training paces

Hi everyone,

I am looking for advice on training paces.
Firstly, from what I have read it seems that the long run in a training week should be run at slower than race pace, which is understandable, and the rest of traning should compromise speed work, easy runs and tempo runs. So come race day how are you able to run at your target race pace when you haven't really trained at that pace apart from the odd tempo run?

Secondly, the training pace calculator on this website asks you to enter a recent race time to calculate training paces, but is it not better to enter your target race time in order to get the training paces needed to attain this time?

Thanking you in advance!

Mike - you don't need to train at a certain pace to achieve it on race day. You train at different paces to improve different elements of running, stamina/endurance/leg speed etc.,etc. Race day just brings all those elements together

Training paces are based on your current level of fitness. I have seen so many disappointed runners who have failed to reach their target race time as they have trained at too fast a pace. As you improve you recalculate your paces and progressively train at faster paces.

thanks shades, that makes a lot of sense, just needed some clarification before I embark on a training plan, fail to plan, plan to fail!!

Mike I consider one of the best ways to train for races is to do a few races, quite a few training plans for half marathons and marathons actually advise you to race a 10k or a half marathon on certain dates and so forth.

I see races as one run you can push yourself to the limit and go for it, if I did that every week whilst training I would be too tired to actually to do well in a race.

So what race are you training for and how long have you given yourself to achieve your target race?

Thanks Happycat, am going for a sub 1.30 half marathon, my previous best is 1.39, I've got 13 weeks, do you think it is achievable? Or am I hoping for too big an improvement? I have only recently started to research training methods and find out about the benefits of doing speedwork and tempo runs, so hopefully these will be a big help.

Great stuff, I was feeling disheartened at the thought of trying to train for a half marathon at the speed I would use on the day, running a bit slower seems more feasible. Thanks for the clarification.

Although paces are indicative and can be easily measured they should be the result of an effort.

Different terrains, weather, training load, etc. might vary the pace but the effort is what should remain the same. Different sessions will require different levels of effort.