A good way to see if you're doing the right pace (since you're not sure) is to look at the HR.  Mine was spot on plus it was 81F so the pace indicated the right effort.

 

I did a long tempo last night. It was 1 mile warm up (10:00) and then I went to 9:22 (6.4 MPH) for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes I wasn't dying to be done so I went to 9:13 (6.5 MPH) and stayed there to finish up the last 10 minutes of my planned 50 minutes at tempo pace. I did my cool down mile faster than my warm up mile, 6.2 MPH down to 6.1 MPH. In the end I averaged 9:29 per mile for 7.25 miles and I wasn't dying by any means. I would guess that means I need to run a tune up race in a few weeks.

 

The pace was based on putting my half time into McMillan. I didn't wear my HR monitor but I did count beats for 6 seconds and multiply by 10 and I was in the 160-ish range. 154-168 BPM is my 'zone 4' based on my max HR.

Speedwork should be based on shorter races that reflect your VO2 max, not your half marathon, which we know is soft.

When my 5k time was around 25:30, I did tempo runs at 8:30.  They aren't supposed to be easy.  But I can see how if you are working on building your mileage, that it could be too much.

 

That only leaves my 5k time of 24:27 which gives me tempo paces in the 8:20's.. Totally not sustainable for me. I think next tempo I will do the whole thing at 9:13 instead of 9:22 and see how that feels. With increasing mileage and quality I'm better off being too slow than too fast right now. I'll have to talk to my coach about running the Spring Thaw 10M or 20M as a last tune up race next month to set goals for Shamrock. She's in Brazil for the 135 mile race there for the next 10 days or so though. So for this week I just have to figure out pacing for myself.

 

Speedwork should be based on shorter races that reflect your VO2 max, not your half marathon, which we know is soft.

My speedwork times are so screwy - I have to use my HM time, because for some reason it is my strongest time.  It predicts a 23:47 5K, and my PR is 24:36.  I ran the 5k a week before the HM, so I was in similar shape, though I hadn't done any speedwork for about a month before I ran the 5k (it was kind of run on a whim).

The 5k time might be a little soft since my intestines bothered me for a little while in mile 2 and I had to back off a bit.  But I could not have bettered that time by 50 seconds, I just didn't have it in me.  I, for some reason, have a lot of trouble moving my legs fast.  When I run 5ks I end up with the fronts of my ankles hurting terribly for a few days - I think that to get to those effort levels I have to alter my gait significantly, and I am not efficient at that yet.  Somehow, a whole summer of 5k specific speedwork didn't make me any more efficient at it either.  I don't know.

Hello everyone. As I said in my introduction I am Tricia. Ill have to read back through some of the January thread to know you guys but I wanted to pop in and say hello! I start marathon training on Monday and I am pretty excited. i have been running the last few weeks with similar structure to get used to it.  Today was slightly different but a great run. I run with a group on Wednesday mornings and we ran 9 today with lots of hills.  The first 2.6 were downhill and then we ran Big Cross which is the cross country course in town.  It was very Hilly! We then ran back and some extra and it was mostly uphill. We ran a 9:15 pace and I was shocked when we finished.  Last week we ran 10 on flat ground at a 9:17 pace so it was pretty cool to do a challenging course at this pace.

 

well hope everyone is having a good day! Ill stop by again later.

Hi!  ..... that's all I've got right now ....

Well, look who is here!  How are you?

Hello everyone. As I said in my introduction I am Tricia. Ill have to read back through some of the January thread to know you guys but I wanted to pop in and say hello! I start marathon training on Monday and I am pretty excited. i have been running the last few weeks with similar structure to get used to it.  Today was slightly different but a great run. I run with a group on Wednesday mornings and we ran 9 today with lots of hills.  The first 2.6 were downhill and then we ran Big Cross which is the cross country course in town.  It was very Hilly! We then ran back and some extra and it was mostly uphill. We ran a 9:15 pace and I was shocked when we finished.  Last week we ran 10 on flat ground at a 9:17 pace so it was pretty cool to do a challenging course at this pace.

 

well hope everyone is having a good day! Ill stop by again later.

Welcome Tricia!

onemile, my times don't line up at all. I should run a 1:47 (I think) half based on my 5k and a 3:53 full. Considering my full time is more than 40 minutes slower I know my endurance is the issue. I'm using my half time because it gives me faster paces than my marathon time but still doable. The 5k time gives me paces that I absolutely can not hit (or sustain). I do my speed work and intervals based on my 5k but anything longer (tempos, steady state, easy, or long runs) are done based on the half time. Improving my endurance so I can sustain my pace for longer distances is my main focus this year because of the races I've chosen. Getting faster is an inevitable side effect of the extra mileage but I can't fit in a tune up race right now to figure out exactly where I should be. And after Shamrock it won't really matter because the rest of my year will be ultras.

Joshlynn, way to get out there anyway!

Docket, I wore my HR monitor for tonight's run. I think I will keep wearing it all this week and see where it leads me pace-wise.

Ended up with 7.25 at 10:22 average using 9:1 run/walks tonight. Pretty happy with that. Tomorrow I have to work and I have a webinar class at night plus speed work on my schedule so I may not be able to pop in. Have a great Thursday if I don't get back here!

Okay, so I looked at the Hansons book again, and it looks like I've got to adjust my training paces. Onemile and Jedi, like you guys said, the paces they give for the Speed are suggestions, and they do say go with a race. But something about racing a 5k every week seems crazy to me--am I alone here? In any case, it looks like I've got to run them faster.

As far as the other workouts, if you are training for a half-marathon, as I am, then the Strength should be done at GHMP. And then they prescribe a pace for the Tempo, which is about 20 sec. slower, which is different from the marathon training plan.

Holy crap.  Seems tough to me.  I think that plan would kill me.

Hi Tricia - Welcome aboard!