| LondonPace |
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Yesterday I did a 17.5m race at what is supposed to be target pace for London (22nd April) and am wondering what this says about where things stand for London. I held time and splits through the whole piece - it was flat, wet under foot, windy and partly offroad with a little broken ground, so I guess maybe a bit slower than things will be on the day. It was pretty damn hard work though - had hoped it would feel easier. Could probably have held pace for maybe another 2 miles, but that would have been a struggle. Did my max mileage so far up to Saturday (140miles in 8 days - 105m in 7 days would have been previous biggest week a while back), so not exactly tapered, though did take Monday off as was feeling unwell. With another 3 solid weeks to go, and a 3 week taper, would doing 2/3 race distance at target pace now, in the middle of normal training, be considered an indicator you were on target? above/below target? Thanks |
| flaneur |
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Usually my last "long" run before I really start tapering is a 16 miler at goal marathon pace. I know if I can hit this, I will be fine for the race. So I think you're right on track. |
| Jindo Smile |
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At least on target. With the said conditions, you can probably run faster than that pace. Keep it up. |
| droopy |
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For my marathon PR, I did a 20 miler 3 weeks out that each 5 mile increment was MP+45sec, +30sec, +15, MP. It felt good but I was definitely relieved to be done that day. A week later, 2wk out, I raced a half at PR but not full out effort and was closely predictive of my marathon effort. That run left me with the impression that I could have done better but would have struggled at the HM pace for much longer. Good luck |
| flagtastic |
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In my (limited) experience, the 12-15 mile marathon pace runs I did in training were never very easy. Exception may have been when I did them within a race setting. But after a taper and on race day, the same pace should feel pretty easy for the first 16-20 miles. |
| LondonPace |
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Thanks very much all of you for the replies - sorry, haven't been able to get on the computer for a couple of days. Hopefully that means things are on course. There are effectively 16 months training in this now (got sick the week of London last year, then missed my other A-race in the autumn as well!), so fingers crossed. Did 25.4m in 2h45 today, after an 11m/10m double yesterday, plus the effort on Weds and felt decent. Intended to do 23, but got the distance wrong. Still, all good miles. |
| LondonPace |
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Oh yeah - to put the previous post in context, the target is 2:29:59 or better |
| Fitzwell |
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I don't get how you can be a 2:30 guy (or someone seriously aiming for that) but not have any idea about how to interpret a 17-mile race pace effort at this point in your training. How many marathons have you done? |
| LondonPace |
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Maybe I should know - apologies if it seems a bit naive. I figured this would be a decent indicator of form, but just thought it would be interesting to get the thoughts of others. I train alone and my training "plan" is essentially just doing a lot of hard miles, so it isn't exactly scientific, but means getting to do a lot of long runs in the countryside which I really enjoy, so I don't really have much to compare myself to other than when racing which isn't that frequent. In the past 16 months my HM PB has dropped 3.5mins and this should come down about a minute in 2 weeks time, so the training seems to be working even if it might be a bit unconventional. This is my 4th marathon, first for 5 years. |
| ukathleticscoach |
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I think if you did 2:30 pace for 18 miles in training you would be on course. As it was in a race you expect to going faster than your marathon pace. But you will know better how than usif you are n course Don't get too caught up in an arbitary time like sub 2:30. Say you ran 2:32 its still a great time and not much really in it nad you risk blowing up less |
| LondonPace |
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Thanks - the race in the week was run at intended marathon pace, rather than as a race per se, so hopefully am in shape. Just kept an eye on the watch and attempted to hit low-5.40s from the start. Tried to ignore what others were doing and just ran what I was there to do. Pretty much managed that with the exception of a couple of slightly faster miles around 6-8 when I just got a little indisciplined. |