Happy Friday, y'all! And Happy Good Friday too! So yeah, I bring my camera with me everywhere. I took a picture with my friend, Camella, today at work. It's funny because she's actually taller than me by about an inch. But she's wearing flats, and I'm wearing heels. And she kind of bent down for whatever reason.So on to this running business. I figured I'd do some kind of training plan from Runner's World, but alter it a bit. Anyway, I decided to incorporate a mini one mile race test into today's 25min run to come up with a pace for the training plan. So I did a one mile warm up, then one mile fast, then the remainder a cool down jog. So my fast mile was at 7:54. After that, I would have loved to just stop and fall out on the track. I resisted the urge to stop and walk and just jogged it out. It was a pretty decent cool down. My legs were up for the challenge. Again my lungs are a different story. But I am improving. I don't think it would have been possible for me to run a sub-8:00 mile before. Especially on the track. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't run well on completely flat surfaces. That would explain part of my treadmill hatred.
Anyway, I was looking at the training paces Runner's World came up with. I don't know if I can bear to run an easy pace of 11:04. On top of that, I don't think that the paces for tempo runs and speedwork are challenging at all. So maybe the whole one mile test thing was pointless. I guess I'll need to do a lot of tweaking to come up with my own plan. I believe most of you are more experienced than me. Tell me, what do y'all think?
7 comments:
Forgive me for not knowing this, but have you run any races before? I only ask because the pace you can typically sustain at race pace is something that you can't match in training. And, once you have that experience, it's easier to know how hard you're really pushing yourself in training. So, it's possible that 7:54 is a bit soft and that's why the specified paces are too easy.
It's cool, Nettie. No, I haven't raced yet. My first race will actually be a 10k on May 16th. Maybe the 7:54 was soft. I've been tired all week (going to bed late and all). And I haven't been eating breakfast really either. So yeah, my energy is all jacked up.
Anyway, I can tell you that a couple weeks ago, I ran 6mi at a 9:05 pace and 9.58mi at 9:24 pace. About 6 weeks before that I ran 9.15mi at 9:50 pace. I tend to push it more on my shorter runs. But on my long runs, I start off slow because I know I must conserve energy. I think that if I eat and sleep well, and not skip a bunch of runs, I can maintain a 9:30 pace for the half.
I don't know anymore. Maybe I should just screw the training plans all together and just get in the necessary mileage. I was thinking I'd go out for a 2hr run and see how I feel after that. What do you think? I'm clueless.
Instead of the one mile test, I would use a 5K pace as a base for what your long run pace should be. Have you run a 5K yet? I bet you could do a 5K, at this point, in 25:30, which would be an average of 8:30/min miles. Add 30-45 seconds to calculate your HM pace, and add a minute for your marathon pace.
But to be honest, if you have not raced at all before, I wouldn't be too concerned about the time. Just run your best with what you're comfortable with. Personally, I think when you race a distance for the first time, you should aim to enjoy the race and get a feel for it. After that, if you want to improve upon your performance, then start setting time guidelines.
That's just me though.
Christie, you have'nt race yet and I think you are doing great on your training runs maintain the paces you are doing now on your training runs and you will kick but in your races you will see the difference. And believe me when I tell you, you will do better than 9:30 pace in the half base on your training paces. You'll do just fine.
Ha, running can become as difficult as a golf swing. You can over think it or just enjoy it. Continue to run and enjoy it, when you run your first race, enjoy that also. You have plenty of time to formulate training plans and tempo run pace.
Hey! Love the new layout (it's probably not too new, I'm just a bad blog follower lately!!)
You will absolutely LOVE racing!! It's what keeps me running..
I'm training now for the More half in Central Park...can't wait!!
I dont race well, and I tend to do better in training, you can say I leave it all at the track. Once you race, you'll know where you stand and how to get faster in training
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