Ran a 10k today. Went alright for not really trying that hard. But, why is Garmin race predictor so useless? Not that I would rely on my watch for this, but the latest Garmin tech is as useless as it was 10 years ago. You would think beating predicted time handily would cause it to revise, at least.
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Now you know what to expect. Great job… 77 km is no joke! Congratulations!
If my calculations are correct, the average was 8 minutes per mile?
That an absolute beast of a time! Amazing job!
Next time… More salt and more sandwiches! 
What watch are you using.
I had a 935 and I think the prediction were a joke… Super inaccurate. A friend with a 945 is also a joke.
Now I have 955… It’s not amazing but I think it’s a solid indicator. The times are not linear like before and it takes into consideration more things… My watch said I was in shape for a 3.08 marathon back in April… Did 3.12 (horrible conditions with 20mph head winds and hot)
FR 265. Latest and greatest
The training readiness is absurd too. Tanks the moment you do anything remotely strenuous
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Fantastic, well done!
Thank you for asking. The race was yesterday, and went pretty well. I was able to stick reasonably close to my desired pace of 8:40/km (13:57/mile). Still went out a little faster than I should, and had to walk briefly twice (around 8km and 9km) as HR kept inching up (threshold is ~160bpm), but overall things went well.
New PB: 1:26:29 (8:39/km), 2:34 better than last November. AND, I am no longer last in my age group (524/534) even though I apparently ran 10.12km for a chip time of 1:27:28. 
Considering how spotty and inconsistent my recent run training has been, that’s a very good result.
Km 1 8:35 / HR 149bpm
Km 2 8:36 / HR 158bpm
Km 3 8:28 / HR 161bpm
Km 4 8:45 / HR 159bpm
Km 5 8:44 / HR 160bpm
Km 6 8:51 / HR 161bpm
Km 7 8:46 / HR 165bpm
Km 8 8:42 / HR 166bpm
Km 9 8:44 / HR 165bpm
Km 10 8:32 / HR 166bpm
0.12km 0:48 / HR 172bpm
Lessons learned:
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I need to be more consistent with my training. No surprise, since I was focused almost totally on GFNY and I’ve been running ~15km/week.
My planned volume was just 26km/week, but I wasn’t even getting that done. I’ll be able to do better now. -
This race felt doable but really long. Still, the goal is to get faster and to do longer distances, so I also need to increase weekly volume and continue to increase the distances of my 1 short, 2 medium, and 1 long runs.
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I need to be even more careful about not going out too fast.
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@toribath That’s EPIC! rest up and recover, you’ve earned some downtime!
@adenega I’m not sure how the algorithms work, but on both the 935 and 955 my estimates are about the same. It would seem that if I’m doing 5km type training, the 5km estimate is reasonable. Likewise, when I do 21km training, that estimate is reasonable. That said, they’re usually a bit on the slow/conservative side. It’s been so long since I raced, I forget what happened to the estimates post race.
@AgingCannon Consistency is indeed key even on super low volume. The best use of my Garmin on race day is to keep me from going out too fast. For the first few km I do as the Garmin says even though it makes me feel like I’m walking. Need to let that adrenaline and whatnot settle down.
Great stuff everyone! Keep moving along during the summer touching on speed w/strides and/or short intervals until fall when the temps allow for sustained intervals.
Other than by watching the “pace” field fairly obsessively… how?
FWIW, for most of the race I looked only at a single data screen with three fields: current pace top, current HR middle, average pace bottom (which makes HR slightly larger as it’s the center field).
Race predictions on my Garmin are pretty believable (Fenix7) , though only been using it less than a month but it does have a load of data to look at if it goes back at all! They are comparable to my Stryd race predictions though Garmin ones are a little more conservative. Around a minute difference for 10k. Did open the legs for a 10k a while back, could have pushed a bit more and that time was only 90 seconds off my Stryd prediction. Think if I’d gone deeper, not been on a undulating trail I may have beat the prediction.
Unfortunately Stryd is now using my Garmin power and it’s predictions are now way out, it’s knocked 10minutes off my 10K prediction! Can’t be bothered with all the hassle of the pod anymore and going to learn the Garmin power zones. So going forward it will be the Garmin predictions I use and pretty happy with the current list it gives.
Hey gang,
I have a question for you folks. I’ve just finished this years big bike race (40mile MTB). I’m targeting a marathon in December (CIM). I’ve been planning on shutting the biking down for the most part until December. Running 5-6 days per week with 2-3 strength training sessions. This is all with a goal of doing my first Full IM next year. The IM is IM California in October so I’ll have 10 months to train. I’ve got my FTP to an all time high and now I’m freaking out about losing all my bike fitness over the next 6 months. Any advice? Stay the course, gain the fitness back next year? Try to integrate some cycling (that will be difficult). Anyone do this and have an idea of how bad their bike fitness got from 6 months off?
Thanks!
Dan
I ride once a week as part of my running training. A nice long mtb or road ride, alone or in company provides a welcome change and a smashing fitness boost. A 4-6hr run would kill your legs but as a nice steady ride means I can run the following day.
If your goal is an IM, I would not recommend taking 6 months off of the bike. 1 or 2, sure, but not 6. I would continue to bike up to the last 6-8 weeks of your marathon build where you’ll be in the biggest run volume.
The biking doesn’t need to be rigidly structured, it doesn’t need to be more than 3 times a week and I would to temper the intensity work done to once a week.
When you’re running 6 days a week and on a 7 day cycle, it’s going to look something like this
Day 1: Rest
Day 2: Short Length Run
Day 3: Workout or Med Length Run
Day 4: Short Length Run
Day 5: Med Length Run
Day 6: Short Length Run
Day 7: Long Run
I would pair a workout like Petit w/ one or two of the short workouts and a Tempo or SS workout on the run workout day or the Med length run day (hard days hard).
Something like this.
Day 1: Rest
Day 2: Short + 60 Endurance Ride or Strength
Day 3: Workout or Med + Tempo/SS Workout
Day 4: Short + 60’ Endurance Ride
Day 5: Med + Strength
Day 6: Short
Day 7: Long Run
When you get up to 40 to 50 MPW, then start to phase out the bike and focus on the run.
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That’s kinda what I was thinking. I’m sure my FTP will drop, but at least it won’t completely go away. I’ll give this a shot. Thanks!
For sure your FTP will drop, but that’s no big deal. FTP isn’t that important in IM. It’ll also bounce back quickly when you get back to biking post-marathon.
I wouldn’t call it obsessive, but I do check the pace a lot during the first few km especially the first km. During that first km, I’ll check it every few hundred meters until I’m right around the pace I want. Note, I use lap pace. So, pace changes depending on how far you are into the lap can take a bit to show up. In any case, it’s how I run my intervals and whatnot normally and am used to it. After a few steady km, I’m usually locked into my race pace w/either a group and/or my own internal rhythm only looking at my watch when it vibrates for each km split.
Distance, lap pace, total elapsed time are the 3 fields I display when running.
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For me it’s lap pace, current pace and HR. Having lap + current helps catching drifts up/down earlier. I look at it maybe 1-2 per km, in addition to looking at the pace for each km as it ends. HR is just to make sure I’m not in the process of blowing up early.
Yikes. Supposed to be doing a 15k trail race this weekend but ya boi is stupid and missed the entry cutoff, so guess who got a 5k TT instead?
Was just a C race so not too disappointed about that (haven’t been running enough trails anyway), but I suspect a hard parkrun with no top-end fitness to speak of might be some kind of cosmic punishment. Been pretty light on the hard sessions while I’ve been getting back into training and adjusting to the volume again, so definetly going to be ugly.
(on the bright side we’ve just had a new course pop up, so might be possible to snag a record before the actually fast people show up 
)
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UTMB UTS50 Snowdonia/Eryri Wales
Did this back in May but DNF’d this year after having a great race and completing it last year. I was fitter as well! Reason was the heat, managed 33km 2000m of the 55km 3500m. After second ascent of Snowdon and descent I called it a day, knew I’d never make it to the end. The Sun and heat just zapped the strengthen out of me. First hot day of year and I’d Spent all winter/spring running in the cold and wet and then there was this first day of summer in the mountains anyway, knew the right thing to do was withdraw, dizzy, stumbling, so I did.
Anyway on Wednesday I saw that Friday’s weather forecast was a damp morning and clearing as day went on in Snowdonia/Eryri. So I put in a days leave and decided without a taper or any prior planning to go and do the course again, self support, all food and water carried, no cut offs, just me, and my pack in the mountains. Got up at 4am, left a 4:30am arrived at 6:45am and off running for 7am. It pretty much rained all day, at no point did it clear up, windy on mountain summits, but that’s my kind of running weather. Managed the course of 54.5km 3476m in 12.5 hours. Two Snowdon/Yr Wyddfa ascents, Lanberis side and Watkins side, then another couple of lumps!
Managed to run about 5 hours of it, rest was speed hiking because it was too steep or rocks to wet, ground too boggy… normal mountain trail stuff. Just the one bad fall on a slippy boulder, but I bounced well ! Had a great day out and was more rewarding than the actual events, just no medal at the end or crowd 
but £140 better off! Set off back a 8pm and home for 10:30pm. More of these will be planned.
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Be careful on the way back… that’s a very long day and it’s very easy to microsleep your way to an early grave if you’re too tired.
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