So, I am well into the first third of my training for my December 3rd marathon. I will admit I had been having a hard time following any sort of plan as I was stretched so thin with so many projects and stress at work. All of that is over now and has been for about a week. Suddenly having more time to train is like a gift that I am embracing to the fullest extent. The bad part about it is that now my training is a bit compressed and I am having to find my stride faster than usual.
I am a slow runner and most of you know that, however I did improve and am running a bit faster than last year about 30 seconds a minute faster on average for easy runs. So when I went back to doing my long runs (13 miles and over) I found that my past slow speed was too slow. At first I tried to push though but have found that during the runs my forced slow gait is uncomfortable. The other day when this happened I immediately sped up just a bit and all was better. Weird.
I had in the past used the McMillan running calculator as a base for my pacing. The chart is right on with my race times but my regular everyday running and especially my long runs are generally faster than the calculator says. I find I can go slow but not that slow. For me this is proof that I need to go by my perceived exertion and be careful not to lose my form which seems to happen when I go to slow. I am wondering if anyone else finds this to be true when they go really slow?
In general training goes well and I am really enjoying the cool fall weather.
And thanks to everyone who send condolences and good wishes after Bella passed. She was a dedicated companion for 14 years and I miss her.
8 comments:
I am sure you are still having a hard time without Bella. Seems to be a lot of pets dying lately. Kate's cat. A neighbor in our town was missing her dog and it was found -unfortunately not alive. Sad sad sad.
How slow is slow? Admittedly, if your "slow" is 4.5 or 4 miles per hour, then it IS hard to run that slow. But if your slow is faster than that, take is easy on your long runs.
I'm what I'd classify a "slow" runner - my recent 1/2 marathon time was 2:11 or 10 min miles. I try to keep my long runs at about 11 min miles right now (meaning over about 8 miles) unless I feel really good and I will bump it up to 10:30. I'm finding in the early stages of marathon training that my speed is increasing a little bit on short runs, which I am happy with!
I'd like to run a 9:30 or 10:00 at my January 22 26.2.
Good luck and be careful!
It seems too hard to always go "by the book" and not let the runs fit YOUR running. Find a comfortable pace where you aren't totally depleting your body and roll with it. BTW, it's OK to miss our faithful friends when they are gone - long live Bella in sweet memories!
I definitely try to focus on good form - even when running easy - and find that it makes a difference in my pace in the long run. Plus I think you just feel better after than running with poor form!
There is no such thing as a slow runner, your a runner, if you run a 8 minute mile or 14 minute mile, its still a mile
I am on my 2nd year of serious running. If I even try to run my easy pace last year, I actually get more tired than if I just go with what feels right now which is a little faster (minute or so). I think with running, you need to make continual assessments of yourself. Good luck in your marathon training and thanks for sharing.
My last training program was telling me to run 12 min miles at various points, and I just really could not run that slow. I could run a 10-11 min/mile and take a couple of walk breaks to get the average down to that pace, but it didn't really work that well for me. I think it makes sense to try to run at a pace that feels good mechanically.
Good to hear your training is on track. I'm a slow runner as well and always run how I feel. Sometimes my long runs might be a faster pace than my short runs because I feel good on the day.
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