Possibly stupid pace question

[wawa]

When I'm reading blog posts and training advice talking about doing things at a certain percentage of "race pace" or "5k pace" how do I figure out what that actually is?

Just literally - the pace I went at my best 5K?  Because that's slower than I did my 10k a few weeks ago.  (I mean, not by much, but twice the distance, so...yeah)

Or how fast I think I probably COULD do  5K right now?  Or...what?

I feel like I'm maybe letting myself off easy dawdling on my runs a bit, but I am not sure how much to push and the guidelines for pace that i'm finding all assume you have this benchmark race pace to base further decisions on, but I don't. 

I'm kinda hoping I don't have to push DD in the stroller for my turkey trot on Thursday so I can actually race and maybe then I'll have the answer to this question?

[al320]

Actual race pace. If you just did a 5k, use that. If you need your 10k pace and havent done one in a while, itll be a little slower than that 5k pace.

[bostonmichelle]

If you have a recent 10k and not a recent 5k you can use McMillan calculator to figure out what you should be able to run for a 5k. www.mcmillanrunning.com/

Hopefully you can full out race on Thursday and get your true 5k but this might be a good alternative.

[ebeth]

I'd put a recent time into McMillan and see what he says and then I'd use the 5k pace he lists.

I do this for workouts that are supposed to be at 5k pace because my 5k performances are no where near on par with the rest of my race performances.

You can also try using a HRM if you have one

[gt7301b]

For me 5k pace is not necissarily my PR because that was a fast course and I couldn't go out and reliably race at that pace right now. When I am doing intervals I use a pace that is closer to what I can reliably run a 5K in. I also like mcmillian's calulator for determining pace when I haven't run that distance in a while.

[wawa]

Nov 25, 2014 12:42:43 GMT -5 bostonmichelle said:

If you have a recent 10k and not a recent 5k you can use McMillan calculator to figure out what you should be able to run for a 5k. www.mcmillanrunning.com/

Hopefully you can full out race on Thursday and get your true 5k but this might be a good alternative.

My 5k was in September, but it was my very first time actually running a full 3 miles without walking.  My pace for that was 11:02 and I was pretty beat at the end.  In October I did a 10k at 10:58 and should have gone faster because I felt great at the end.  And I took a pretty leisurely water and photo stop halfway.  And I was weaving through people pretty much the entire way.

So the 5k is recent, but I've made so much progress since then I am confident I could do it faster now, but I have next to no idea just how much faster. 

Based on McMillan - if I'm at the same level I was when I did the 10k, I should be able to cut 2 minutes off my 5k time.  Interesting.  That calculator answers A LOT of questions.  Thanks for the link!

[wawa]

But what I think this all is really telling me is that I need to stop thinking about these details right now since I'm enough of a newb that I don't even have a reliable sense of my real 5k pace - clearly I should just focus on running the miles in such a way that I don't want to die and just stick with that for now as I increase my base endurance.

Yes?

[bostonmichelle]

Yes. I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you think you are slacking, try and force yourself to run a bit faster for 30seconds to a minute during your run. I wouldn't worry too much at this point.

[wawa]

Nov 25, 2014 13:15:29 GMT -5 bostonmichelle said:

Yes. I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you think you are slacking, try and force yourself to run a bit faster for 30seconds to a minute during your run. I wouldn't worry too much at this point.

  this is can do.

though the McMillan calculator is actually telling me that I've been doing pretty good by just going by feel.  So that's cool.

I'm a bit of an over-researcher.  I like data.

[ebeth]

Nov 25, 2014 13:10:07 GMT -5 wawa said:

But what I think this all is really telling me is that I need to stop thinking about these details right now since I'm enough of a newb that I don't even have a reliable sense of my real 5k pace - clearly I should just focus on running the miles in such a way that I don't want to die and just stick with that for now as I increase my base endurance.

Yes?

Yes but as I understand it if you're running a 5K correctly you kind of feel like you want to die the entire time. Or something close to it anyway

[wawa]

Nov 25, 2014 13:48:46 GMT -5 ebeth said:

Nov 25, 2014 13:10:07 GMT -5 wawa said:

But what I think this all is really telling me is that I need to stop thinking about these details right now since I'm enough of a newb that I don't even have a reliable sense of my real 5k pace - clearly I should just focus on running the miles in such a way that I don't want to die and just stick with that for now as I increase my base endurance.

Yes?

Yes but as I understand it if you're running a 5K correctly you kind of feel like you want to die the entire time. Or something close to it anyway

LOL!  I meant for my long runs while theoretically training for a HM.  And my lazy weekday runs.  I run Tu-W-Th and usually just get my miles in Tu and Th and then try to actually keep my shit together and stick to a pace on Wednesday.  Then long run on the weekend is whatever makes me not feel like dying, which varies depending on the day and distance and location and a lot of other stuff.

I think I just confirmed that my friend is happy to push my kid in her stroller on Thursday - so as long as DD doesn't totally freak out when I start to run away (50/50 shot there) I should be able to see what happens if I "correctly" run a 5k. 

[gt7301b]

Nov 25, 2014 13:10:07 GMT -5 wawa said:

But what I think this all is really telling me is that I need to stop thinking about these details right now since I'm enough of a newb that I don't even have a reliable sense of my real 5k pace - clearly I should just focus on running the miles in such a way that I don't want to die and just stick with that for now as I increase my base endurance.

Yes?

Sorta, if you are running 5k pace you will want to die 
 
Opps, I just saw ebeth beat me to it. But the long runs for your HM should be pretty easy, the last mile or so may be uncomfortable, but not 5k uncomfortable.