Half Marathon Pace Run
I had a fairly good run on Sunday. My plan was to run a mile and half warm-up, run five miles at half marathon goal pace and then have an easy run back home for a total of 13 miles. I did well on the warm-up and finished the pace miles okay. However, as I started the run back home, I started having some pretty intense GI distress. Not being near a public restroom, I ran just far enough to reach the 8-mile mark for my total and then walked home via a shortcut.
It wasn’t the way I had hoped to end my run, but the good news is that I ran the five pace miles without too much difficulty. As usual I was just a bit slow when running into the wind and was a bit fast with the wind at my back. If I remember correctly my splits were 6:32, 6:26, 6:25:6:30, and 6:28. The goal for each mile was 6:29. I don’t think I could have held the pace for 8 more miles, but add another easy week and some race-day excitement to the mix, and I should be able to make a strong run at a sub-1:25 half marathon. The best part is that there doesn’t seem to be any noticeable carryover from donating blood last week.
I was watching the highlights of Ironman Lake Placid yesterday. During the run, I was trying to estimate the pace of the leaders. They looked like they were running pretty well; they were up on their feet (as opposed to the shuffle you sometimes see during the second half of an Ironman marathon) but didn’t look like they were striding out like you see at the front of most marathons (as opposed to triathlons). It looked like they were running 8-minute miles, but since these are among the best triathletes I the world, I figured they were probably running close to a 3-hour marathon pace (low 7 minutes/high 6 minutes per mile). I was blown away when the announcer said they were at a 6:00 mile pace. However, after looking up the times on the web, the truth is in the middle. The leader ran 2:48:20, which if my calculations are correct is a 6:25 pace. Even though this isn’t a six-minute pace, it’s still an amazing time considering the swim and bike that came first.
It wasn’t the way I had hoped to end my run, but the good news is that I ran the five pace miles without too much difficulty. As usual I was just a bit slow when running into the wind and was a bit fast with the wind at my back. If I remember correctly my splits were 6:32, 6:26, 6:25:6:30, and 6:28. The goal for each mile was 6:29. I don’t think I could have held the pace for 8 more miles, but add another easy week and some race-day excitement to the mix, and I should be able to make a strong run at a sub-1:25 half marathon. The best part is that there doesn’t seem to be any noticeable carryover from donating blood last week.
I was watching the highlights of Ironman Lake Placid yesterday. During the run, I was trying to estimate the pace of the leaders. They looked like they were running pretty well; they were up on their feet (as opposed to the shuffle you sometimes see during the second half of an Ironman marathon) but didn’t look like they were striding out like you see at the front of most marathons (as opposed to triathlons). It looked like they were running 8-minute miles, but since these are among the best triathletes I the world, I figured they were probably running close to a 3-hour marathon pace (low 7 minutes/high 6 minutes per mile). I was blown away when the announcer said they were at a 6:00 mile pace. However, after looking up the times on the web, the truth is in the middle. The leader ran 2:48:20, which if my calculations are correct is a 6:25 pace. Even though this isn’t a six-minute pace, it’s still an amazing time considering the swim and bike that came first.
posted by Bart at 3:22 PM
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