The conversations in the first two parts of this series (Parts One & Two) are ones I’ve had many times.
After thoroughly flushing out the issues, it’s time to discuss what we can do about them.
Start by acknowledging what went right.
The run was a personal best.
Which shows the plan is working.
So the base plan is to stay-the-course.
In most situations, radical change is not required. Better to focus on fine-tuning.
Pacing & Persistence
Downhill Grades
Train Long & Race Short
Sport-Specific Strength
Mileage & GPS Tracking
Pacing & Persistence
Part Two offered different ways to consider pacing. In my case, pace management fell short on game day. This is common.
The principle to apply:
Deliver current fitness to the finish line, before seeking to outperform.
In the case study, this one change might account for half of the gap between actual (4:08 per km) and future goal (3:45 per km).
Another principle":
Give yourself every chance to succeed.
For example… no more placing the fastest 5K of the season at the start of a half marathon.
Downhill Grades & Variable Pacing
Training at “future goal pace” is usually counterproductive, especially for the Core Pace sessions outlined in Chapter Two.
There are, however, ways to touch these faster paces.
John’s Race Pace sessions (in Chapter Two), use variable pacing.
Downhill grades (shallow, not steep) can be used to increase pace vs effort.1
Add faster downhill running gradually as the load of the session is increased. When running downhill grades, pace will be more informative than heart rate alone.
Train Long & Race Short
A favorite piece of advice for athletes who want to run marathons…
Train for the full, race the half.2
Durability, and biomechanical, limiters have long adaptive time horizons. It takes months, and years, to address them. Athletes who fail to address these limiters get caught in cycles of injury and maladaptation.
There’s no rush to step-up the race distance. When post-race soreness, and in-race fade, show a lack of durability… learn from it.
Reduce race distance.
Continue to log consistent mileage.
Use other sports to channel the desire for more.
The benefit of racing shorter is “future goal pace” falls into current fitness.
For example:
A long warm-up,
Followed by a 5K Park Run.
…can be an effective Core Pace session.
Sport-Specific Strength
Use Hills.
Make sure long runs use a mix of terrain.
Multisport athletes, consider Bike-Run Reps.
Hill-specific adaptations support boosting mileage and enhance late-race durability.
Mileage & GPS Tracking
Track duration as well as distance.
It’s been interesting to notice where my GPS watch nudges me.
Flatter Terrain - I like to “look good” with higher average paces.
Treadmill - Lock it in, turn my mind off, get it done.
I like the fact I don’t need to think.
I could have done with more thinking at the start of my recent race.
When I was an elite, the main thing I cared about was duration. Distances were mostly estimated. The only time we had accurate splits was at the track or running between mile-markers. We had frequent runs without pace pressure.
Those days are gone for many of us.
It might not be an improvement.
Back to Table of Contents
Running “away from the mountains” is a pace-boosting tactic here in the Front Range of Colorado. We can also use old railway grades for these sessions.
Applying this advice to myself… train for the half, race 10K or shorter. By placing swim, bike and strength on top of that program… there’s plenty to do, while my legs adapt to my return to running.