I’ve always thought it’s mad that people run a marathon each klick within a second or two. I’m very much an up and down sort of paced person. Probably another reason I’m shit at marathons…but still. Regular like clockwork can’t be healthy.
I haven’t run a marathon, but I’m one of those people that can regulate my pace to within 1-2s/km in training. However, in a race it’s typically a bit more varied since I’m often running in a group or moving to the next group/person up the road. I only need look at my watch for the first km when setting my pace. After that, I can run it by feel only checking when I get a vibration each km.
Conversely, I find it maddening when I let some of my buddies pace and the pace is ±30s/km 
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5k pacing is a brutal and unforgiving beast. Pacing is usually one of my strengths and it’s rare to see me slow down over the back end of anything over 10k pending absolute catastrophe, but those are such a fine line and the margin for error only gets smaller the faster you are.
I dabble in our uni track 5ks occasionally, and it’s usually absolute an absolute mess of throwing up, fainting, overcooking it and hobbling off the track, even when it comes to the scary fast athletes who race that distance a ton. My overly conservative tri ass is actually more consistent than the 5k specialists, though I’m not on remotely the same level as the people at the front. I think if you maintain pace/kick only to throw up everywhere at the end you’ve pretty much nailed it.
Grass track.
Tips?
Stumbled across/Remembered there’s a free-to-use grass track about a 20min jog away, never really used it except during a club run. Grass is fairly long…
Tip #1. Use it. Great way to reduce impact.
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Ran my 5km yesterday pain free and without issue. Mission accomplished. I wouldn’t have signed up, but HR said anyone who participated would be given a day off as compensation. Tech park companies sponsor this race annually. Hence, companies encouraging employees to participate. Anyway, a day off and the start line being about 2km from my front door made it a no brainer. I ran it easy and steady w/some teenager for 23′44ʺ then continued past the finish line running for an hour before returning for company photos.
First time on a start line since 2020. Those start line vibes, the sound of only foot steps after the start, etc., were the best part of the morning serving as motivation to get myself fit again for the fall and winter races!!
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@Bbt67 Guessing you didn’t run Manchester?
@mhandwerk Have fun tomorrow running Boston!
God I hate grass tracks lol, but can definitely be a good thing if you struggle with injuries when introducing faster running.
Expect to be slower than you would on a traditional track. How much will probably vary based on terrain/weather and your biomechanics, but I’m probably 5-10sec/km slower on a dry/ fairly well-maintained grass track.
Also, if you’re used to running dead flat/road conditions exclusively, I’d work into it slowly- grass requires a bit more work from all those little stabiliser muscles so it’s pretty easy to tweak one in the initial stages, especially if you’re already putting down more force because you’re running faster. Make sure you get a good warmup too. And don’t wear your snazzy shoes if it’s rained recently 
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Back at the Airbnb. Result wasn’t the greatest, I could feel my left hip flexor starting to act up about mile 14 and I knew it was just a matter of time before it fully gave out on me. That time happened with 2.5 miles left (almost made it!). Had to walk a half-mile before being able to shuffle it to the finish line. My own fault for neglecting hill work, flexibility work, and strength work during the last 4+ months
Finished in 3:11 which is my slowest time. That said it was the most enjoyable race I’ve ever done. The crowd support was mind blowing (especially the girls at Wellesley college) - despite the rain (downpour for the last two miles). Since I knew a PR was probably out of the question I just had as much fun as I could interacting with the crowds. Gave a few hundred high-fives to all those standing along the sides. Did manage to resist all the girls with the ‘kiss me’ signs as we ran by the colleges, haha
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You finished AND you had fun! So, it sounds like you had a great day, PR be damned 
Give that hip flexor some love! 
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Anyone at the London Marathon this weekend?
I’ll be celebrating with some faster finishers from around 1:30pm
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Ughhhhh
Did a few ‘faster’ runs and now legs hurt. (parkrun, fast finish runs, running after my daughter while she biked)
Then i did swimming sprints and legs were shattered.
Taking it easy at T-11 days before my half marathon B race lol.
Not where i wanted to be. Oh well.
Legs hurt (injured) or legs sore? There is a difference. Hopefully, you’re just sore from working harder than usual and will be back to normal in a few days.
Anyone on here ever start a running club/ group at work?
There is interest and I’d love to get something going.
It’s soreness. But there’s also some joint soreness.
Taking it easier than id like to avoid any actual injury 
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Raced the HM this past weekend. I’ve been riding 4 times a week while running at least 3x’s. Dropped a ride and added 1-2 runs as I got closer to race day. Averaging 40 mi a week and peaking at 48.
It’s a relatively ‘small’ race of about 1,000 runners. With most of the local ‘faster’ runners in Boston I had a stretch A goal of top 5, B goal of PR and C of top 10.
Race morning I walked out the door and was hit with warm windy humid weather; 70 degrees 90% humidity and 20+ mph winds. I knew a PR was not in the cards. I showed up to the starting line and found several local speedsters and then thought top 5 was a no go… And thought a top 10 would be a stretch.
Gun goes and we take off. I follow the lead group and find my HR spiking right away. I try to settle in behind the a group to let my HR recover. Within the first 2.5 miles I start having thoughts of bailing and/or walking. Somehow I keep convince myself to keep putting one foot in front of the other until I couldn’t.
Over the first 5 miles of the race runner after runner start to drop off. About 9 miles in two runners break ahead and its down to myself a one other. A cyclist off the side of the road tells us we’re in 11th and 12th place. By mile 10 the guy I’m with tells me he’s fading and for me to push ahead.
Now in 11th place I try to hold as steady as I can… By mile 11 I start to bridge up to 10th place. Just before I bridge up 9th place comes to a stop and we both pass by him.
So now in 10th and I start to come up with a strategy to run his feet until .25 miles to go to attack to the finish… With less than a mile to go he begins to fade and I keep steady. I made sure not to let up as I was convinced he was going to do exactly what I was planning. And kept looking back. As we neared the finished I kicked and crossed the line in 8th… The cyclist was off smh lol…
Time wise it wasn’t the fastest; 1:20:45… but it’s encouraging and have lots of takeaways as there was a ton of ‘racing’ involved. All other finishing times were nearly 4 minutes slower than previous years which tells me under better conditions I could have thrown down a ‘quick’ time. Still, happy with 8th OA and 1st Old Man.
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Wait a minute…. 
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Heh… this HM time is my goal for the next 10K I’ll run… and it’d be my fastest 10K in 30 years if I pull it off! Looks pretty fast from here, great job. 
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Great results at the London Marathon today across all categories.
These are good goals which will also help with your next marathon!