Running to pace

4 watchers

McGoohan Feb 2021 1:51pm, 17 Feb 2021 48,538 posts	0 McGoohan I just had a play with my Garmin (before I thought about avg pace or saw Larkim's post above). So I set myself up for some intervals of 2mins at 8:30-10:00 which is my standard running pace these days alternating with 2 mins at any old pace to allow me to keep running or have a break etc. As Fetch pointed out, short-term GPS fluctuations led to unlikely paces being recorded and beeped alerts. Usually I was going 'too fast' - it jumped to 7:09 pace at one point. Nope, have another look. Other times it was complaining I was too slow, normally after a rest interval, like I almost had to be in the zone as soon as the interval started and not giving me time to catch up. It was all just mucking about though really, as it's quite hilly here so that's half the battle in staying at a consistent pace right there. I shall play with the average pace settings next.
Fitz Feb 2021 3:10pm, 17 Feb 2021 2,376 posts	0 Fitz Thinking back, when I used to do pace efforts, I'd normally ignore any alerts for the first bit of any effort, to let the GPS and averaging calm itself down a wee bit. As the paced efforts were usually either single miles (speedwork) or multiple miles (tempo), being a bit out over the first half-minute wasn't really an issue. My old Garmin had countdown bleeps to the next interval, so I would try to start speeding up in order to be at the right pace from the very start. Not very scientific but good enough for amateurmarathoner training.
cerid Feb 2021 4:15pm, 17 Feb 2021 497 posts	0 cerid Yeah, for middle distance and above I think you need to learn to combine what your Garmin is saying, how the pace feels, and known markers, for example, start line/200m line on a track, landmarks you know are x far apart, mile/km markers on a course (or where they usually are if you have run the same parkrun course often enough for example). Use the pace on your Garmin to stop yourself going out ridiculously fast or way too slow, and then use the markers to check where you are at. Frequent checks are better, but combining a km/mile marker with hitting Lap on your watch is best for a race when all you actually care about is the result at the end. Not really had too many issues with my Garmin using that method, just look at the time when you hit the marker and compare to what it is supposed to be (and get very good at multiplying and dividing seconds, and your 1.6 times-table.). Also really useful to just go out for a few 5-milers without worrying too much or looking at your watch, and try to discover what your natural comfy pace is - mine is pretty much 7:35-miling and then you can benchmark that too.
Dvorak Feb 2021 4:24pm, 17 Feb 2021 21,995 posts	0 Dvorak Taking into account that your natural comfy pace is almost certainly too fast (if are are training to heart rate at all )
cerid Feb 2021 6:07pm, 17 Feb 2021 498 posts	0 cerid Yeah, absolutely wrong for LHR training!
mulbs Feb 2021 8:37am, 18 Feb 2021 13,936 posts	0 mulbs Woohoo you lot are wonderful. Thanks so much for all of your collective wisdom. I think it'll take me a good while to be able to tune in to pace, I'd certainly set my over and under margins way too wide and even so had some manic beeping when it felt like I was keeping quite steady. I'll try playing around with my Garmin, didn't know about custom settings for measuring pace over a custom distance so that's really useful. It's a 12 week program and it'll probably take that long for me to adjust!
Dvorak Feb 2021 1:39pm, 23 Feb 2021 22,030 posts	0 Dvorak My pace judgement became pretty decent through a combination of treadmill and track. Banging out some repetitive stuff might be worth a try.
mulbs Mar 2021 11:34am, 2 Mar 2021 13,941 posts	0 mulbs I'm getting there - and have found that if I get it disastrously wrong at the start it's really hard to bring it back. Treadmill is inaccessible at the moment and track is closed, but I'll book the odd track session in when I can as it definitely helped when I was HR training to have consistency in terrain.
fetcheveryone Mar 2021 11:38am, 2 Mar 2021 25,716 posts	0 fetcheveryone Have you tried counting your steps per breath? I find that useful. When I'm going as fast as I can, it's usually two steps for the breath out, and two steps for the breath in. At a relaxed pace, I can get down to 4 steps for the breath out, and usually 3-4 for the breath in. Changing your pattern can help you settle in to a pace.
mulbs Mar 2021 11:40am, 2 Mar 2021 13,944 posts	0 mulbs I do do that when I'm doing effort or hills, so I get what you mean. I can be a bit of an addictive counter so it appeals