March 27th, 2009
As per our usual catch up, Wednesday was an easy 11@8:29 and yesterday was an easy 7@8:32. On the latter run I wore my HR monitor, which I rarely do for easys, but I wanted to see where I stood lately after all this racing. It ended up giving me some very positive feedback so I was excited to use it for today’s tempo.
Since the run today was focused on goal Half pace and with 6 weeks to go, I’m still mulling it over, I’ve been thinking about 7:25/mi. which would get me a 1:37:04. But then, how can you look at that and not think, “so close to 1:36″ so I finally aimed for 7:23s today, figuring that if the HR monitor told me “too much, back off”, I’d obey without a fight.
It was a lovely day out, 61 degrees, which I thought might work against me since I’ve been running in cooler weather and anything above 55 makes me nervous, but it ended up being juuust right. My splits were 7:24, 7:23, 7:21, 7:21, 7:24 for an average pace of 7:22. The best part is my Heart Rate averaged 172 (83% HRR) – well situated for a Half.
As comparison, my last tempo on March 6th (haven’t done them recently due to racing) on a similar 55 degree day was 6 miles @ 7:35, so here’s how the first 5 tempo miles of that run compares to today’s 5 miles.
March 6, 7:35/mi, avg. HR 176 (86% HRR, Max 89%)
March 27, 7:22/mi, avg. HR 172 (83% HRR, Max 86%)
I do believe that 1:36:30 is now a reasonable goal for May 3rd. Woohoo!
Funny thing, I was looking at my receipt for the Half yesterday which I paid for back in October (a couple weeks before I’d even run Steamtown) and you had to fill in a projected finish time. I had written 1:43 – and that was me being optimistic.
This is an entertaining time, is all I can say.
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That HR improvement really adds emphasis to your gains, Flo. 1;36;30 will have you leapfrogging my half PR by over a minute. Not that we compete or anything, bit it looks like I need to do another half soon
You know, at the risk of being a buttinsky, you may want to reconsider what’s an appropriate HM target heart rate. 83% is even a bit low for the marathon (in my humble opinion).
I’d wager, given your increased fitness and tolerance for running fast and long, you could probably run a half at 86-87% without issue (planning to top out toward 88/89% at the very end, as you crush your nemeses on the way to the finish line and post-race refreshments tent) — with the added benefit of a commensurate drop in pace.
Of course, I don’t want you to sue me if this goes all pear shaped.
You are rising up in leaps & bounds! Awesome workout. I think your goal for the half sounds great and I can’t wait to see how you do in the marathon!
Jim, the Heart Rate info is definitely making the decisions here, it’s great having that kind of feedback. As for you, young man, you know you’ll smoke any goal of mine with your next Half, so all you gotta do is find one. Take your time, ok?
Rebecca, thanks girlie, coming from you that’s extra cool. Btw, you should put your blog URL in the slot when you reply. Fast women should always be seen and heard.
Julie, my sweet, buttinsky away! Actually, your recommendation is spot on with that swell HR spreadsheet I’m using from Greg Maclin. The Half HR section starts at the 80% HRR mark. Today’s tempo at 83% fits in right above where it says “after 2-3 miles”, so I think by the end of the race I’d hit 89%.
That said, I did go a couple points higher in my last 10K than what it shows as “the 10k zone”, so it’s possible I could go higher in the Half, too. Depends on how much I want to hurt. It was funny at the 10k, I had this spreadsheet in my head but I was mistaken with the HR numbers I should expect to see so I was yelling at myself during the race, “you can do better, work that HR!!” when I was already red-lining.
The good thing in all this guesswork/semi-guesswork is that I have a 10k 3 weeks out from the Half so that’ll be a great pace predictor.
That table always makes me laugh, as the ranges are quite divergent from each other depending on the source. That tells me that pacing by % of MHR is an individual thing, and more art than science.
More buttinskyness: I don’t know if you do this, but you should ignore what your HR is doing during a race, as it’s likely to be higher than in training due to race-related adrenaline, nervousness, etc.
I also think that low end of 80-83% is acceptable for at most the first one or two miles (but only because it takes that long for your HR to get up there). You should be motoring along at a stable (and higher) % after that little warmup. I swear, if you start racing at those harder efforts on a regular basis, it becomes normal and you lock right into it at the sound of the horn or gun.
At this point, I only peek at my HR during races if I think I’m not working hard enough. My instincts are usually right. If I’m working too hard, I know it because the usual symptoms show up: ache in legs, close to oxygen debt, etc. I know that without looking at my HR, which if I did would be a major mindfuck, since it’s often in the low 90s during a half.
All unsolicited advice, I know. You’re doing fantastically on your own, so feel free to ignore it.
And, I second the request for a blog link, Rebecca. I need more speedy chick blogs to read.
Julie, I’m happy to get any advice you got to give. The reason I like that spreadsheet is that my past races (that I’ve monitored) and quality runs fit in quite accurately with the averaged zones section, so it works for me as a reference.
I do race at very hard efforts, no question about that, but I guess I’m being careful about my Half goal because these recent paces are so alien to me and before this year it seemed like I always picked a goal I couldn’t quite achieve. Getting the goal I seek is a new thing.
Thinking about yesterday’s tempo, since I ran it at a somewhat moderate HR and I still have 6 weeks left to race day, it is likely that my goal would be soft by May 3. Crazy good shit. So we’ll see, nothing in stone yet.
One thing my coach warned me about the subtle self-sabotage that can happen as you get faster. Your mind is used to thinking of you as being capable of running a certain pace. Challenging it with faster paces goes against everything it knows and it will sometimes mess with itself as a result.
My Mpace is getting close to what was my 10K pace about six months ago. That is a tough thing for my head to accept. Maybe yours too.
Hey Flo, you’re running so well! I say aim high… and go for the sub 1:35. Just pace smart and you can do it. The fitness is there.
Wow, you girls are freaking.me.out. In a stupendous way!
Julie, I totally relate to what your coach says, thanks for sharing that. And it’s heartening to know you’ve gone through a similar rapid gain in a short time, too (from 10k to MP…wild!). Just when I was worrying that this was a Flowers For Algernon situation and I’d end up retarded again when it was all over.
Glorybelle, my other fastie mentor – sub 1:35? That’s gotta be a typo, though it sure looks cool in print. Hmmm, this is crazy talk but I’m loving it!
As an aside – Glorybelle, Julie and Rebecca, I appreciate learning from you fast chicks. Thanks for setting such great examples, you trio of speedster babes!
Wow, I’m absorbing all this wisdom. I prefer not to wear the Garmin while racing, but I’ve had trouble expressing why. Too distracting? Better to rely on body signals? All of the above, or as Julie put it so succinctly: It’s a mindfuck.
Rebecca, is this you? http://brewtonrunner.blogspot.com/
Flo,
Sorry to change topic, but I was just discussing something about you with my hubby (your scaps post, he too is salty), and I thought I wish I had a list of some of your fav running books.
I know you said you grabbed a lot of books on running, and we have a handful, but it would be great if you could share some of your favs.
Anyways, thanks a ton!
P.S. Your blog made me decide to put a real schedule for running together from McMillan and smartcoach. I was already doing most of it but the pace goals I think will help me see improvement a ton. Oh and the speedwork, I haven’t done a lot of that so I think it is time to try.
Great Tempo! I can’t seem to bring myself to actually do speedwork/tempo/hills, which is something I want to work on.
I was looking at your upcoming races and was wondering where the 10K you are planning on running on 4/19 is going to be held. I ran the National Marathon in DC last weekend and am looking forward to some shorter races (never ran a 10K!).
Wow… your just getting better and better!!! You are inspiring me now to get out and do some speedwork!! That half didnt go as well as planned, but I’m still in the mix…. I see your losing a lot of weight also… MAJOR KUDOS!!!!!!
Stevi, my favorite book would be Bob Glover’s “Competitive Runner’s Handbook”, it’s an encyclopedia of running knowledge. I have a ton of other books but I guess the most important would be Jack Daniels “Running Formula”, Pfitzinger’s “Advanced Marathoning” and my recent fave Brad Hudson’s “Run Faster…” Congrats on starting a dedicated plan! Smartcoach has some speedwork in there so you should be good to go.
Christine, how’d your marathon go? Congratulations! About adding tempos and speed, considering how fast you look just running around the park, you will be speed maniac once you add those in! The dash is on West River Drive, so it’s nice and flat. Here’s the link. Definitely do it, it’s great to get those shorter race PRs cookin’.
Weekend, oh pooh about the Half, sorry to hear that. I’ll look for a report from you when I come back from my run. Can’t believe you’re another who hasn’t done speedwork. It works! You will love it, it will change you, this I guarantee.
OK, gotta go meet Doggie Poo (yay) for a long run. Later kids!
Thanks for the link… I’m def considering it.
The marathon went pretty well, 3:19:10. I ‘unoffically’ ran philly in 3:20:16 (did the training and didn’t register in time so ran with my 38 year old athletic director’s bib since he registered and wasnt going to run), so a minute pr. I def didn’t train as much for this one so I was pleasantly surprised.
Christine, great job! Considering you didn’t train as much for this one yet still PRd is excellent. Not to mention 3:19 is a totally swell time.