Marathon training pacing times

Well I think I'm running everything too fast but I'm trying to slow down. Bought myself a new Garmin with pace alerts to help me train in the correct pacing zones. But my first run with it yesterday I did a 6x800 interval session at roughly 7:15mm with 45 second recovery (roughly 9mm) but at the end I was dead! Is it just I've been training too easily to date or is this pace too fast?
My current LSR pace is about 9mm and this is comfortable for about 16 miles, my longest run today is 18 miles and the last 2 at this pace was very hard 

I'm looking to complete Lock Ness marathon in 3:45. Have a hill half PB of 1:40:32 (last Sunday at Wycombe) a flat half PB of 1:37, parkrun 5k of 21:23. Haven't done a 10k so my fastest 10k is 45.05 the first 10k of my half PB image 

According to McMillan running my paces should be:
Easy: 8:05 - 9:05
Long runs: 8:08 - 9:24
Recovery: 9:11 - 9:52
Intervals: 7:07 - 7:24
Tempo: 7:14 - 7:32
Steady: 7:32 - 7:53

Do those times look about right? to my unprofessional eye they just seem a bit fast for a 3:45 marathon.

Comments

  • Thanks for the times Netany...

    I'm not following a pre-made plan. Have wrote my own!! Basically its...

    • Mon - recovery run 3-5 miles. If I feel like I need it
    • Tue - tempo/ interval or hill repeats
    • Thur - middle long run 8-10 miles
    • Sat - parkrun. + hill intervals every other week
    • Sun - long run. 1 week very long (currently 18, going up to 22) following week 13-14 miles
    • Also cycle commute, circa 15 miles a day 4 days a week. To cover cross training image

    I had used the hilly half time to get the pace times as my marathon is hilly so I wanted to be training within my hilly paces, if that makes any sense?

  • Thanks Netany... I' was thinking about 9.30mm would be the fastest I should be doing my lsr. I will try and use 9:30-10mm see how I fair. 

    Think my recent interval session I didn't account for the heat, which is probably why it felt so hard.

  • Andy, you know my feelings about your pace (and heart rate). You are much faster than me and reckon by slowing down a good portion of your runs you'll race even faster image

    Netany, aka Yidd (he changes his name more often than I change my underpants) is, like me, a HADDer so both run by HR and both very much looking forward to the Autumn/Winter months when we get to run faster lol.

    Good call on the plan Yidd, my plan this time around was far too much for me and as such have just about stopped following it image

  • So in the HADDing world what HR should someone be looking at on a LSR. Got a 20 miler planned for the weekend am going to try and slow it down to 9:30-10mm but in an ideal world here should me HR be? 

    I've had a quick look an the HADD thread but got all confused, google'd it and people are talking WHR and MHR I have no idea what the difference is and how you'd even work out a WHR

    But if I manage to slow my LSR pace down that much pretty sure my ave HR will be a new record low image 

  • Hi Andy, from what I've seen (and read) many folk do things differently - as I live in a hilly area HADDing is not really that easy to do and I tend to try and cap my AHR to 73% during long runs but will let it rise to 80% on the longer/steeper hills.

    As Yidd said, the LSR is more about time on feet than pace although the faster runners amongst us oft find running slower will alter their gait too much. I've seen lots of people come to the HADD thread but struggle to run at 70% (it takes a bit of getting used to).

    To start with you could run at your 5k pace plus 3 minutes (9:46 for you) which strangely is bang in the middle of your previously mentioned pace! 

  • Did my LSR today (1st ever 20 miler) at ave pace of 9:56 (varied between 9:23 - 11:11 depending on hills and a little bit of walking towards the end)

    As the walking at the end would suggest still found it hard, so really glad I slowed it down.

    Thanks for the input everyone.

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