Half Marathon Race Pace
Thursday I ran ten miles, including seven miles at my goal half marathon race pace of 6:29/mile, which if my math is correct will give me a sub-1:25:00 half marathon. I honestly wasn't sure if I'd be able to run the entire distance on pace or not. For one thing I didn't set my half marathon goal based on a race conversion calculator or anything, and it seems a bit optimistic. However, I like having a challenging goal to shoot for. The second reason for my doubt is that Wednesday's recovery run felt harder than I would have liked, and I was worried about some carry-over fatigue from Tuesday's mile repeats.
Anyway, after warming up, I started my race pace miles into the wind. After a few minutes, I was hoping that I was at or below my target pace because there was no way I'd be able to continue that effort for seven miles. I knew turning away from the wind would help some; but if I was slower than target pace and had to continue the same effort with the wind at my back, I was in trouble. After a half mile I checked the pace on my Garmin, and I was at 6:29 on the dot - this is a good sign. I turned so that the wind was at my back soon after the half mile mark and fell into a pace that I felt I could hold for the rest of the run. I soon found myself in a good rhythm and cruised through the miles with these splits: 6:24, 6:27, 6:21, 6:28, 6:28, 6:27.
As you can see I pushed a bit hard when I first turned to get the wind behind me but hit a pretty good pace soon after that. This workout was a good confidence builder for me. When I first went below 1:30:00 in the half marathon my toughest run was eight miles at goal pace, and I ended up beating my goal by over a minute. I have that same eight mile pace run on my schedule in a couple of weeks. If I can build on this workout and keep the pace for eight miles, I'm confident that I can hold it for the half marathon when you throw in a taper and race-day excitement.
I also tried to work on my form during this run but found that I had pretty good form from the beginning. I wasn't as choppy with my steps as when I was running the mile repeats. I mostly concentrated on running tall and not leaning forward. When I did this, I was running well.
I have ten easy miles today and then eight miles on the schedule for Saturday to finish up what has been a good week.
Anyway, after warming up, I started my race pace miles into the wind. After a few minutes, I was hoping that I was at or below my target pace because there was no way I'd be able to continue that effort for seven miles. I knew turning away from the wind would help some; but if I was slower than target pace and had to continue the same effort with the wind at my back, I was in trouble. After a half mile I checked the pace on my Garmin, and I was at 6:29 on the dot - this is a good sign. I turned so that the wind was at my back soon after the half mile mark and fell into a pace that I felt I could hold for the rest of the run. I soon found myself in a good rhythm and cruised through the miles with these splits: 6:24, 6:27, 6:21, 6:28, 6:28, 6:27.
As you can see I pushed a bit hard when I first turned to get the wind behind me but hit a pretty good pace soon after that. This workout was a good confidence builder for me. When I first went below 1:30:00 in the half marathon my toughest run was eight miles at goal pace, and I ended up beating my goal by over a minute. I have that same eight mile pace run on my schedule in a couple of weeks. If I can build on this workout and keep the pace for eight miles, I'm confident that I can hold it for the half marathon when you throw in a taper and race-day excitement.
I also tried to work on my form during this run but found that I had pretty good form from the beginning. I wasn't as choppy with my steps as when I was running the mile repeats. I mostly concentrated on running tall and not leaning forward. When I did this, I was running well.
I have ten easy miles today and then eight miles on the schedule for Saturday to finish up what has been a good week.
posted by Bart at 1:33 PM
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