My goal Marathon, the Indianapolis Monumental, is 11/4.
I am running a HM on 10/1 to help me determine a goal pace.
I know that to get an accurate number for pace calculators I should RACE the HM. It seems like 5 weeks between allows for plenty of recovery time.
On the other hand, I'm battling multiple nagging injuries. I had to back off mileage this week more than I would have liked. I know from past experience that an all out HM is going to leave my legs feeling dead for a good week after. I will need to back off on training for the week following a hard HM. So that would make two weeks in a row where my mileage dropped and only 4 weeks before the full marathon.
Would it be a good idea for me, walking the fine line between training well and getting injured, to do a somewhat less than all out effort in this HM? I don't mean an EASY pace, just not digging deep and pushing to get my very fastest possible time.
The weather this weekend should be cool and the course is mostly flat. I set my PR, 1:39:59, there two years ago.
I think I am in roughly the same shape as then (I've logged more miles but I'm also two years older and feeling that a bit).
Thinking of maybe pacing for a 1:45 to start and adjusting after a few miles depending on how that feels.
Pace Prophet
The problem with not racing the half is that then you really can't use it to gauge your fitness. If you're battling injuries, I can see not wanting to race all out - but then, I can also see not being able to race the marathon all out, either.
What's your other stats - your current marathon PR, your current mpw over the past 3 months? What was your marathon time when you ran your half PR?
If you choose to back off, I would think that 1:45 is too much backing off, but play it by ear. But realize that you won't get a precise marathon goal from it. If a conservative goal is good by you, then run the half however you like. Certainly getting injured would be the worst result!
The problem with not racing the half is that then you really can't use it to gauge your fitness. ...
This.
IMO, you pretty much need to decide that it's either
A) a fitness gauge for your marathon
or
B) a training run for testing your injuries a bit.
Thanks both of you for the advice. I will probably try to race it then but I will plan to back off if it feels like I am aggravating my injuries much. I say "PLAN to back off" because I know once I am racing, backing off usually goes out the window.
I don't think my marathon PR is going to tell you very much. I have only completed two and my best, 4:20:43, was set in 2012. At that time my HM PR was around 1:44 and I was running 50+ miles per week. Something went out in my knee around mile 16 and it was walk/jog/walk to the finish. A very disappointing PR.
Current mpw for the past 3 months is around 45. If interested, and you maybe didn't know, you can click the little graph icon under my name and see my training log. The second graph down shows weekly runs for the past 3 months.
My lowered mileage for this week has helped my legs feel better. So I will go ahead and see what I can do on Sunday.
Thanks again!