Wednesday 28 September 2011

Paces

With my HM PB pace now pushing south towards by 5k PB pace I though I'd have a look at all my PB paces from 100m to the marathon and see if there is a pattern. Discounting my PB paces from 100m to 1 mile (although it is good to know that I could hold my own with the World Marathon Record holder over 100m) all my PB paces from 5k to 21.1k are getting quite close to each other - between 6:00 and 6:18 with a bit of a gap to my 15 mile PB pace, which I hope to close on Sunday, and a chasm to my Marathon PB pace (Not even in the same minute).

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No doubt about it, my (current) strength lies in the middle distance races from 10k to 21.1k, where all my "breakthroughs" have come from. I seem to be able to hold a decent pace for quite a few miles but haven't yet extended it to 26.2. Nor do I appear to be able to increase the pace by much over "shorter" distances. I know "specificity" in my recent training has something to do with it, but I also think that I am more "suited" to certain distances.

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With 2 weeks between the Charleville HM and the 15 mile Cork to Cobh race on Sunday my training is all about maintaining form. I did complete 2 "speed" workouts since Charleville and although they were similar in that they both fell into the broad "tempo" category they couldn't have been more different.

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The first, a club run on Saturday, which might look the toughest on paper, consisted of a 5 mile tempo, 3 minutes standing recovery (I took 4) followed by 4 mile tempo. The key to this workout is maintaining a consistent steady pace, leaving enough in the tank to complete the session as fast as you started it. The 5 miles was a 2.5 mile out and back along the old Monkstown/Passage line, which I completed at a fairly consistent 6:19 pace. Despite the 4 minutes standing recovery I found it easier to get into the pace for the 4 mile tempo, again out and back along the rail line. While the effort felt tough it did not get any tougher as the miles passed and I managed to keep the pace consistent at 6:21 - ideal "specific endurance" training.

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The second session was at the track last night - 16 laps in lane 3 (4.14 miles), single file with the leader, who changes every 200m, setting the pace. I completed one of these on the Tuesday before Charleville and it felt relatively comfortable @ an average 6:18 pace. Last night was different, the pace was faster particularly at the start ( 2 laps in 3:03 = 5:54 pace, slowing down to 6:06 pace after 4 laps). 10 of us started but a few dropped by the wayside. With 4 laps to go I dropped off the back, leaving 5 to finish the session. I ploughed on on my own completing the session in 25:35 (6:11 pace), 26 seconds faster than 2 weeks ago but feeling the effects much more, no longer comfortably hard and calves quite tight afterwards.

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While the pace of both session varied by only 8/10 seconds per mile the effect could not have been greater. Maybe it was the varying pace of last nights session (good training for tactical racing) compared to the steady pace of Saturday's tempo's, which I am more used to. Maybe I wasn't fully recovered from Saturday's session, although there's no reason why I shouldn't have been or maybe I can run 6:20 pace all day but 6:10 is too much, who knows.
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5 comments:

  1. It could be pyschological, but if i had to pick id suggest that your Lactate Threshold pace sits somewhere between those two, You'd be a better judge of that than me, But i know that all the marathon specific training ive done has given me a great Aerobic base and an efficient use of fat for fuel however my Lactate Threshold is not that high that i can regularly run equivalent performances from something like tha mcmillian calculator.

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  2. The 1 mile race pace is just as out as the marathon one.

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  3. Congrats on your new P.B. all the long runs you did for the uktra must be paying off.
    I'm sure you could also smash some of your shorter race P.B.s with some leg speed work.

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  4. I think it's a fact that people are 'suited' to different distances, even within the 'distance runner' group. For me it was from 800m to 5000m, but I was a lazy marathon trainer when I ran them. I'll predict you'll have the marathon into the right minute before too long.

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  5. P.S. I used to run with a crusty old marathoner who had a faster 10k pace than 5k pace - he used to say it took him 5k to warm-up! Ran a low 2:40 in the 70s.

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