Training and Racing At the Right Pace

Dave K

I've absolutely loved participating in the NY Flyers Marathon Training Program(MTP), and also the Flyers SpeedPass program. 

But I realize that not every Flyer opts to participate in these programs including because of reasons such as conflicting work and family schedules.

And so this piece is aimed to help those Flyers who don't received coaching, and who may want some guidance and tools to assist you to train and race at the right pace for you.

Whether you train on your own without any guidance, or with a group, or via an on-line training program, or use one you've found in a book on running, it's important to know at what paces to race and train. Many of us do different types of training runs such as easy runs, tempo runs, marathon goal pace or other race pace runs, and interval repeat training. But it's clear that not everyone knows what pace to run at for the different types of training runs.

And the problem here is that if you're training with a goal of becoming a faster runner, then by not running at the right pace you may:

• Increase the likelihood of injury, or
• Not be as fast a runner as you might like to become.   

For example, when I've run as coach and a mentor for Team for Kids, and also when running with other Flyers, I've heard questions (not necessarily directed at me -- they know better if they don't want a long-winded answer! :) such as "what should be my marathon pace?" "how fast should I run my long-run?" and "am I running my easy run too fast or too slow?" And especially for a new runner, answering these questions for oneself can be challenging.

I know that for me, especially when I was a newer runner, it was (and sometimes still is) tempting to run faster than I should for different types of runs.  

At non-coached group speedwork I'd find myself (and other runners who are far more intelligent than me) running each repeat as fast as possible, rather than considering the purpose of each different work-out and selecting the correct pace for me to best achieve the intended purpose.  

And at group runs with friends (or at least they pretended to be my friends?), sometimes one of us might pick up the pace (Sean J and John W, yes, I'm talking trash about you among others), and before we knew it, some or all of us would be running at something approaching 4-mile race-pace (or at least my own race pace if not theirs) while enjoying the challenge and fun of running hard together. 

As I gained knowledge and experience as a runner, I learned that one way to train is by feel (no, not as in "I feel lousy so let's go for beers instead" although not a bad idea sometimes). If a training plan called for an easy-pace run, then it should be run at a "conversational pace" that is slow enough to be able to have a conversation while running. For a tempo run, the term "comfortably hard" often is used. But when running alone or in a group, these sorts of terms can get a little bit fuzzy. And when actually out there running, terms like comfortably hard may morph into a reality of uncomfortably hard or race pace when the training pace is not put in terms of pace per mile.

Fortunately, there are some helpful on-line tools out there that runners can use to select an appropriate goal-pace per mile for different types of training runs. All one needs to know is a race time from a recent race. By plugging the race result into an on-line pace calculator, you can determine your ideal training pace for different types of training runs, and also estimate a goal pace for a future race, based on your current level of fitness.

It's important, however, to not use the time from a race when you were in much better shape than you are now, or else the training paces that will be generated for you will be TOO AMBITIOUS because the paces will be based on a different, faster (and better looking?) version of you. Likewise, it's best to estimate pace for future races by entering in the time for a recent race of a similar distance, or at least relatively close to the distance of the race you're estimating. For example, you'll get a better estimate for marathon goal pace using your time from a recent half marathon than from a recent 5K.

Here are links to three on-line calculators that enable runners to calculate training pace for various types of training runs (e.g., tempo/threshold, intervals, marathon, easy). My favorite is the first one, below, by Jack Daniels, PhD. The coached training provided by Flyers Head Coach Brian Rosetti for Flyers SpeedPass and Flyers MTP applies the teachings of Jack Daniels and the work of the Run SMART Project, in making use of the same formulas. The other calculators work in a similar manner, and generate similar results.

• Jack Daniels' Running Calculator. Includes an informational video about the calculator and instructions for using it including for factoring in variables such as weather.  
• Runner's World Training Pace Calculator
• Runner's World Finish Time Calculator
• McMillan Running Pace Calculator. Includes an instructional video.

Here's an example of training pace calculations for different types of training run paces after entering into the Jack Daniels Running Calculator the distance (13.1 mi) and time (1:45:00) of a recent race (half marathon):

Type	Pace/Mi	Pace/Km	400	200
Easy	09:21 - 09:56	05:49 - 06:10	--	--
Marathon	08:19	05:10	--	--
Threshold	07:49	04:51	01:57	00:58
Interval	07:11	04:28	01:47	00:54
Repetition	06:47	04:13	01:41	00:51

Some runners like to train according to heart rate readings, which the McMillan Running Pace Calculator takes into account.  Since I don't train with a heart rate monitor (HRM), I won't discuss HRMs in this blog piece, but if others have experience with HRM training and would like to write about that for the Flyers Blog, please feel free to submit something for me to post as a sequel to this piece! :)

-Dave K