Biertuempfel wrote:
I think to be fair, it depends on the distance of the race. As noted, in my longer distance training lately, I am going by HR. I am concerned that in a 5k race, you can adjust too late by waiting for a mile to check pacing. An example is a local race where I followed a tall guy in a Fleet Feet Racing singlet as he could "part the seas" . I usually run 7 min miles for a 5k. I looked up at mile 1 and ran a 5:25. By then, it was too late. My friends ran by me at 1.4 miles and could see I was done. Good lesson learned and not the end of the world. Part of the fun is learning. I would like to do longer races as I have been doing some training rides with a friend training for IM Couer d Alene. He has a very good coach. We rode 50 miles and he had to keep in a certain zone. It was great. We then ran 4 miles off the bike and I didn't even feel like I had worked out. Thanks for the input. I'm trying to get better at this and have a long ways to go.....I struggle to see the need for instantaneous pace myself, so the views in this thread are becoming quite interesting. To me, it doesnt seem worthwhile in a race provided you have experience actually racing. In a 5K, for example, you just learn how to pace yourself for X number of minutes after youve done it a few times. At that point, you should really be racing by feel anyway...dont let yourself get caught up in hitting perfect splits (for a marathon or something, splits are much more important in the first half of the race. But there is also lots of time to correct once youve seen a mile split) and if you get caught going out too fast, put your head down, gut out whatever you can, and learn for next time. Obviously people have different opinions on this, but just my thoughts....
And if you can run a mile in 5:25 at all, Id think youd be able to run better than 7s for a 5k, no?
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http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=18295
Gustav Larsson supporter