Walk-Jogger
Nice article by Amby Burfoot. I'm running my first ever marathon in July, and I really think by using the information in this article, I should be able to set a PR!...
Retired & Loving It
LOL... Good luck!
I get what he's saying -- the McMillan calculator comes up with some absolutely preposterous marathon times based on my HM and 5K PR's. Attempting to run those paces for 26.2 without training full time would be blowupsville every race. (Or maybe I really just suck at marathons, comparatively).
But it's not *just* being smart and "listening to your body" that will get you a PR, you also have to train like a BAMF. (See: SIAR)
Go figure
I get what he's saying -- the McMillan calculator comes up with some absolutely preposterous marathon times based on my HM and 5K PR's. Attempting to run those paces for 26.2 without training full time would be blowupsville every race. (Or maybe I really just suck at marathons, comparatively). But it's not *just* being smart and "listening to your body" that will get you a PR, you also have to train like a BAMF. (See: SIAR)
Trying to find some more hay to restock the barn
I was actually thinking about something similar recently and was going to ask you guys. Do we have an internal pace clock? I've raced 3 different distances this year, and it seems like each time I was going as fast as I possibly could. At no point did I ever say ok this is 10k pace, lets lock into this, or this is too fast, too slow, etc. So I wondered if there is some kind of subconscious mojo happening.
YAYpril - B-Plus
I wondered this when I ran my 10k in April. I started out faster than I wanted, and the first 3 miles I was like whoa, but they were all consistent and ended up being within seconds of my final average pace. I had no idea going in what pace I was going to run. But my body apparently did.
I was actually thinking about something similar recently and was going to ask you guys. Do we have an internal pace clock? I've raced 3 different distances this year, and it seems like each time I was going as fast as I possibly could for a race of that distance. At no point did I ever say ok this is 10k pace, lets lock into this, or this is too fast, too slow, etc. So I wondered if there is some kind of subconscious mojo happening.
FYP. You made some subconscious decisions, if you'd actually been running "as fast as you possibly could" you would have burned out pretty quickly.