Ideally you need to be doing your interval workouts on a 400M or 440 yard track to get the biggest benefit from these.

I have 3 basic track workouts I do.

• 5 x 2K (this is @ my 10K race pace)
• 6 x 1K (this is @ my 5K race pace)
• 10 x 400m (this is @ my 3K race pace)

Each one of these workouts serves a particular purpose, but that’s better left for another post to explain.

Here’s where the two tools I use come in.

There are: McMillian’s Running Calculator & Cool Running’s Pace Calculator.

I’ll walk you through an upcoming workout I have this week to show you how I use these tools to determine paces for my intervals and splits that I can check in with during each interval to ensure I’m not going too fast or too slow.

The Workout

So the upcoming workout is 5 x 2K. I take a 90 second rest between intervals.

So we know this is 5 laps on the 400m track. So I can either get 200m or 400m splits to work with.

For this we’ll use 400m, although during my intervals I usually check my watch at 200m, 400m and then every 400m after that. The first 200m ensures that what I sense as the proper pace is indeed the right pace.

Alright, so we start at McMillian’s Calculator.

On the left hand side you enter your most recent race result and choose the distance.

I raced a 5000m on the track yesterday and had a time of 18:06 (a time off my PB which I wasn’t proud about but time’s don’t lie about fitness right).

So I enter that time (see image below).

Alright, then we hit the orange calculate button and it’s going to spit a TON of data out at us. You’ll see that the calculator gives you the pace of your race time, but also estimated finishing times for other race distances based on your current fitness level if you were doing proper training for that distance (i.e. you can’t run a 2:55 marathon off of 5K training).

What we want to look at though is the Optimal training paces provided, and to be more exact we want the speed workouts. For this weeks training I’m doing 2K’s so lets look at the 2000M times. The ranges are there because there isn’t just one exact time that will give you the training benefit you want. There’s a range of times, so land within these ranges and you’re hitting your training targets.

Here’s the details the calculator spit out for me.

So I want to run these 2Ks somewhere between 7:14.5 to 7:27.0. I know from my previous session 2 and a half weeks ago my fastest rep was 7:16 and my slowest was 7:26. So my goal is to do this weeks in 7:25 or less and that falls in the proper range.

So let’s go take this over to the Cool Running pace calculator.

What you do on this site is enter the time for the distance you want splits for. For this example we want to enter 7 minutes and 25 seconds and select 2 and KM for the distance .

Now click calculate splits. By default it spits out the split for miles.

However this isn’t going to help me keep pace and track of each interval. So instead what I want to change it to first is 200M and then 400M.

So at 200M it tells me my splits are 44.4 seconds and 400M they are 1:28.8

So I want to note these times because that’s what I’ll want to see on my watch for each interval as I pass though 200 m and 400 m. OK, but how can I easily check my pace as I come through each lap?

Well, you can try to do the math in your head but I avoid against that since it really takes your mind and focus off the session. So instead what I do is click the calculate splits button underneath the calculator on cool running when I have the pace set for 400M.

This spits out the splits for each 400 m split for the interval

Now while I do have to remember these numbers somewhat it allows me to somewhat see where I’m at. So for example if I come through the second lap at 2:59 I know I’m off the 2:57 I need to be to hit 7:25 for the rep. If I’m under then I Know I’m doing OK and could even ease up a bit.

Usually what I try to do is memorize the seconds for each split since I’ll usually be off by a couple of seconds on either side (more or less). So for this I would remember 28, 57, 26, 55. If I look at the seconds on my watch as I come through each lap I can compare those briefly to how I’m doing.

So what’s the benefit of this? It’s all about breeding consistency into workouts. I want to improve my 10K time so I want to speed up my 10K race pace. This particular workout is the best indicator of my 10K fitness level. Also it helps me get a “feel” for what this pace is like. So when I’m on the road in a race, I’m not having to stare at my watch constantly.

If you’ve got any questions for me on how I use either of these tools be sure to post a comment! Hope you give them a try.

Photo Credit: Dawn – Pink

I ran my first Half marathon in February. The Hypothermic half as it’s so aptly named (was -15 Celsius the day of the race), was a successful race for me.

I had begun doing some indoor speed workouts along with my longer outdoor runs to prepare, but as with each winter, I wasn’t getting out for all the runs I had planned, primarily from laziness or snow storms.

Come race day I was aiming for a sub 1:30 showing and I turned in a fair showing of 1:26:41. I really didn’t know what to expect and I was pleasently surprised with how things turned out. I’m registered and all prepped to race my second Half in a little over 2 weeks at the Blue Nose Marathon race weekend. My goal for that race is sub 1:22. A big jump I know from my 1:26 in the winter, but with better conditions and all the training I’ve put under my belt these past few months I feel confident.

A New 5K PB

Each spring I’ve been running a local 5K even which more or less marks the start of the road race series. The Lung Run 5K always has an awesome turn out and has some of, if not they fastest runners around competing.

The past 2 years this has been the only 5K I’ve raced, so it has set a new PB for me each season, and this year was no different. Last year I ran an 18:51 which was a new PB, however I had very little training under my belt at that point. Since I started much earlier this year with my structure training I felt a sub 18 Min was possible. I turned out a 17:55 which just got me under the gun for my sub 18 minute goal. I want to push the envelope on this even further this summer as I am racing a 5000 M on the track this coming weekend and plan to run at least one other road 5K this season. sun 17:30 would be my ultimate goal for the road this season, and we’ll see what the summer brings.

Other Going On’s

I’ve really hammered down my interval times for both my 1K and 2K sessions managing to complete the sessions in sub 3:38 and sub 7:26 respectively. This is setting me up for a successful season on the roads for 10K’s with my goal time for this season being sub 36 minutes. I managed to pull off an amazing race the end of last season in September when I ran 36:15. I’m still amazed at that time, and learned a lot from that race as I realized that my potential is more then what I realized. To perform well for me comes down to being willing to take a chance in a race and GO FOR IT rather then playing it safe. Sure there’s the chance I blow up part way through but then there’s the chance that I stick with a pace that is uncomfortable to me and I set an amazing PB.

So that get’s things up to speed. Will be trying to post more this season and want to work in some content about gear, training and other tips that I use & follow.

Happy Trails!

My wife and I were in the Canadian Rockies for a week and a bit touring around and needless to say we ate and drank a fair bit. I don’t have exact facts on how our fitness degrades over time but I knew I had lost some of what I had in mid September, so I decided to not put any huge expectations on myself.

I ran this exact race last year, came in 2nd (kind of, the 1st place runner went out very quick and supposedly got lost on the course), and ran a new PB. This was my first sub-40 10K.

This year I had a goal an ultimate goal to run around 37:30 and possibly try to win the race. There were 500 entrants so I figured there would definitely be some competition from somewhere.

The race went out at a fast pace (for me at least) at around 3:20 a K. The person who started right beside me took the lead and built on it right from the very first stride. I ended up in a pack with 3 other people. We stuck together for the first KM or two and then I made a move and pulled away. I continued to gain on them for the remainder of the race.

This was good and bad for me. The bad is that it’s tough to maintain a quick pace on your own that’s much above your comfort fitness level which for me is around 3:53-3:50 per K. My previous race I had another fellow with me for the majority of the race so I was pushing far harder then I do when it’s just me trying to maintain pace.

I’m not disappointed with the result. I came in 2nd and ran a 38:12. Like I said earlier I have no idea what sort of fitness loss I may have had over a 3 week off training period, so I won’t criticize the time, but I’ll surely take the 2nd place finish.

Time Off

So as I did this time last year, I’m going to move to an off training period for a couple of weeks and then into my Build-up which will get my cardio going again before moving onwards to more training sessions.

My next race isn’t until February, my first Half Marathon, but it’ll be in the snow so more of a distance test then anything.

I didn’t post much through the winter last year, so I’ll try to be more consistent with that this season.

Back in August I ran I 38:35 at a local race. It wasn’t all that much better then a previous PB I had, and I knew I had a faster time in me. So when I was preparing the week before for this past race I was conscious of wanting to break 38 minutes.

Based on my training times and efforts I knew I should be able to keep a pace of 3:48 or better which was what I had to do to break 38 minutes.

SIDENOTE: My initial goal at the beginning of this season was to break 37 minutes for 10K but I had been struggling to make that happen this season and adjusted to to a sub 38 10K this season and figured I’d go for sub 37 or 36 next season.

A concern I had about this past race was that I tweaked my Hamstring pretty badly during an easy training run the on the Thursday before. Can’t say exactly what caused it but I was in some pain on Thursday afternoon and into Friday. So even whether I would race was a bit unsure.

Thankfully by Saturday afternoon I was feeling 100% better, and while there was still a little ache in my hamstring and glute I was gonna give it my best go.

Race Time

I got near the front of the pack as I wanted to be able to go out and not worry about having to make my way through too many people after the starting horn sounded.

I went out rather quickly, it never ceases to amaze me that when I glance at my Garmin watch during those first 300-500 M of a race I seem to be able to run much faster without too much effort then at any other point in training.

Quickly four of us took out in a lead pack. I led for a very brief moment of maybe 500-750M and then was passed by the other 3 in the group. They began to take some ground on me, but I figured if I was to run a great time I had to dig deep and stick with them.

At this point we were still keeping a sub 3:40 per KM pace, which was a bit startling since in the past that had caused me to burn out half way through.

I picked it up and by about the 3 KM mark, thanks to a nice downhill I was able to build some speed on, had taken the lead, although not by much.

Myself and another racer had broken away from the pack and were making some ground. At the 5K turn around I was still in the lead with the second place runner right on my tail not 5 meters behind me.

After the turn-around there was a long incline. I dug deep and hammered up it hoping to put some space between myself and the second place runner. He held on strong though. During all of this time as my watch had still been beeping out some crazy splits.

KM 4 3:38
KM 5 3:33
KM 6 3:45 (the up-hill)

At the crest of the large incline after the turn around point, and about 6.5 K into the race the runner behind me passed me and put some space between us. I didn’t choose to follow him, of course in retrospect I should have, but I figured I was running a strong race based on the splits thus far and I had wanted to run this race for a PB not for winning.

The first place runner didn’t continue to put space between us after he got about 30-40 M’s out in front. That hill after the turnaround I think took a lot out of us both.

I continued along at a half decent pace for KM’s 7, 8 and 9 and then to my surprise in the last KM the 3rd place runner who was quite a bit behind us at the turn around came out of no where. He took over my position and powered on to the finish.

At that point I was feeling pretty exhausted and decided it best just to cruise in. I knew I had broken my 38 Min goal, however I hadn’t spent anytime figuring out just by how much until I crossed the finish line and looked at my watch.

Finishing time was: 36:15

That blew me away, and the chip time confirmed it.

So while I may not have won, I was more then happy with my finishing time. That’s a new personal best by more then 2 minutes.

I have one more 10K race left this season in a little less then 3 weeks. We’re going on vacation for 10 days Starting this Saturday so I’m going to try and not put much pressure on myself to compete with that time, but I’m definitely going to have sub 37 on the mind for that race as well.

slipts

I wanted to share something I’m going to start doing to try and track the lifespan of my shoes so I can know how long I’ve been runnning in a pair and know yes it’s time to change and also try to get a timeline for how long a pair is lasting me. I’m liking the idea of having more then one pair in rotation so I think I’ll be buying shoes less often, although still spending the same amount.

Basically what I’m doing is setting up a simple spread sheet to track the runs in each pair of shoes. I have no idea if I’ll be able to stick with this or not, but since I run with a Garmin Forerunner 305 I have a history of my runs that I can draw upon if I miss a few days.

I’ve created a simple sheet that has 3 tabs, one for each pair of shoes I have (Ride 3′s, Kinvara’s and Mirage). For each tab I have a Date, Description and Mileage column. The plan is to update this with the date, description and distance of each run based on the data from my Garmin Connect software once a week or so.

I’ve never really tracked this sort of thing and I know that shoes often aren’t good for as long as I keep em. This should be an interesting experiment.

However in saying that, I have two races left this season (10 K’s that is) and I’m going to buckle down for the next 7 weeks or so to do what I can to improve all aspects.

The race wasn’t too tough, but it was a humid morning.

I followed my plan to go out a bit slower and my 1st KM split was about 3:43. Not too bad, although I still had a time feeling a bit dained part way through the race so am not sure that going out any slower makes a HUGE difference for me.

My splits for the 5K’s were:
First: 18:55
Second: 19:29

It was a 5K loop which was run twice so it’s a fair comparison of the first and second split.

Reflecting on These Results

When I look at my 2K training times this result makes sense. I am training my 2K’s at a 38:30 pace. To get to the next level I need to push those 2K’s to a point where I’m doing 37:30 pace or so. What does this mean in terms of time?

Well if I’ve been doing them around 7:40 – 7:45 I need to drop that to 7:30 – 7:35 or so. I have not done them this quick, and I know it will be challenging, but to get to the next level I think is going to be a big part of it.

I’m considering changing up a bit of my training routine and am going to re-read the training material from McMillian Running. I use his calculator often to look at paces I should be doing my training sessions at and also to play around with what my equivalent performances are based on past race results. You can get to his calculator from the Blogroll link in my side bar.

I’ll post my thoughts on my training plan changes, if they come about, later this week.

Still no new shoes, but I think I’ve decided to pick up a pair of Saucony Ride 3′s or 4′s for now. I’m going to pass on the lightweight minimalist trainers. Also I’m going to go back to wearing my trainers for my speed sessions as well to ensure I get more longevity out of my light weight Saucony Mirgae.

Tomorrow brings my 6 x 1 Min Fartlek session and then a day off on Saturday before race day on Sunday.

Race Goals

My ultimate goal for Sunday’s race is to run 37:30. This will put me on good pace to break 37 minutes later this season, but if it doesn’t happen life will go one.

To run 37:30 I must run some where around 3:45 min / KM splits.

So that brings me to my second goal which is to start out slow.

The past few races I’ve run I’ve gone out far too quickly and it’s left me feeling BLAH to say the least at the mid point of the race. I almost always finish strong, so this time I want to go out at my goal pace and recognize that I’m not looking to win or anything, I just need to keep a steady pace through out and then finish hard.

The race is 2 x 5K loops, and I’m pretty familiar with the course as I spent a lot of last year running the same route for training purposes as it used to be close to my office.

I’ve spoken with a couple of other runners that have said that the route is quite a bit shorter then 10KM, I’ll know I guess once I”m done and see what my Garmin 305 says.

For my watch I’m going to have it run without calculating 1KM intervals. Instead I’ll allow it to track my pace cumulatively. This way when I glance down what I’ll see is my average lap pace and since the entire race will be calculated as one lap the average pace will be what my average moving pace has been for the race to that point.

New Shoes

So I’m on the hunt now for new shoes. I’ve been running the past year and a half or more in Saucony Guide 3′s. I’ve gone through 3 pairs and I think I’m ready for a change. I’m considering the Saucony Ride’s as they are a similar shoe but lack the supportive post that runs under the arch. I have a pretty normal Gait so don’t really need the support. I discovered this earlier this year in Physio when I found out I had an anteverted hip and it’s not that I under or over pronate. This isn’t something I did to myself recently, it’s unfortunately how my body developed because I did what was called W-sitting as a child.

So anyways, back to the shoes. I’ve been interested in this minimalist shoe development and have begun doing my fast training sessions and my races in the Saucony Grid Mirage. This shoe is sort of the first step to a minimalist shoe before you take the full plunge into something like the Saucony Kinvara. I’m tempted by the Kinvara, however two things turn me off.

1.) I’m not a fan of the short lifespan I think this shoe will have, and while I don’t do huge mileage (35-50K or 22 – 32 Miles per week) I like to run shoes for about 400-500 miles if I can. The estimates I’ve been reading online suggest you might get 200 miles out of a pair of these which makes it a pricey shoe.
2.) I’m afraid that the total lack of support will cause me more injury issues.

I’m till undecided but will make up my mind in the coming weeks.

For any of you fellow Canadian runners out there I’ve been shopping on a great website that has a huge selection Running Free. It’s out of Ontario and pricing is solid. Check em out.

I usually do my interval workouts at the track, but the track closest to my house has been closed for some sort of maintenance for more then a week.

Last week I drove a bit further to another track in town to do my 5 x 2K session, however on Friday I decided to mix it up a bit.

I see the value in the 2K and 1K interval sessions, but I’ve always had a question about doing it on the track. After all I don’t race on the track, I race on roads that vary in incline and decline etc. There’s a small pond in the downtown area about a 7-10 minute jog from my house. It’s a loop, although I wasn’t exactly sure how long it was. I figured I could use my Garmin 305 Forerunner to track my distance through that loop, knowing that it wouldn’t be perfect, but it would be a more “true to race” type landscape.

The session turned out great. I’m not going to place complete faith in the numbers since it was a combo of up and down hill for each interval, and no two intervals covered the exact same ground since the full loop was more then 1K. I would jog/walk the 1 minute rest between intervals and then just start from where ever the 1 minute rest ended and do the next interval. I have to say I enjoyed it as much, actually more, then running on the track. I’m going to try my 2K intervals there next time as well.

Here’s the Splits from the 5 x 1K session

1 – 3:49
2 – 3:32
3 – 3:36
4 – 3:33
5 – 3:34
6 – 3:40

Like I mentioned I can’t rely 100% on the distance but I’m pretty confident it is + or – only a slight amount if not right on.

Today I had a 60 minute easy run slotted but my right shin wasn’t feeling well and over all I felt tired. I turned it into a 40 or so minute easy run that as about 8.5KM.

I tend to beat myself up over these sort of changes, but I recognized this morning that it’s better for me to have fresh legs and be in good condition for this coming Sunday’s race then to force more then I should do this week.

I’m hoping for a good finish this weekend. I’ve been told by one other runner that this is a very fast course, and it also measures a bit shorter then 10K. I’ll find out I guess when I race it. I may go and run the loop that we have to do twice on Thursday of this week for my 40 min easy. That will give me an idea of what I’m dealing with and also a plan on how to attack the start.

In past races I’ve recognized I’ve one out FAR too fast. This time I’m going to make an effort to go out at my own pace and not allow the other runners at the start to affect me.

A safe start for me I feel is between 3:47 and 3:52 per KM pace since my goal pace for the race is 3:47 / KM which would lead me to a 37:50 and a new PB.

One other thought that popped into my mind this morning is I may consider doing a 1/2 marathon at the end of this season. I’ve toyed with the idea a lot, and I’d really like to know how my fitness level can perform over that distance. I had two more 10 K’s slotted for this season, but the final one I could do a 1/2 marathon at rather then a 10K. I’ll see how my performance is at this coming race and the following one in September and then make that choice.

That didn’t stop me from heading out for my long run today. Goal was to do 18+ KM in 90 mins. I was able to achieve this without trouble. I assumed I would as my last long run 3 weeks ago was right around 18K as well.

Details:
Time: 1:28:44
Distance: 18 KM
Avg Pace: 4:55
Avg HR: 154 BPM

After the run I stretched and showered and after about 2 hours I gotta say I can really feel the pain in my calf. Hoping it’s just a knot that I can workout in the next day or so. Tomorrow is a light 30 min easy run which I’ll do at a pace just under 5 min per KM. Hoping it won’t be anything long term as I’ve been pretty good with injuries this season.

Two more sessions this week with a 10K easy on Thursday and then 6 x 1K on Friday. I may delay that 1K session until Saturday depending on how the weather and my calf feel.

I headed to the track around 1 PM or so. I tend to do this workout in the morning when it’s on a weekday, but with the cloud cover I took my time this morning around the house.

As per my previous post I’ve set a new goal pace for these intervals at 7:40. That is 3:50 per K pace, a bit slower then what my goal race pace is for the next couple of races (hoping for a 3:47-3:48 pace). However I don’t have any history of doing all 5 of these reps at this pace so better to start with baby steps rather then saying I’m going to hammer these all out in 7:35 and then disappoint myself.

This was a hard session. I pushed myself harder then I have probably all year in training. Some say don’t go to hard, but for me I know I’ve been going a bit easy and need that extra push to break through the sub 38 barrier if I want to reach my sub 37 goal for the end of this season.

Here’s the results for today’s session.

Time AVG / Max / Lowest Rest
7:41 / 170 / 179 / 92
7:39 / 172 / 182 / 114
7:42 / 176 / 185 / 132
7:45 / 179 / 188 / 141
7:44 / 183 / 190 / 139

Here’s the results from my Previous 2000′s Workout about 3 weeks ago

Time AVG / Max / Lowest Rest
7:54 / 164 / 176 / 109
7:36 / 165 / 178 / 134
7:49 / 171 / 178 / 118
7:47 / 172 / 181 / 116
7:47 / 173 / 182 / 122

I can see that my HR is quite a bit higher today. This is 2 fold I believe. One it’s a heck of a lot warmer out today then it was 3 weeks ago when I did this session, and two I was faster on every rep then I was 3 weeks ago.

I hope to see similar or a bit quicker results 3 weeks from now when I do this session again, but with a bit lower HR.

I know this session is important to 10K pace development. With that in mind I really worked the 3rd and 4th ones. The hardest part of a race for me is usually about 4-8 K or so. I feel good at the beginning, and in the end I usually have something left in the tank, so trying to work through that same barrier in my training sessions I am hoping will give me the strength both physically and mentally to break through this in my coming races,

For anyone who’s done a training session like this before you probably know how your legs feel when you start that next rep. I gotta say that my legs felt like cement almost when I started that 5th rep. It was pretty intense.

I’m going to take tomorrow off as per the planned schedule I posted yesterday, and then my long run happens on Tuesday. Target for that run will be 18+ K in 90 Mins. Pace of around 4:45 – 4:55 per KM.