Just ran a 8 mile test effort at 5:16 pace solo. What can I expect to race in a Half Marathon next weekend?

5:15 is threshold pace running for a 1:09 HM - again according to Daniels.

Aerobicislimitless wrote:

You should be able to go past 5 miles at HMP if you build it up correctly... it shouldn't be that taxing

of course I CAN go past 5mi at HMP by myself, but it becomes too hard of a workout at that point. there are not many elite runners doing straight 6+mi tempos at half marathon pace. there are exceptions of course...but most would split it up into 2mi repeats

Damn, that's a really good pace, well done!

Somewhere in the 68’s depending on how hard you were going during the tempo. If hard then high 68’s, if easier then low 68’s.

This is just based on how your fitness compares to when I ran 67:30.

porkchop111 wrote:

Race course is flat & I wasn't completely dead after the tempo. 60 MPW training w/ 2 workouts + 14-16mile LR per week

Please come back and post how you did after your race. I’m curious because our training is pretty different, but based on your 8 mile run alone, it sounds to me like you’d be ready for something similar to what I ran if you get some great conditions. If it’s truly a training effort, I don’t think you should be slower than 1:08:xx, but there’s definitely potential for 1:07:xx or maybe even a little under 1:07 if you hit everything right.

I don’t think I could’ve run 5:15 for 8 miles in training before I ran 1:06:55 in Houston. Everything was perfect for me on race day though. The longest tempo run that I did in training was 6 miles, my best of which was 5:30 average (granted it was on hilly snow packed roads). I definitely wouldn’t equate that run to 8 miles at 5:15. Other training elements that I had were a handful of 16-18 milers, many of which I averaged 5:55-6:00. The best one was an 18 miler that I averaged 5:44, and I also threw in 3 separate miles at lactate threshold effort, which was around 5:17 at miles 4, 10, and 16. On the other end of the spectrum, my best 5k type of workout was 6x1200m on the track with 3’ rest and I averaged 3:33. Weekly mileage 3-5 weeks out was 90ish.

It seems outrageous to me that I averaged 18 miles at 5:44 and I don’t think I could run 5:15 for 8 in training, but I honestly believe that. Where are you racing? Good luck OP.

You can run 5:18 pace the whole way in a race if you have done your long runs.

porkchop111 wrote:

Race course is flat & I wasn't completely dead after the tempo. 60 MPW training w/ 2 workouts + 14-16mile LR per week

Somewhere between 1:06 to 1:10

Things I considered.

That is the tempo pace you see from the really elite women, so you're likely going to run a similar time. You said it was quite comfortable, which probably means you'll be considerably faster than 1:10, but you never know because an extra 1/3+ the distance is quite a bit to maintain. I'd guess you run in the low 1:08's, high 1:07's, like the typical women's winner of an elite half marathon race.

Actually if you just added half a mile and did that several times then added another half once it got easy, you could build it much higher, which would be great for your half and full.

i'll come back and make a follow up post next weekend. will this thread be archived by then? And yeah I'm def gonna do some more work on my long runs in the future, its rough solo training so ill probably join a running club and thatll help

5:15 is about 68:45 pace, and I think that you can very much hold 8M tempo pace for a half marathon in a race. If it was comfortable, you could break 1:08, particularly if you did your tempo solo. Good luck!

I did 2x4 miles with 3 min rest at 5:16 average and went on to run 1:08 in my race. If everything goes well you should able to run 1:07. Good luck mate.

When I ran 1:10 many years ago my tempo workout pace was 6:00/mile or maybe slightly faster. I don't know what the experts say but I would say if you are able to average 5:18/mile for an 8 miler and include splits like this or faster in long runs that you are in 1:08 shape not the slower times folks are predicting here. One workout could have been a "one off" but I'm assuming you're indicating that this reflects your current fitness

Well, considering you ran it solo, I'd say your HM race pace would be at least 10 sec faster, providing you are a competent drafter.

How did it go?

porkchop111 wrote:

Race course is flat & I wasn't completely dead after the tempo. 60 MPW training w/ 2 workouts + 14-16mile LR per week

i wonder why (obviously) experienced runners come up with such questions?

you should know better than anyone else here.