A Slow Runner wrote:
@1:10 or bust: 1:54 for 800, and 4:20 for 1600 this spring.
I am mainly worried about my easy pace because most of my team runs their easy runs somewhat considerably faster (ballpark 6:15 pace?) than me. If I run with them one day, I'm quite tired the next day and feel like I'm gonna die running remotely close to them. So I'd like to speed up my easy pace to make it easier to run with them. Also, my 5k is around 5:20 pace yet going faster than 6:00 pace for tempos is really hard for me.
Thanks for the advice so far. I'll try to run with the watch less. I've just been worried that my easy pace is too slow, especially if some of my teammates run a lot faster on easy runs yet they (the ones I'm concerned about) are "only" 10 or so seconds faster over 1600.
Makes sense. At least you are faster than I suspected... at the mile.
Your 1-mile, 5k, and "tempo" I think tell the full story. Are you familiar with the Daniels Running Formula? Your 4:20 1600 is around a 70 VDOT, but your 5K time is significantly slower (around 62 VDOT.. which is equivalent to 4:49 mile time!). You clearly are very aerobically weak. Your times drop off significantly as the distance lengthens. And then, your "struggle point" of 6:00 is even slower than the 5k time would suggest.
Daniels suggest an easy pace of 6:30 for your 1600m time. But the problem is that your 5k time suggests an easy pace of 7:11. I bet if you raced a 10k or half marathon, your suggested easy pace off those distances would be even slower.
So, my advice is don't worry about pressing the easy pace down to 6:30. It's too fast for you now. That won't really be the right easy pace until you get your 5k time down to 14:55 (4:49 pace), which will match your 4:20 1600m. Even then, if you are more fast-twitch, you may not be able to run your easy days as fast as a slower-twitch runner. No big deal.
Keep the pace comfortable, and if you have the extra energy (and your coach agrees!!), try to get in more mileage. Extend your runs, or add doubles. More mileage, and another couple seasons will be the key to dropping your easy pace, as your aerobic fitness improves. The cool thing is that you have some awesome potential to improve your 1600m time as your aerobic conditioning improves. It has to be holding your 1600m performance back by a fair bit.
Don't force the tempo pace either. The same thing is going on with it. (it's currently slower than your 1600m time would suggest).