Jan 15th, 2010 by admin
TOO FAST? TOO SLOW? WHAT’S A GOOD PACE TO TRAIN AT…
Marathon’s are not to be taken lightly. Most people who do the marathon, simply don’t put in enough miles to get the best out of themselves, and the miles they do are run slightly too fast!
In an article published on Serpentine’s running club website, Frank Horwill points out that, ‘A survey of city marathons revealed that half of the competitors ran only 26 miles in total in a week. That’s about 4½ miles a day for six days. They then expect to run reasonably well, 26 miles in one day.’
The ‘old school’ theory was that you need to run up to 100 miles per week to do well at a marathon (however, it’s worth pointing out that the old school, ie the 80s, saw far better marathon times than we do now!)…
But many coaches and exercise physiologists now disagree with this, and argue for quality, not quantity… At the running inn, we believe that for most recreational runners, there’s a need to get fit to run a marathon before worrying too much about piling on faster longer runs (eg nine miles at marathon pace!). If you can manage quality running on at least 50 miles per week (ie you’re not completely exhausted and are niggle free), then give it a go, but make your priority time on your feet.
That said shorter intervals as we do on a Wednesday night are vital for keeping you sharp, improving leg turnover – and helping you to run fast.
Not sure what pace you should run at? There’s lots of information out there but we find this site really useful http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/cgi-bin/calc.pl.
A lot of the Running Inn Eastbourne members are aiming to run a sub 4:30 marathon. Based on a low mileage of 30 to 44 miles per week running, McMillan suggests the paces set out in the table below. So for example you should do your 800s in around 4:13 if you can.
Remember most runners tend to do their runs too quick – and not do enough miles! So for example, you might come to the club and run 6 x 800 in 4 mins or under and do two 45 minute runs at 8:45 pace, then do your long run at around 9:30 pace – but if you re-jigged your schedule so you did something like what’s set out below – you would get better results.
Monday: 3 to 5 miles at 11:47 to 12:17 per mile
Tuesday: 5 to 8 Steady run at 9:45 to 10
Wednesday: 6 x 800s at 4:17
Thursday: Easy 5 at 10:47 to 11:17
Friday: rest
Saturday: Easy 5 with some short bursts (eg 10 x 30)
Sunday: Long run from 10, building up to 20 miles at 10:47 to 11:47 pace
The table below is taken from http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/cgi-bin/calc.pl.
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