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Katey K.
Katey K. Sendmail

inconsistent pace

posted almost 2 years ago | Report

I noticed on my log that the days I go farther my pace is slower....I have a 5K in April and a 12K in May...possible half marathon in July....I would like to know how to make my pace more consistent...is it more important to go shorter distance at this point and run the whole time...or go for the longer distance walking/running....I am up to a whole 13 minutes without walking a month ago I couldn't do 5 :)

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  • Bo A.PRO
    Bo A. Sendmail

    First off, congrats of the progress!!! Keep up the good work, but keep it relaxed. Compete with yourself... Time is not the measure... how you feel about the runs... that's your measure!

    On to the pace/stride question:
    I've made the same observation about my running. I have a pace/stride I use for 10k+ distances (typically shorter stride with a pretty even but not fast pace) and a different pace/stride for 5-6K or less (typically longer stride faster pace). I tie it to "energy management", keeping enough energy in the system to keep going.

    So, my longer distance stride/pace is pretty energy efficient and the only thing stopping from going much past 15K right now is my feet aren't yet up to it... they're getting a little sore by 15K.

    My shorter distance stride/pace is when I know that I have a fairly short run and "energy management" isn't as important (in fact the distance isn't really important since my Nike+ Sports Kit isn't calibrated for this stride length... so time is what I'm going for.)

    posted almost 2 years ago

  • Jimmy J.
    Jimmy J. Sendmail

    I'm no expert by far, but my opinion is (The more consistent you do longer runs the faster they will be). I noticed each time I added miles when I first started running I was a little slower for that distance. Sometimes I went out faster like say my pace for 3 miles when I was actually adding a couple of miles and running 5. I always had to slow down the last 2-miles so much because of the fast start and the extra miles. When I should have slowed the overall pace down, and ran that consistent for awhile. In not so far away I could run a faster pace for the 5-miles also.+

    Just be patient, and eventually you will be running as long as you want to run, and as fast. It may take awhile, but eventually you will get there. Another thing sometimes a change in course makes it slower to. (Like flat training runs verses some with hills).

    I hope this helps.
    God Bless "You & Your-Family" is My Dailymile Prayer.+
    Jimmy J. ( =

    posted almost 2 years ago

  • Peter L.PRO
    Peter L. Sendmail

    That's pretty normal - long run pace should be slower than your shorter runs. Check out this training calculator at Runner's World - you type in a recent race time and it will tell you your recommended paces for runs of different distance:

    http://www.runnersworld.com/cda/trainingcalculator/0,7169,s6-238-277-279-0-0-0-0-0,00.html

    posted almost 2 years ago

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