Sunday, January 23

1/2 Marathon Training Session #4:  Time Trial Location:  Shelby Park.

Time: 9 am

Workout: 3 mile time trial

Every year, runners come up to me before the 1/2 marathon and ask, "what pace should I shoot for?"  Or they say "How fast should I be running my long runs?"  Answer: I have absolutely no idea!  One person's easy run in another's sprint.  Now, if that same runner can provide me a recent race result or time trial, then I can get pretty specific with my advice.

So that's what we are going to do this week.  We are going to run a 3 mile time trial, and that will give us a benchmark to train for the next month.

The Run:

This week we will meet at Shelby Park to run between 5 and 8 miles total, but 3 miles will be hard.

Novice: 1 mile warm up + 3 mile TT on path + 1 mile cool down

Intermediate: 2 mile warm up + 3 mile TT on path + 2 mile cool down

Advanced:   3 mile warm up + 3 mile TT on path + 2 mile cool down

How will this time trial help you?

1. Determine Training Paces. The pace at which you can run 3 miles (or a 5k) is useful in determining your training paces.  Below are some generally accepted training paces based on your 3-mile pace.  (Your 3-mile pace is called your "I")

I Pace - your 3 mile TT pace.

F Pace - 20-30 seconds per mile faster than I pace

T Pace (Tempo) - 30-40 seconds per mile slower than I pace

Long Runs - 90-150 seconds slower per mile than I pace

Easy Runs - 2 minutes or  slower per mile than I pace

"Normal" runs - 1 to 2 minutes per mile slower

2. Make Predictions.  Your 3-mile time can help you make predictions about future races.  For example, theoretically you can run a 1/2 marathon about 10% slower per mile than your 3-mile pace.  (This is for similar course profiles. For example, this time trial from Shelby Bottoms does not translate very well to the Country Music Half because of the hills.)  If you want to investigate how race results can make predictions for other race distances, check out the MacMillan Running Calculator.

The Brunch

One of the great blessings of my life recently has been to get to know so many great East Nasties.  And the best way to do that is outside of the runs.  So if you are new, try to make one of the Sunday morning brunches - it's a great place to make new friends.  If you are an old standard, check out the brunch sheet and sign up to bring something!  The brunch this week is hosted by Andy Moss & Heidi Wilson @ 1111 Forrest Ave.

See you on Sunday!

Mark