April 13th, 2010
This is a paceband for a person who doesn’t give a complete shit…just part of one.
I’ve been wearing pacebands for marathons and Halfs, 10-milers and even 10Ks since I’ve been racing. But every time, after the first few miles, I either get depressed so it hurts to keep looking at it or my brain turns into race jelly so nothing computes anymore – thus by the halfway point, it’s either ignored or forgotten. This time I’m doing things differently.
My avg. goal pace will be 7:45s but I’m going for even effort so if I end up slower, oh well. With this freeing philosophy in mind, instead of marking 26 splits on my paceband, I’ve noted only where the hills are, whether they’re up or down, and their distance. This way I know whether to hold back or to give it some energy and how much longer till those famous Newton Hills are done.
Faster on the downs, predictably slower on the ups…it’s not rocket science but I think it’ll work.
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Brilliant in its simplicity. Makes it look like a walk in the park. I keep saying that I’m going sans pace band this time. If that’s the case, then why have I printed out 4 different ones? I suck. ;-)
You’re going to have a wonderfully positive experience in Boston, with a fast time to boot.
Cheers, ESG/Ron
Thanks. That’s a real nice addition to my gear for running the marathon vicariously.
Actually it’s pretty brilliant. My brain starts to explode or implode or something when I try to do splits when I’m tired and when I try to do splits when I’m tired I’m pretty well past carrying what they are. But that’s looking at the bright side! I’m seriously getting nervous for all the folks who are doing this. Seriously nervous.
that’s a really great idea! i’ve never used a pace band before. ever. granted i’ve raced so infrequently that it’s never really crossed my mind to do so
and i love how you’ve included the hills on it rather than a tradition time stuff. awesome idea
What a great idea! I wish you the best at Boston! I hope you have a great time and enjoy every moment of the race. I am living this one through you vicariously.
Freakin’ brilliant! I hope that isn’t copyrighted because I am so stealing your idea. I’ll wear it right next to my “real” paceband in case the ole’ brain stops working (likely).
I think I am the dumbest smart person on Earth. I am so lost on your paceband!!!! The left side is the mile placement of the hill? The right is the total distance of the hill? Hmmm, that would make sense, but please tell me if I’m off base.
That’s supercool. It would be even cooler if you figured out some way to customize (you know, like the boston version vs. the nyc version) & sell ‘em on the gifted runner!
Thanks guys! I really appreciate the nice comments.
LA, that’s exactly it, “where the hills are, whether they’re up or down, and their distance”. Truth is, I really only need the first column, the color coding tells the story, but I like big fat arrows and the last column is so when I’m dying, I can say “ok, this one’s less than a half mile…”
That’s a nice idea. I actually do get through hilly races by figuring out how many of them there are, and then counting them down.
wow! very cool. I like it a lot…the only time a wore a paceband was for the philly marathon and I got so pissed off around mile 18 and I just threw it off lol
Looks good, good thinkin’! I am going with the theory of this: not really many hills in the 1st 16. Hills 16-21. Run as fast as possible once they are over.
Neat! Somewhere online I have seen a calculator that will spit out your optimum splits for each mile ACCOUNTING FOR ELEVATION CHANGE, which I thought was impressive from a data-geek perspective but never attempted to emulate while running. Your wristband seems much more comforting.
A fellow forumite, Greg Maclin makes entire spreadsheets that include pacebands accounting for the elevation changes, you can even input whether you want even effort, fairly even effort, slow start, fast start, etc. I tried it in Philly but it was too much for me to pay attention to. I recommend the spreadsheets though, they’re invaluable (and where I got my hill data).
I like the simplicity of it also, took me a few minutes to decipher, but that’s just how slow I am right now!
So, are we going to get any great video of you and the other BQ ladies out of this? I need to be gathering some bib #s so I can follow my faves
Doubt there’ll be video but hopefully tons of photos. I’ll put my bib number up before I go, you can be sure of that.
Flo, Great idea. Boston is going to be fun! Looking forward to meeting you!
Love the paceband. You’re some kind of genius. I have Greg Maclin’s, so maybe I’ll wear both.
Love it (all though I was with LA Runner and didn’t get it at first)! You are going to have a kick ASS experience and I can’t wait to have you zip by me with a big old smile on your face….I’ll have my camera waiting!
Hi Flo – I’m a friend of Stevi’s and finally made it to your blog! Best of luck at Boston! And as a former pace band user and hater, I’m liking the new one a lot more!
Anal. Retentive. I love it. You are a woman after my own wonky heart.
This is brilliant.
I like it! The ‘run by effort’ runner’s pace band. Not sure it’d work for Chicago though
Safe travelling; have fun; race well!
Good luck at Boston, Flo.
I hope you have a great race.
Nice. I was scratching my head a bit, thinking that the rightmost column wasa pace offset – “Huh? 3:00 speedup at mile 0.7?!?”.
Hmm. It’s universal, not pace dependant. It could be on the backs of everyone’s shirts…
Not long now, Flo.
Exactly, it’s the anti anal-retentive pace band! It’s just what’s on the ground. It would have been a lot less confusing to everyone if I’d included column headings but since I’m the one wearing it, I didn’t bother. Not long is right! Weeeeeeeee…