Saturday, September 19, 2009

Sunday long run .. on a Saturday ;)

This week end was the 30 km/18.7 miles long run week end, I only have two long run of 32 km/20 miles to go now. The marathon is coming pretty fast, only six weeks to go now and I will be running in the streets of New York.

With the triathlon season now over I kinda completely stopped my biking and swimming training. At least for the last week. I figured that a week or two would be a nice break after a first season filled with a lot of races. I still feel guilty because I didn't bike or swim in a week but I figure it is good for me and it gives a better focus on running, which is the plan if I want to get a strong first marathon.

Today's run was a good one, I knew at the moment I started running that I was feeling good and that I would have strong legs. I guess that taking some rest days here and there is a good idea finally ;)

I finished my run with a 5:32/km (8:54/mile) pace and now I am wondering. What should I go for as far as marathon pacing for New York. Any of you marathoner out there that could give me an idea? Here are today's split.

5:43, 5:28, 5:24, 5:38, 5:35, 5:32, 5:34, 5:32, 5:42, 5:39, 5:38, 5:38, 5:33, 5:35, 5:34, 5:41, 5:31, 5:16, 5:21, 5:28, 5:38, 5:25, 5:23, 5:28, 5:29, 5:27, 5:30, 5:28, 5:28, 5:26 /km

9:05, 8:43, 9:04, 8:55, 8:56, 9:08, 9:08, 8:57, 8:57, 9:07, 8:46, 8:33, 9:00, 8:43, 8:44, 8:49, 8:46, 8:52, 8:37 /mile

As you can see I was faster on the second half of the run, well a little bit faster ;)

If you have an opinion of what time I should aim for as far as pacing I will welcome your opinion, I really don't want to get out too fast but I don't want to finish it and still have a lot left in the tank either.

To give you an idea, my faster half mary is 1:45:20 and my faster 10k is 45:26 which was at the end of an Olympic triathlon.

Feel free to give me your opinion!

4 comments:

  1. i just use a calculator to figure out my goal paces. there are two good ones online that i know of, jack daniels and mcmillan:

    http://www.runbayou.com/jackd.htm

    http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm

    all you have to do is plug in a recent race time and it'll do the hard work for you :) it looks like they both want to give you about an 8:25-8:30/mile marathon pace based off your half time.

    personally i use jack lately, but i've used mcmillan before.

    nice job on the negative-split long run!

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  2. I was going to suggest the same thing as lindsay ! mcmillan is pretty accurate if you've trained properly for the distance.

    using your hm, mcmillan predicts 3:42:09 for the marathon.

    whatever pace you decide to keep, STAY AT IT ! I've gone out too fast more than once in a marathon and paid for it later. .. you don't feel like it's 'too fast' since it's comfortable for 10+ miles, and you can start feeling that you are "banking" time ... but you can really blow up.

    I would suggest keeping an 8:30 pace, and if you feel good at mile 20, THEN pick it up.

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  3. Hey Robert!
    Great blog! I love all the tri pictures!

    In my first season I was very similar to you. I finished the tri season and signed up for a fall marathon. I remember one 22 mile run being at 8:35 pace and I kept about 8:07 pace for the actual marathon.

    My personal suggestion would be more along the lines of going out for the first 10 miles at 8:45 pace. Then starting to drop down the miles splits from there. When you start passing people left and right towards the end of a marathon it gives you quite the mental boost.

    You seem competent at negative splitting so I would set your marathon up to do the same.

    I guarantee you that you won't feel like you have a lot left over after your first marathon. Just the sheer emotional reaction to completing such a huge endeavor is totally exhausting.

    Have a great race, enjoy yourself, and appreciate the fact that you only ever have one first marathon!

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  4. Hey Robert!
    If Trakkers is in New York I will let you know for sure!
    Sonja

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