Conversational Pace!

[CouchCarrot]

I completed my graduation in May and have run regularly (2-3 times a week). My best was a 5K at 34:30 (little less than 7 mins / km). Having run 5 kms fairly regularly, I thought I should try and go towards 10K. But I found that it was very difficult for me to increase my run distance beyond 5K. My best run was 5.9 kms, but I felt exhausted after the run.

Someone suggested that I mix up slow / fast runs, to help me increase my run distance. It was a "light bulb" moment for me - I realized that I must slow down to increase the distance. Since I use Runkeeper to track my runs, I picked up the Training plan - "Sub 65 min 10K" from Runkeeper, which has a good mix of different types of run.

Enough of my ranting. Now to the question. I somehow think that this "Conversational pace" is a joke on me! I think I will not be able to maintain a conversion the moment I go from my walk to a jog. My "easy" runs (during the first week of the Training plan) have been at a pace of around 8 mins 30 secs per km, while my best for a 5 km distance was a pace of 6 mins 55 secs.

Should I try running slower than this for Easy runs? Or should I continue and hope to maintain a conversation while running slow, some day in the future

Thanks!

[RainbowC Graduate]

I find running too slowly is about as tiring as running too quickly! I used the Stepping Stone podcast yesterday morning, and found that the 150 bpm is very hard to maintain, and the 155 is almost as bad! Every time Laura spoke for a bit, I found that I had to slow my stride down slightly when I could hear the beat again.

Conversational pace also varies, in my experience. I've started running with a friend who's just on week 2; we can chat through the first 3-4 intervals, but the last few have very little unnecessary talk!

[Poppy2010 Graduate]

Hi! I've been using the same plan on runkeeper, try as I might I cannot go as slow as they suggested. I run alone too so have no one to converse with, & don't want to be taken away in a white coat for talking to myself! I did run last Sunday with my son and was able to chat more than I expected, was running about 7.15/km for first few but then slowed in the heat! It is a bit annoying they don't give more guidance. I still find it difficult to keep an even pace, so having unzipped the Sam b210k I used her music and kept runkeeper on too on Thursday's run & I think her music gave a more even pace than my downloaded stuff, but I ran through her walking breaks.

Confused is how I feel! & not only by this site!

[CouchCarrot Graduate in reply to Poppy2010]

Poppy2010, thanks for your inputs. I run much slower, especially in the slow runs. Hope to keep up to the schedule and complete it. I am on Week 4 now.