Pacing Query.

[Magellan]

Hi, I don’t know how fast I’m running relative to stuff like ‘tempo’ because I’ve seen it defined as a percentage above race time or as a pace relative to how conversational you can be or as a HRZ thing, and they don’t match for me.

I did 19km today at a pace of 7mins on flats and downhills or 8 mins up slopes. My watch says I did almost all of it in Zone 4. It thinks my VO2 max is 41. I chatted to myself every now and again to see if I could, and did it without any trouble. I haven’t any idea what my HM pace will be in the race, but I can do a 1:03:30 10k.

I started to feel my legs getting weaker at 13km but not dramatically so, I still had plenty in the tank at the end, and my lungs felt fine.

Does that sound like it would count as a slow run, a fast run, or is it in between? And if it’s in between is that an okay thing?

If anyone can set me straight, thanks!

[SlowLoris]

Have a look at:

mcmillanrunning.com/half-ma...

Lots of useful info. Macmillan also has a pace calculator which is quite well known.

[roseabi Ultramarathon]

Opinions about tempo runs vary, but they are often described as "comfortably uncomfortable", or as a faster pace that you can keep up for around an hour. One would not be able easily to complete full sentences of speech while running at such speeds.

I am not au fait with HR zones, but a quick Google suggested that the tempo run might be in zones 3-4.

There are some tools online that can give approximate calculations of pace:

This one runnersworld.com/uk/trainin... has been popular with a lot of people in previous Half Marathon Groups in this forum, who wanted to understand their training paces based upon a recent race. You could use your 10k for this.

And here is one that will give you an idea of your half marathon pace based on your 10k: runnersworld.com/uk/trainin...

[Magellan Marathon in reply to roseabi]

Thanks, that looks like a good site.

[Windoze Half Marathon]

What Rosebi said. Tempo runs are generally defined by your current race pace and the distance you are training for.

Great read on Park Run blog about tempos

blog.parkrun.com/uk/2019/01...