Race Pace Suggestion? (Read 853 times)

I'll probably be the least qualified to give a good answer, but I'd say go out in 8:00's and then get faster if you can.

I'll probably be the least qualified to give a good answer, but I'd say go out in 8:00's and then get faster if you can.

Exactly what I'd do. Your log has several "easy" runs at well under 9:00 pace. You ought to be able to hold 8:00 in short race. I'd hold that for the first couple and see how you feel.

Exactly what I'd do. Your log has several "easy" runs at well under 9:00 pace. You ought to be able to hold 8:00 in short race. I'd hold that for the first couple and see how you feel.

Mmm... Yeah... Those were the "supposed to be easy" runs. Instead, I put the hammer down on that 5k after I'd realized I ran 2 miles in 17:30 (it was dark out and couldn't read the HRM until I had run the first mile). SInce I didn't know what to call them, so I still called them "easy". I find it funny that you call the 5 mile a "short race". "Help me”! I can’t stop with the “quotes”.

Just show up and run. Hard. It will be glorious.

Scout, I can't tell if you're serious, or if you just want me to fall on my face. Hard. The last time I went out really hard was last year at a 5k that I didn't train enough for. "Do NOT throw up in the timing chip bucket!!!" and I thought the volunteers were supposed to be nice.

I know exactly what you mean. When you are a new runner all the different types of runs get really confusing. I just did the race calculator, and seems my " easy" pace is a full 2 minutes slower than I have been running! definitely a " DUH" moment for me. I suddenly feel like I am going to be able to pull off a Half this fall after all !

There's a guy that I work with that has been running for about a year and a half and runs at about 2:00/mi faster than he should (essentially races every training run). When I finally started running seriously this winter, he encouraged me. Lately, he's been talking trash about how "slow I run" and that at my pace "anyone could run 9 miles. The irony is that he hasn't gotten any faster in the 4 months I've been training, yet my race pace is almost to his training pace (as fast as he can run). He gets all sorts of injuries and I have never felt better. I couldn't find a better illustration of the mantra: Run lots of miles Run easy Run a few of them hard (but not too much)

Scout, I can't tell if you're serious, or if you just want me to fall on my face. Hard. The last time I went out really hard was last year at a 5k that I didn't train enough for. "Do NOT throw up in the timing chip bucket!!!" and I thought the volunteers were supposed to be nice.

Nope. I was serious. I wish no ill harm to you at all. I just want to see you reach past what you THINK you're capable of right now, and set a new precedent for yourself. I've done the puking thing. I've done it during and after races. You get used to it. Just try not to get it on anyone else. Here's what it comes down to: it's a race. A challenge. A personal experience where you learn a little something more about yourself. Even if you try and fail, you learn something. If you hold back and act too conservatively, all you've learned is that you could probably go faster. But how fast? You don't know till you've tried. All the calculators and predictors and people's swami-like abilities can't tell you what you can really do. Only you can do that. And you know what pushing it feels like, you've said so yourself. So, push harder this time. Explore the boundaries of your abilities. That's how we expand those boundaries. So, I say to you, go forth and explore. Push your body. Push your mind. Find your limits, and blow past them. The best predictor of performance, is performance itself.

So, I say to you, go forth and explore. Push your body. Push your mind. Find your limits, and blow past them chunks on them.

Fixed