Fluke?: It amazes me to hear of pacers... - Fun Beyond 10K & ...

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Fluke?

SkiMonday profile image
SkiMondayUltramarathon
β€’11 Replies

It amazes me to hear of pacers at events who run the course in a specified time. How do they do that?

Anyhow, I set off today to do an HM in around 2:20. It felt harder than I'd intended and I misread my watch so thought I'd finish in 2:30. After I'd finished, the time was 2:18. Starting to think that there might be more to "perceived effort" than I'm aware of.

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SkiMonday profile image
SkiMonday
Ultramarathon
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11 Replies
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Tasha99 profile image
Tasha99Marathon

I think that when it’s pacers week at parkrun when there are usual pacers from about 17 minutes through 35. Sometimes I think I’d like to pace but I’m absolutely terrible at it 🀣 And that’s only 5k. Well done on your half πŸ’ͺ🏽

Windoze profile image
WindozeHalf Marathon

Well done on your HM Ski! I love a bit of pace work. I'm not constantly looking at the watch but its about feeling the pace and staying within the feel of it...like this

Pace
AlMorr profile image
AlMorrHalf Marathon

If you want to know more about the role of a pacer at a event race such as 10K, half or full marathon, there are some excellent articles about them if you Google "pace maker at event runs"

Cmoi profile image
CmoiMarathon

Nice HM SkiMonday ! πŸ‘ I have absolutely no idea how people can run at a consistent pace, and tbh I'm not sure I want to try. Though I suppose if I had a running watch it might help! 🀣

misswobble profile image
misswobbleMarathonβ€’ in reply toCmoi

Yeah, I’d assumed they set the pace on their watch.

Enjoy your running! πŸ˜ƒ. When you’re running the trail on all kinds of varying the terrains, pace is the last thing you worry about. Not face planting is usually my main focus πŸ€•

Cmoi profile image
CmoiMarathonβ€’ in reply tomisswobble

"Not face planting" - so much this! πŸ€—

misswobble profile image
misswobbleMarathonβ€’ in reply toCmoi

πŸ˜ƒπŸ‘. Watching you foot placement, keeping eyes everywhere takes most of your attention Fun though πŸ˜ƒ

cheekychipmunks profile image
cheekychipmunksHalf Marathon

No clue how they do it SM, except to say that was a great HM! Well done. πŸ˜€πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈπŸŽ‰

Irishprincess profile image
IrishprincessAdministratorHalf Marathon

I assume they do it by their watches and they probably practice. I’m still rubbish at pacing but I think you have to focus on it. The few times I’ve made an effort it’s not been too bad but mostly I forget about it.

Nice work on the HM! πŸ‘

Decker profile image
DeckerUltramarathon

Nice HM SM! Yeah, the pacers I’ve followed are constantly checking their pace averages on their watch to align with their pace goals for the times they need to achieve.

SkiMonday profile image
SkiMondayUltramarathon

Having read up on it, it seems that pacers use perceived effort, tables of times for distance markers and GPS. As one of them wrote, you can't rely totally on GPS because it sometimes goes wrong.

In my case, it was perceived effort. I've run that route a few times so I know what to expect but it still surprises me that perceived effort can be that accurate.

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