Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Race Equivalents Part Deux

Before my recent marathon, I wrote this post about race time predictors, with plans to revisit the topic post-marathon.  So here we are!  My tried and true calculator gave me the equivalent of a 2:50:10 marathon from my 1:21:26 half.  If you've read any of my 200 posts about the marathon (or pretty much anything I've written since then, bahaha!), you know I finished in 2:49:20.  When I put the 2:49:20 in, it gives me a 1:21:05 half time.  So I'd say this is a pretty solid calculator for my half to full and full to half times, also considering I had nice weather conditions and good courses for both of those races.

And, again, the equivalents that my marathon produces for the 5K and everything shorter are laughable (as in, no way in heck can I run those!).  However, this shows me that, relatively, my marathon PR is currently my strongest PR of all -- which is exactly how I want it.

Another method I used in the past for half to full estimation was to double my half time and add 10 minutes (e.g., a half time of 1:25 would predict a 3:00 marathon, via the calculation of 1:25 + 1:25 + 0:10).  I still think this is a decent estimate if you're running around a 3:00-3:10 marathon; if you're running faster you'd add less than 10 minutes, or add more time if you're running slower, as proportionally pace jumps are different (e.g., going from 6:30 to 7:00 pace is not the same percentage-wise as going from 9:30 to 10:00 pace).

I also recently noticed I had this predictor bookmarked, and that I may like it even better than my favorite calculator for shorter race distances, because it allows age-graded estimates.  The performances in shorter distances that it produces based on my half and full marathon times seem much more reasonable for me in my advanced age, haha!

A "Race Equivalents Part III" will be coming after I race a 10K on March 31!  I've beat my 10K PR so many times unofficially (in 4 longer races and in every tempo run over 10K I've done for months) that I almost want to not race one and instead try to beat it during the final 10K of a marathon - wouldn't that be great!?

What is your favorite race equivalent calculator and why?  Or do you think they are all ridiculous?!

Equivalents to my marathon PR

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