It is not really valid to pick a race pace based upon a training run. If you want to estimate your best race pace do a max effort 10K race or time trial and plug the results into a race pace calculator like https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/ .

You can also use a shorter race like a mile or 5K but the results won't be quite as reliable.

I am far from any kind of expert but I personally run races waaaaay harder than training runs. That's the point of racing, right?

For my first one, it's more about the shirt, the medal (all finishers get one) and being able to put a 13.1 magnet on the car with some legitimacy. :bigsmile:

I'm sure you will find yourself going faster, just because of the adrenaline and the excitement of the race. But probably you need to be somewhere in between the 2 and the 2:15. If it were me I would just run my own race and not worry about a pace group.

One of my main motivations for signing up to do my first half was to get that sticker for my car. Because I thought it would be cool. And it is!!! I can't wait to get a 26.2 to put next to it. :bigsmile:

It is not really valid to pick a race pace based upon a training run. If you want to estimate your best race pace do a max effort 10K race or time trial and plug the results into a race pace calculator like https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/ .

You can also use a shorter race like a mile or 5K but the results won't be quite as reliable.

I am not sure I understand. I am not a racer as far as this being a half where I try to get faster or better than before. I plan to run non stop like I have been training to do, but wondered if I might find a faster or slower pace more natural when running at an event with lots of others.

You can probably race faster than 2:15 but there really is no way of estimating how much faster off of a training run. My recommendation would be to run with the 2:15 group and then if you are feeling really good at around 8 miles to speed up the pace. That is a safer option than starting off much too fast and then struggling to the end.

I am going to do my first half in early October. There are 3 pace groups - 2:00, 2:15 and 2:30.

Here is info from a 10 mile training run from a few nights ago:
DISTANCE
10.12 mi
DURATION
1h:44m:16s
AVG. SPEED
10:18 min/mi
MAX. SPEED
7:02 min/mi
CALORIES
1516 kcal
HYDRATION
3.15L
MIN. ALTITUDE
142 ft
MAX. ALTITUDE
507 ft
TOTAL ASCENT
975 ft
TOTAL DESCENT
969 ft

OK, if you do the math it seems dead simple. I am running at almost exactly the 2:15 pace. Or do I push myself and expect a little more on a race day? Or do I make my first half easier and go slower? And there is always D - non of the above; I could just run at whatever pace I felt like. Obviously it's a personal decision but I am curious what others have done and would recommend.

EDITED to remove URL when I realized it is a map to my house...

There is a way to estimate your pace from a training run but more data is needed — your max HR and your average HR.

Grab a copy of this Excel WKS -

http://www.electricblues.com/html/runpro.html

Plug in your height and weight et al

The top "band" in the WKS allows you to enter a Distance and a Time and the WKS will update to show you the HR and the pace for that data.

By example, I put in my stats (43 RHR, 191 HR Max, and 2:03 for the half) and it tells me that my marathon pace is 9:47 and I'll be running at 160 BPM. (Make sure that the value in "Heart Rate Tweak" way over on the left is blank or "0")

What that tells me is that if I run a training run at 9:47 and my average HR was, say 154, then I know that run was much better than a 2:03 HM.

"How do I find out how fast it was?" — I thought you'd never ask?! ;-)

Change the value in the Time field until you see 9:47 under the 154 value. In this case, the appropriate value is 1:59:00.

This tells us that for this particular run your pace was equivalent to a 1:59 HM. It's a prediction based on one run but if you start using it routinely, you'll get a ballpark time.

I did my first half this spring. The advice I got from my coach was to choose a strategy and stick to it.

So my strategy was to run a negative split. Since it was my first I picked 2:30 pace for the first 10 km. I accelerated the for the rest of the run. I liked passing by other runners at the end instead of feeling miserable. I did 2:24.

I felt I could have done faster but I read very often that you do not see many runners getting injuries because they run too slow...

I read also again this week in Jack Daniels' book (Daniels' Running Formula) that it takes years to achieve your peak performance as a runner. I figured at 46 I still have time to get faster.

I ran a second one in August. It was warm and with many hills (St-John, NB, Canada). I choose to run a bit faster on the first 10km because there were hills at the end and it would get warmer. I did 2:13!

I will try 2:00 for my last one this season and I'm confident I can do it without suffering too much. It will be flat and freezing on October 27th.

I think best advice I got (I mean it worked for me) is to create you race strategy and stick to it.

Do they put your time on the bumper sticker? ;-)

Good luck and enjoy your first endurance event!