for an ad-free Fetcheveryone experience!

marathon plans - track session pace

1 watcher

DaveG Feb 2015 10:34am, 20 Feb 2015 297 posts	Quote Pin DaveG After a few marathons not go as I wished, I've decided to actually follow a training plan this time around. Specifically, I'm using the RW basic intermediate plan, hoping for 3:50. Yesterday I did a session which was 5x800m fast, 400m slow on a track. The plan, however, gives no definition of 'fast' or 'slow' so I'm wondering if I judged my pace right. I think I did as I did each fast lap in around 1 minute 50 (and hence each 800m in around 3:40) and felt it was much more of a struggle towards the end than at the start.I have an idea that's how you define the right pace, but it's not actually based on anything. I did the whole session without stopping, just going straight from one speed to another. As I did a 3 lap warm up and 2 lap warm down I ended up doing 8k at 9:03 pace. My normal training runs of 5-6m are at that pace if flat (or up to 9:30 if hilly, as most of my runs are). So essentially I've done the session at the same overall speed as I normally would, albeit varying my pace a lot. Is this normal or would this session usually take longer/shorter than a standard run? Also, is 3m40 for a 800m in a 5x800m session about right for someone who has a current 5k time of around 23:40 and is aiming for 3:50? I'm slightly worried I might be doing them too slow and not getting the right benefits, or too fast and risking tiredness/injury. It seems to be 22:25 pace for a 5km, which is 1:15 faster than I do (at a reasonably flat) parkrun.
Ultracat Feb 2015 11:18am, 20 Feb 2015 11,141 posts	Quote Pin Ultracat Hi, I think the McMillan pace calculator is very good at giving you correct paces for different sessions.
Huntsman Feb 2015 11:23am, 20 Feb 2015 1,368 posts	Quote Pin Huntsman The Fetch calculator is good too. http://www.fetcheveryone.com/training-calculators-trainingpace.php
DaveG Feb 2015 2:20pm, 20 Feb 2015 298 posts	Quote Pin DaveG Excellent - thanks for that. I never realised that was there.