Hi All. I'm just about to start the 16-week Runners World Sub 3hr 15 Marathon plan, which I think seems a reasonable target. I haven't run a marathon before, but I have done some pretty brutal Spartan Races, the hardest of which being 14 miles with 6000 ft of gain, plus 35 obstacles. Pace wise, I recently ran 10K on the track in 40:30, and 5k in 19:30.
When I look at the plan, the tempo paces do not seem too bad. 2 mile repeats in 13:00 sounds doable. But most of the easy runs seem to be in the region of 7:30 - 8:30 per mile pace. 8:30 is probably at the top end of my easy spectrum. Whilst I'm certain I can run 4-5 miles at a pace of 7:30 per mile, it would most likely be more of a moderate pace rather than easy. Average HR probably in the 160s.
I'm 29, 6 ft, 168 lbs, around 13-14% body fat currently. Just wondering if anyone has any ideas as to why I'm perhaps keeping up with interval paces, but a bit slow on the easy runs?
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You mentioned your HR. You could try this to derive HR zones using your HR Reserve (much more accurate than the arbitrary 220-age calculation):
https://runbundle.com/tools/heart-rate-zones-calculator
That'd be a good indicator of an Easy effort.
> Looks like the Easy run paces in the RW Plan mirror those of McMillan's - they're notoriously aggressive. Stick with 8:30 or slower. You'll continue to hit the paces in your sessions, recover from them and build up endurance for the marathon.
>
> You mentioned your HR. You could try this to derive HR zones using your HR Reserve (much more accurate than the arbitrary 220-age calculation):
>
> https://runbundle.com/tools/heart-rate-zones-calculator
>
> That'd be a good indicator of an Easy effort.
Hey man, thanks for your reply. I've always thought aiming for a specific pace (perhaps as opposed to HR Zone) for slow/easy runs seems a little bit counterintuitive. Pace runs should paced, easy runs should be easy. I will use that calculator though, cheers!