Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training (F.I.R.S.T.) acolytes!
119 watchers
Jan 2022
7:37am, 5 Jan 2022
40,720 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
That's fab ES 335, well done. Within 5 mins of your target is pretty darn good! If your pace didn't drop off significantly at the end then I'd agree you were well trained for it. Marathons are cumulative in my experience. I've always PBd in a marathon 6 - 9 months after prev one slightly slower, assuming no injury and consistent training. You will do it! Glad Furman worked for you. It's a great training method.  G
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Jan 2022
8:45am, 5 Jan 2022
28 posts
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ES-335
Thanks HappyG My splits are below, first mile was a write off due to course congestion, I then settled. By the half way point I did 3 faster miles to try and get back on track but it wasn’t quite enough. Thanks for the positive comments around your own experience. The next one will be a road marathon - this one was a mix of riverside trails and tarmac but flat. The course was a little long or my Garmin short I should say, so the last half mile or so was mental hell, even though it was repeating a loop from the start, I’d already ‘finished’ in my mind (from Garmin watching) but the course said otherwise! 10:29 9:21 9:06 9:17 9:09 9:04 9:13 9:13 9:09 9:19 9:17 9:01 8:51 8:43 8:58 9:10 9:15 9:19 9:09 9:09 9:08 9:06 9:08 9:17 9:08 9:13 6:43 |
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Jan 2022
8:52am, 5 Jan 2022
40,724 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Nice consistent splits, well done. 4.00 is 9.07 (from memory!) So I'd be aiming for 9.00 (or even 8.59!) splits to be safe. But nothing quicker or you will burn out. There is a "manual lapping" method, that eliminates the problem of the Garmin drifting away from the course markers so making your tracking more accurate. Want me to post a link to it? Or the other way is just to know it will be e.g. 26.4 or .5 and allowing an extra 5s per mile just to have the safety of a couple mins below target? Road should be easier to stay nice and consistent on and actually, in terms of pace, you know that you lose a bit with every step on a non tarmac surface (mud, grass, sand, snow but even packed trail - just a less efficient surface) so perhaps that was a "moral sub-4" you did there?! G
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Jan 2022
8:56am, 5 Jan 2022
16,407 posts
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larkim
Those are incredible splits from a consistency perspective; and it looks like the garmin measurement rather than the pacing cost you the sub 4. You might want to look into how to "cure" those garmin measurement issues for next time. The blunt instrument tool is simply to calculate your pace on a marathon being 26.6 or 26.7m long and run to that schedule. Or there are other more precise methods which revolve around manually pressing a lap button when you pass a mile marker to use the elapsed time for a measured mile (assuming those mile markers are correct) to give you a more "correct" view of where you are at. But well done with a consistent marathon most of all - what I feared most of all for my debut was the traditional "hell" of a good first 20-22 and then dropping the pace by significant chunks as the last 10k or so was a huge battle of walking / stopping / pain etc and I'm always cheered to see someone get their first one right; next time, whether you hit your target or not, you'll always know that even pacing is possible!! |
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Jan 2022
9:00am, 5 Jan 2022
16,408 posts
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larkim
Great minds think alike HappyG(rrr)
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Jan 2022
9:03am, 5 Jan 2022
29 posts
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ES-335
Thanks HappyG - yeah I’m content with my performance now under the circumstances. With my back I could have easily, and probably should have pulled out. I like the idea of a moral sub4 - but it’s got to happen for real. Funny how the goal post moved from being happy to finish it - to disappointment over 5 mins isn’t it! I did look at manual tracking - is that where you press a button at each mile marker to bring your watch in line? I thought about it and decided I might find distracting or forget to do! Is it something you’d recommend? |
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Jan 2022
9:06am, 5 Jan 2022
30 posts
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ES-335
Thanks larkim - every run on the plan is done at a specific pace and that really helps come race day. I saw a lot of runners hit the wall - thankfully I didn’t. |
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Jan 2022
9:10am, 5 Jan 2022
40,726 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Larkim has posted same suggestion about manual lapping. It's your choice. I actually have *never* done it. But I know that others do it regularly, as a way of increasing accuracy and confidence in pacing. Most of the guys n gals on the sub 3:15 thread do it. Just not me! It would be something to practice and get used to in training. By the way, doesn't matter if you miss one. You just start again when you see next mile marker. It's for making "current mile" accurate and avoiding that cumulative error gain. Doesn't matter if you miss one or two. But yes, it is as simple as set your watch to show current lap time, and manual lap, not automatic 1 mile lap. And that's you. G
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Jan 2022
9:12am, 5 Jan 2022
40,727 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Here it is described by paul the builder, the expert! fetcheveryone.com/article-view.php?id=525 |
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Jan 2022
12:55pm, 5 Jan 2022
16,414 posts
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larkim
I used a brilliant add-on app for my Garmin which did it for me at Chester called "Race screen". It does require you to manual lap, though if you miss any out that isn't a problem either. What it does is for the screen it shows when you hit "lap" it rounds the accumulated distance up or down to the nearest whole mile. So if you get to the 2 mile marker and your watch is showing you've been running for 18 minutes but you've only covered 2.1 miles (which would be reported as about 8m35 average pace) it would correct the distance to 2.0 miles and your pace would magically appear as 9m00 average pace and you'd have the "right" info at your fingertips. So at Chester, my first few mile splits were as follows:- Split Summary === 1) 1.04m - 9:11(8:52/m) 136/157bpm [1206b/mi] 109cal 6.77/7.28mph 2) 1.06m - 9:08(8:38/m) 140/149bpm [1210b/mi] 111cal 6.94/7.43mph 3) 0.98m - 8:34(8:45/m) 142/149bpm [1242b/mi] 105cal 6.86/7.41mph Had I not used the app, I would have thought I'd gone off way too fast for those first two miles, whereas in fact I was bang on as I was aiming for 9m10 per mile. Admittedly I did speed up for mile 3!! The app does need you to turn off automatic laps, and you do need to key into the app (via Garmin connect) the distance of the planned race in seconds (!) and metres if you want it to also show predicted finish time, but it did work flawlessly for me and I'll definitely use it again for a marathon. Manual lapping isn't that much of a chore, just gives you something to think about each mile, but I was grateful for the way it did the calcs for me rather than me having to work things out in my head whilst running (especially towards the end). Obviously though if the mile markers are put out wrong (and plenty of smaller ones might not even have them) then the system goes to pot!! |
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