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Pace calculator
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do you run for half the time or do you run only half the repetitions
I think if you only ran 400m you would go far too quick, however, I can do 400m in 1.30 minutes which is my half marathon time, so now I'm confusing myself!!!!!
BLD
It was embarrassing for the first couple of weeks but could soon do the 70% runs easy enough. Looking back at my race times for that year though they've been the slowest of my running career.
These days I just tend to do mostly run hard and take days off rather than doing equal amounts of slow runs. I occasionally do slow runs with friends or do long runs at a more leisurely pace. Since I've adopted this strategy my race times have improved a bit. And the great thing is that you don't need to run with that damn contraption on !
I'm an ex-Para aged 60, and hav'nt run like this (trainers etc) for 40 years, until the above race.
How can the training paces apply to both me and an over-weight 30-year-old who might achieve the same result ?? Are they suggestions for how I can maintain my current level of performance, or to achieve some future unspecified goal ?
Like you though, i'm puzzled as to whether these training paces are to maintain this fitness/performance level or to improve it... I would assume it very much depends on your training schedule and distances!I intend to follow these paces and following my next race I shall enter the time from that to give revised training paces.
This is the first time i've looked properly at this calculator, my runs are always above my easy/long run pace, but then that would explain why I seem to suffer with tight muscles and tender shins so much!! It's certainly something i'll be using when following RW training schedules in future.
Joining a running club is good, because they tend to run too far, too fast and run up hills (!), none of which seems to make much sense initially, but at least you have company.
I do 'speed form runs' (?=interval running ) around an old 440 yard track fortnightly :440, 880, 1mi, 1mi, 880,440, each run at max speed with the same distance run as recovery jogging afterwards, with warm-up and cool-down also. 30 laps is a little boring, but the different levels of pain introduce variety...
I do 8-11 mi 'long runs' at a pace (about 9:15 min/mi) where I can look around and enjoy the scenery - the Pace Calc suggested 9:51-11:06, at which speed I found that my running became disjointed - almost a series of bounds - which caused back and knee pain !
I do the local 10 km route weekly, and use the time (and those of the 440 yard multiples) to assess progress. If I'm doing 2 10 km laps as HM trg, I clock the first lap separately.
With the above regime, (reduced when I run with the local Club), I achieved the following improvements up to hamstring injury in early June 06 :
10km Best time before race 54:45
Race, Dec 05 50:11
Best lone-run to date 48:20
440 Feb 1:35 - best to date 1:22
880 " 3:50 - " 3:16
1 mi " 7:30 - " 7:01
The times are'nt bad for a baldy old 60-year-old, and the extent of change (improvement) must be due to the trg regime.
I suppose what you are saying is that I could gain from trying the Pace calculator times but that I should tweak them until they feel right for me. Obviously running so slowly that it feels weird and uncomfortable can't be right.
Up to now I've done most of my running at a pace that feels right and added a minute to the time I've been running every week (plus some fartlek of my own devising!) But I've been doing this for a few years and can't progress from a 41 minute 5k.(By the way I just noticed I typed 5k instead of mile in my post, Hah!?) I'd like to be able to run a 10k race but won't attempt it until I can do it in a less embarrasing time than I can now.
But..I also do endurance horse riding and it makes sense compared with the training I do for that. I would never dream of flogging the nag on a long ride by going at a fast canter all the time. I know he would end up lame.
We do walk trot mixes, stay cools and relaxed and have a nice day out. On short rides we add canter and go at faster trots with much much less walking, he get revved up and loves it; we do what sounds pretty much like what we call interval training in running, 20 walk, 20 trot, 20 canter, 20 trot 20 walk etc. for medium rides. Trick to going slow and long is to achieve the slow run time as an average, which mean a mix of slow running and walking.
I was really surprised when I got a Garmin to find I was on my long runs running further and faster than my riding horse training, which is crazy given that the shortest endurance event is 20 miles.
It really works with my horse, so I now feel more happy that it will work for me too. I now go faster for short, slower for long, and the result is my shin splint has gone and I'm getting faster overall!
Vicki
I'm very encouraged that you are getting faster using the v slow long runs. Since I began at the slower paces I've discovered another plus, being able to run longer and keeping my HR rate lower has meant I've found it easier to lose weight which is bound to improve my speed and endurance eventually.
Another ecouraging thing I read recently was an article that mentioned that it's common to reach a plateau in training. So this time I shall keep slogging on with my revised paces and not get disheartened and give up when I don't seem to be improving.
Hearing about your horse training made me smile, it had never occurred to me that horses would train in the same way that people do but I suppose it's obvious really, it's just the terminology that's different!
Kathy
The challenge with Parker is that the 85% of WHR becomes very hard!!!
Plus above all - it is so simple AND effective!
However, measurability seems important to many?
I've only been running for 4 months and did my fist 10k in 48 minutes. I've been training with a GPS pedometer since to work out out tempo pace etc but only just found the Calculator. To be fair, RW's calculator tallied with my novice (but honest!) efforts to date to estbalish tempo, easy etc.
Regards, 'Finding it hard to get back into it after Xmas!
Do you only do one per month of these to add to your basic easy paced runs?
This looks really good. I've another small query, instead of tapping in a recent race time, would it be worth putting in a DESIRED race time to see what paces in all categories (easy, tempo etc) I should set myself to get that desired time?
Only reason I ask is I've done 3.07.55 in a marathon, but obviously would love to do Sub 3hr. and was thinking of putting in 3.00.00 in the recent time bit. What do you think??
Thanks,
Neil.
Hi Neil,
Hope that you got your sub 3hour marathon time. In my opinion RW Smartcoach will be ideal for putting in the desired time rather than the recent time
http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/news/article.asp?uan=3057&starf=&lrdy=0&slen=16&trainstart=ds1255355073773&startf=checkforward&hour=0&mins=0&secs=0&rlen=fivk&rdst=fivk&mpwe=11&diff=mod
Hi All
I have just started ( last 12 weeks ) 5k runs weekly with some 2 mile training in between, i am having to run close to max hear rate to hit around 32.30, should i slow down and how can i improve ? I am 52, just want to make sure i run at the right pace and improve if i can ?
Many Thanks
Andrew
Does distance matter or is it purely 800 rest no matter how the distance of the recovery job varies though out the session?
Cheers
Lee
you sure your're enetering time correctly - the three boxes are hours, mins then seconds , when i entered my race time of 54 mins 32 secs, i put the 54 in the hours box and nothing came up lol then i realised the secons box is under them