It’s going to be hard to know your MP if you haven’t done one, but as I’ve mentioned before if you look at the Daniels pace guides you can hopefully get a rough idea, or at least be cautious, start off a bit slower than that pace and pick it up in the second half if you aren’t hanging on.
The more different race splits you can compare, e.g. 5k/10k/half the better, it’s a bit like Coggan’s power profile in cycling.
A 3:15 marathon is something like 4:37\K pace, if you do a parkrun at that pace you’ll probably get bored. But if you do a long run of say 25-28K and try and hold that for the last 6-7k it won’t be as funny, but knowing you can do it at the end of a long run on fatigued legs should also give you a bit of confidence, even better if it’s at the end of a 34-37K run.
I don’t think you should do long runs at MP, maybe 1 or 2 have decent bits of MP in them, like the 54321 I mentioned. Or maybe a few K at MP at the end of a long run.
I’d do the MP stuff either as long reps, or maybe even something like 2*5k @ MP, just get used to running at that pace.
Thanks all. Jeff, my 20 miler is Feb 16th and Newport Mara is April 19th, so hopefully plenty of gap there.
I have been making an effort to evenly or negatively split my long runs and there is a draggy hill about 1.5kms from home which is easy to avoid but I make myself climb it. It’s mostly working. I can’t negatively split every long run but it’s becoming more common to do so.
I think an awful will depend on UTMB and whether I get in. Distance and goal wise, my mind is all over the place like a drunken spider right now. At least knowing about CCC will provide some clarity.
Thanks for the info @jeffb it makes sense.
Over the next month I will be upping the mileage on my long runs so will add MP to the back end of them and see how I get on.
So yesterday i did 11 miles @7:52 av pace.
Then 4 miles at @7:13 av pace
Then 1 mile cooldown @8:10
I am going to have my MP in training at 7:15 which equates to a 3 hour 10 min marathon and see how i get on!
Learnings from yesterdays run would be that my first 11 miles needed to be slower than i did probably by at least 30 secs a mile especially as i up my mileage.
Good stuff mate. Yep, gotta respect that first half of the distance. I was thinking about my run yesterday and whether I could have lasted another 12 km at that pace.
Possibly, but that first 21km really needs managing well, however mentally, it seems such a struggle to speed up after 21kms!
I thought the same thing about lasting at that pace but I suppose with a good taper you are a lot fresher come race day.
I will test it out over the next weeks and see how it feels at different paces and also with different nutritional strategies.
I had 1 gel at mile 10 and about 200ml of water.
Good plan. I ran yesterday with a hydro vest, one bottle had a one scoop mix of Tailwind and the water. Both bottles were about 40% full when I finished. On top of that I had a SIS gel at 9 & 19kms.
Watched this over the holidays, study of the pacing and performance of marathon runners:
I got the first 5k and 10k wrong last year, still don’t feel like I know how to pace the hills at the front of Brighton.
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Any of you guys use tape to prevent blisters?
I tend to blister between big toe and the next toe on my right foot. I’ve had some success with talcum powder, but if it’s wet I’ll need tape and I haven’t found anything that works over long periods except that really expensive tape used for supporting injuries.
In 2016 I ran Salisbury half in 1:38 in October (pancake flat), and Portsmouth Coastal Marathon in 3:30 in December (flat but challenging terrain), I think I was running a 10k in around 45mins at that time
With Hokas, i always use the Superfeet Carbon insoles and never get blisters (Usually use Hilly Mono Skin socks).
With anything other shoes (and with Hokas actually), I slather foot in Vasolene, using a kitchen towel to apply and put socks on carefully. I think good quality socks help prevent blisters more than anything but I’ve never tried tape.
I’ve got 2 new pairs on the way for my birthday this weekend (as i can’t think of anything else in that price range for people to buy me! haha). But seriously, i love Injinjis!
I was surprised by the Marathon time, it was my first ever Marathon, a day after office Christmas party, I was only a little hungover. I would have been happy with anything under 4 hours
