A question for the runners in the house

Murdog

Well, I did a seach on the subject, but couldn't turn up anything I could really use. So, here I am.

I've been running off/on since 1993. I've never really been concerned with mileage pace (10/mile, ect.). But, here in the last couple of years, I've been more into it. I'm just coming back from some time off and had to start back slow. For the first itme in four months, I've just finished my first 5-miler, and, it felt pretty good. But my pace was cut down by 2 minutes or more. See, I was running 4 miles prior to this workout.

Now, I know my calorie consumption is realatively the same running a longer distance, over a longer period of time vs. a shorter distance with more intensity--or faster pace.

I'm no racer, by any stretch of the imagination!! Though, I've signed up for a couple of races to keep myself motivated to train. But, I'm not really for sure about how hard to push. I train alone and its hard to hold myself to a certain goal pace. I have a watch with a metronome (for the lack of a better term) that I use regularly. It works great.

Would it be better to just judge exertion levels vs. trying to hit a certain pace all the time?

I know there is probably tons of variables here that would probably make this question next to impossible to answer.

Maybe, it would be easier to ask what other's priorities are. And, what they shoot for in their fitness, and performance during a workout.

Please speak freely, for I'm open to any opinions/options that I can get.

Thanks.

gmvanloo

I've been a runner for a while! Here's my 2 cents : )

If you are trying to train for a race, doesn't matter the distance, then determine what your "goal" race pace would be. What made me faster was track workouts. I sometimes do 400's and sometimes 800's - I've even done a few mile repeats but those hurt really bad!

I have found that if I go out every run with some pace in mind I only tend to wear myself out and stop enjoying running. I don't know how many days of running you are doing. Right now I'm doing 4 days a week and training for a half marathon. My runs during training are quite a bit different then just running to run. With training my schedule is as follows:

Monday - Track
Wednesday - Easy 3-4 miles
Thursday - Tempo or race pace run
Saturday - Long run (should be a minute or so slower then your planned race pace)

If I'm not training for anything then I just do whatever I want and I don't care.

You need to determine what a good goal pace would be for you for a certain distance. It's obviously different for all of us. Use that number to determine how hard you should be running your track and tempo workouts. Here is a great site to help you.

http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm

Scroll to the bottom - you can calculate about any distance using this.

minnesota

So what I learned from reading Runner's World is that is doesn't matter how fast or slow you run, you burn the same amount of calories no matter what. In order to calculate how much your body burns you take your body weight and times that be .72 and that will give you amount of calories you burn per mile.
Since I have been training for the 1/2 marathon I started at a 6mph pace and have slowly made it up to a 7-7.5mph. I increase my pace during the week to help my endurance, but on Saturday's during my long runs I revert back to a 6mph pace. I would love to run a 10k race under 50 mins but in reality if I do it any an hour I am happy.
A running partner is something if you are interested in I would recommend, because it keeps you motivated and accountable. Good luck on your races!

MacMadame

This is what I've found:

If I want to go faster, I need to do both strength training and speed (interval) work. I do one speed workout a week. Then I do one "tempo" run where I'm running a shorter distance but at a faster pace, not necessarily always my highest paces, but pushing myself over what my long run would be.

I don't actually do a lot of long runs as my coach believes in quality over quantity and says that the strength work and interval training I'm doing will carry over to my races. So far he's been right.

But, if you want a traditional running program, you'd do one long run at slower than race pace as well.

I use something called VDOT to judge my paces. I just use it to get me in the ball park though. I use RPE when I'm actually running and just keep an eye on my pace.

You figure out your VDOT by doing a 1 mile time trial. You warm up, then run 1 mile as fast as you possibly can. Then you look up the time you got on a chart and that tells you your VDOT and what paces to go for different types of runs. Alternately, you can use the McMillan run calculator to figure out target paces for various types of workouts.

http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm

http://www.attackpoint.org/trainingpaces.jsp

Heather_023

Hi Murdog,

This is a tough question because everyone is going to be different... (I know, duh right?) I've been running off and on for years too and find even day by day my body seems to respond differently!

If you plan on keeping it up and want to invest in a Garmin Forerunner, they're great. I was lucky enough to have one given to me as a going away gift from my last job when moving to a new town. I trained for a half marathon on my own and found it invaluable in deciding what pace I wanted to shoot for in the race. I love it because I can go wherever I want without planning out ahead of time the distance I want to cover and it tells you what pace you're going at any given time.

Here's the link if you're interested. I'm sure there are a ton of other brands out there, maybe stop by a running store if you have one nearby. https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=142&pID=348

firegirlred

I use a gps hrm. If you're getting serious, it's worth the money. I'm an endurance runner, so my perception of distance is skewed.

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/29242949
https://connect.garmin.com/activity/28873273

This is how I'm making my biggest gains. I can challenge myself by actually loading past runs onto the watch, then "race" myself to the finish line!

By the way-at least one of those was with a duallie stroller and two kids.

cmyres

Well, I've found that becoming a good runner is all about how motivated you are. You can't do it without a goal, and it's AWESOME that you're doing the races, hopefully charity runs...
The way I got better was the 30 seconds of sprinting, and 1 minute of rest until the 30 seconds got to be too easy and then I switched to one minute of sprinting and 30 seconds of rest. This will BUILD your muscles in a way that they begin to know that you're going to take it easy and dissipate that acid buildup.
"Indian runs" or "last man up" (PC version) is always good if you have a group to do it with. If you're unfamiliar, it's a line of joggers and the last person in line sprints to the front, and as soon as he gets there the new last person sprints to the front etc etc.

I would definitely get to where you can run MORE than the race. If you have a 5 mile race, train for 7 miles. Then that last mile is almost a dead sprint because you've saved your energy for three more miles at the pace you've gone at.

Weekly intervals are important also, Breaking your muscles down requires repair. For instance, I work out six days a week, but my big runs are always on Fridays, The monday is about 1/3 of my big run, my wednesday is about 2/3 and then full on friday.
If I'm working toward a goal I cannot reach, I'll move up about 1/4mi-1mi in distance every week. Depending on my shape.

5 miles is awesome keep up the good work!

ldarter

I've always found it easier to develop pace sense by training with a heart rate monitor. It eliminates a lot of the guess work and fine tunes a sense of pace based on perceived excertion. As far as improving as a runner, I recommend reading the book "Daniel's Running Formula" by Jack Daniels. I've been a runner for years and have read just about every book on training theory available. This is definitely the best.