Having not raced in several years, I often find it difficult to decide how fast a particular workout should be. Yesterday, for example, I was tasked with deciding how fast my threshold pace should be while running 4 x 10-12 minutes w/2 minute rests (+ warm-up & cool down). As it turned out, I ran the first interval at 6:20 pace, the second at 6:13 pace, the third at 6:03 pace, and the fourth at 6:12 pace. Of course some of these intervals were wind-aided, while others were wind-adled, but I always tried to expend the same amount of energy throughout.
So here are my questions. How fast have your threshold runs been? Do I need to dramatically speed up? Slow down? I know, I know. We're all at different fitness levels, but some idea of where y'all are at would be helpful to me. Last question, how fast are we aiming to run our marathon-pace workout over the Easter weekend?
To be honest, I'm not sure how fast my threshold runs have been. But here are my goals paces:
ReplyDeleteEasy: 7:30
Marathon: 6:52
Threshold: 6:30
Interval (1200 m): 4:30
On threshold runs, I generally just go by feel. Comfortably hard or hour-long race pace. It sounds like you are in the ballpark. According to JD, you have a VDOT of 56, which translates to a sub 3 hour marathon.
My least favorite workout of the entire cycle is next week: 4 x 1 mile T (w/ 1 min rest) + 5 min E + 3 X 1 mile T (w/1 min rest). Since I'll be on the track, I'll let you know the pace.
I signed up to run the Charlottesville, VA half marathon on April 6. I haven't decided yet whether or not I will really race it. I may start out at marathon pace and gradually increase the speed. Then again, it might be a good test of fitness to all out race it. Might come down to a game time decision.
I tried to match my workout pace and how I felt to the pace chart in the Jack Daniels book. I pushed my limits on a couple interval workouts to get an idea of where I was at. Either I burned through too much energy and entered oxygen debt or I felt about right or I felt too fresh.
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