Friday, August 18, 2017

Why does marathon pace feel like so much work during training?

When I’ve targeted the correct marathon pace for my fitness level and race day conditions (which I have in all of my recent marathons), on race day that pace feels smooth and maintainable.  I wouldn’t say it feels easy, but it feels very sustainable.  I get into a groove and feel like I could keep going and going at that pace.  It doesn’t feel like work or pushing until the final few miles.

In training, I don’t run a lot at marathon pace.  Most of my runs are slower; I never drop a marathon pace mile, or even close, during an easy run.  My tempo runs and speed workouts are faster.  When I do marathon pace running during long runs, it’s typically either fast finish miles or interspersed pick-ups; I have never run an entire long run at marathon goal pace.  I’ve done a 20-mile workout, “The Hardest Workout Ever”, that contained some marathon pace running and some faster running, along with 5 miles of easy running for warm-up/recoveries/cool-down; when I ran that workout before BMO Mesa-Phoenix, my average pace for the 15 effort miles in combination was 6:27, and I went on to average 6:27 pace in the marathon.  That workout did not inspire confidence that I could run 26.2 at 6:27 pace -- 15 miles at that pace with recoveries < 26.2 miles straight at that pace -- but it did make me feel good about trying for 6:3X pace.

Basically, whenever I run marathon goal pace in training, one question comes to mind and that is:  How can I ever sustain this for 26.2 miles?!  I felt that way about 7:15 pace when I was trying for a 3:10, about 7:00-7:05 pace when I was aiming for 3:03-3:05, about 6:51 pace when I was trying to break 3:00, and about 6:33 pace when I was trying to run in the low 2:50s -- and certainly now about 6:17 pace.  But then race day comes, and the magical combination of peaking and tapering and a goal race happens, and I can do it, or sometimes a bit faster.  Because this has happened to me before, I trust the process, but it still flummoxes me.  I am pushing anytime I run marathon pace in training; it does not feel sustainable, it feels like work.

It seems that many other people drop marathon pace miles all of the time, and thanks to Strava and Instagram I guess I am more aware of this.  It seems like that pace is easy for them.  Some people seem to do all their long runs at marathon pace.  Obviously, there are a lot of factors at play, including overall volume and workouts, and the percentage of VO2 max that we are running our marathons at, but it blows my mind!  I never come anywhere close to 6:17-6:27 on easy days; a fast easy day for me is when I’m running 6:55s (and that is the exception, not the norm).  I know that I am doing the training that is best for me, but sometimes I start questioning why my easy pace isn’t faster!  Why is the pace I can run for 26.2 so much work?!
Preparing to work during my Phoenix build

2 comments:

  1. It blows my mind that there are people who run long runs at marathon pace. My long runs are always easy paced unless they are a workout. I believe the way you are doing it is best because you are putting less strain on your body and still getting the results!

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    1. You're right about putting less strain on the body! I also know that physiologically it's the better way to train, and that the pros run their easy runs and non-workouts much slower than marathon pace, but it still flummoxes me. I couldn't physically do it day after day if I tried!

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