It does look good - especially how you can balance neg/post split and how hard you want to go up the hills.
Like you say - it will be a good idea to try out what it actually looks like on the watch.
I’ve enjoyed loading interval sessions onto my watch and found it useful so hopefully the interface is similar for pace pro.
Running intervals sessions from the watch really comes into its own when using headphones though which I won’t be wearing during the marathon.
Lap pace, overall time (Timer in garmin speak) and Distance
The total average rarely lines up very well with where you actually are on the course due to GPS errors. Especially in races with tall buildings where even the dual band units tend to struggle a bit.
The best tool for pacing are accurate mile/km markers. I still manually split and compare to my target when possible.
I think pace pro, while a good idea in theory, could suffer from the same problem. You might compensate by setting a faster goal average.
Personally, not to brag, but I am so good at pacing by feel, I barely even need the watch. My 5k splits from the NYC half: 20:19, 19:54, 19:57, 19:56. It’s a fairly hilly course. I did no planning or analysis of the elevation chart. Just dialed it in by RPE.
Ive been using a data field named race screen and works great… Their whole thing is that gps are not the most accurate and you should go with the mile flags at races… So you manual lap and the screen will start a new mile and give your average pace according to laps and not by gps distance… It doesn’t change the actual distance or anything, is a mask and can help with keeping a more correct pace, if the mile flags are paced correctly…
After a little bit of a melt down a week ago, I dialed back the speed of my work outs the week after. Yesterday was my longest run yet at just over 20k. I was aiming at 5min/K pace. I ran based on feel, and started out faster than that. 8K in, I was still feeling strong, but I felt like I had picked up a little stone under my heel.
I continued running. After 12K I had managed to alter my form enough to have the pain in the foot subside, while having proper pain in my hip and knee. I decided to stop, took my shoe off, no stone. I tightened it down a lot more than before. I continued by running slower, with the pain in my knee gone pretty quickly. The hip remained to really sting me till the end. And afterwards - even today I can still only slowly walk, with pain around where my thigh meets the hip on the inside.
After last week I just really wanted to not fail another workout. Once arrived at home, I investigated the “stone” and it was just a blister. I’ll start carrying blister plasters from now on. I lost easily 3 minutes just by having to run slower - a time in which I can easily put such plaster on. This was the first time this ever happened to me, but I have said that MANY times before on running.
On a positive note - I got my fueling on point. Not eating over 2 hours in advance, drinking throughout the run. Much better than my last long run before.
Raced my first ever 10k this past weekend. Being my first I wasn’t sure what to expect or how to pace. Every time I considered a time goal I went back and forth on thinking either too aggressive or not ‘good enough’. Race morning I just decided to just run by feel/effort and completely ignored my watch.
Race morning was quite humid. Warmed up with two miles and found myself sweating pretty bad just before the start. I feel that like the humidity played the biggest part in slowing my pace throughout the run. First half felt like I was working but not all out… until it did. I wasn’t tapered and also had 60 miles in the legs for the week on race morning so I think there’s a bit of room for improvement. Sub 35:30?
Official time was 35:54 which got me 55 out of 13k.
I second this. RaceScreen for Garmin is a must if you’re chasing actual true course time. I don’t run any serious race without it and it’s the only screen I use in the race.
Never heard of RaceScreen before. Is this what you mean?
If so, I took a quick look and my first impression is really good. But let me see if I understand something correctly…
If I have my watch set to metric, and the race distance is 10K but I’m running in New York and they do mile markers, not kilometer markers, I can leave everything in metric and everything will display in metric but I can set the Lap Length to 1609 and it’ll use miles for rounding GPS distance?
If I do use GPS distance rounding, does that alter the actual distance eventually recorded for posterity in my Garmin activity, or just the display of distances/times during the race?
I use freedom units, so I am not sure. But I dont see why it wouldn’t work.
It doesnt affect the recording. Its just assumes a lap is one mile (km) and goes by it… so every lap the screen see it assumes its a mile regardless of actual distance. at the end of the race, you might get some odd laps, like maybe one or 2 under a mile, and one or 2 above a mile.
You need to set your watch to manual lap tho.
Also, if you missed one marker, it will know and will correct itself…
I believe you are correct on #1. I use miles but when I ran Berln I just switched everything to kms and had to shift my thinking/pacing to metric, but it certainly would have been nice to have it still display in min/mile
Joel nailed it on #2, it has no impact on your actual file, nor does it impact any other data screen - only the “Race Screen”. So if you were to cycle to a different screen that showed distance or pace, it would be the raw calculated version from Garmins GPS with no rounding.
Thanks! Seems like a useful tool, I’ll give it a try.
Taper officially started… but not before a questionable last workout.
I had my last long run scheduled this past weekend. I had early morning kid soccer games so I tried to get out Friday afternoon before they let out from school. Normally this would have been a non-issue but I set myself up for failure in that I had my annual physical that morning which meant no breakfast. I got home from my appointment, ate a small meal, then waited about 1.5 hrs before going out for the run.
My plan was for 3 mile warmup followed by 2mi race pace + 1 mi a bit slower/easier repeated 6 times. I got through the first effort and was gassed so I paused the run to try to gather my breath. Temps had risen quite a bit so rather than scrap the workout, which I really did not want to do as it was my last ‘key effort’, I adjusted my goal paces. I got through the next three miles a bit easier but felt terrible. I called it and decided to jog back home.
I don’t know if it was due to me ‘quitting’ the workout or the heat or accumulated fatigue but I felt destroyed. I jogged as easy as I could but eventually started walking. I was about 3 miles from home and called for a lift. I was so defeated; physically and mentally. Just a few days before I was feeling great and felt very good about the upcoming race. Now, the complete opposite.
Despite my best efforts to self sabotage the weekend I spent the rest of the day fueling and resting to give it another go the next day. I woke up at Saturday morn9ing at 5 am. Had a coffee and was on the treadmill at 530. Thankfully the temps were much more favorable but I managed I get through the workout as written; 22 miles total. I would have rather of done the run outdoors but having the kids home that wasnt an option for me. It felt great to complete the workout but also to not feel destroyed after 22 miles.
This week, I have mostly easily miles with two shorter workouts. I’m looking forward to dial down the mileage over the next 10 days and shedding some fatigue. Cant wait to race!
Oh yes… knew that pain well.
We started with the 2k “Tempo” on grass/wood chips (@1/2 marathon to marathon pace) and rolled into the start of the 1600 on the track. The 1200 was always the hardest rep for me. 400 was pretty much whatever you had left slug-fest before suffering though the last Tempo. Once we did it all on the track (have no idea why) and PR’d in the 10k en-route to finishing the workout 
. It was brutal, barely able to hold a walk/jog cool down after that one. Oh to be young again!
Another butt kicker…
Alternate 2k @ goal half marathon pace and 1k @ current 10k pace. No breaks for a full 10k. That one oddly hurt more than the Michigan.
I may have been overly pessimistic in my assessment that I’d never be able to go sub 24:00 on the Central Park 4 mile course, because I came oh so close to doing it last weekend. I spent the past few weeks smashing 200s on the track, because raw speed has bin a massive weakness, and it looks to have paid off with a 24:04 result. It hurts that I missed the mark by just 5 seconds, but I am pretty stoked to be within a minute of what I ran at age 28.
Unfortunately, I won’t get another crack at it until at least fall, if not next winter.
First half marathon of the season done! Definitely not the best I’ve felt on race day, but managed to hold onto 2nd female which I can’t be too unhappy with (OA podium was one of my goals for this road season after an amusingly long string of 4ths)
Suspected I might be a bit overcooked for this one, definitely delivered on that front…one of those days where it just crawls by and your legs are hurting from the first km. Probably underestimated the course a bit too- planned for the first half being uphill but missed the memo on the gravel and weird camber on the way back when the bigger packs were coming the other way, so the descent was a bit slower than I expected. (Actually a really beautiful course and some great weather, though unfortunately I wasn’t in much of a state to appreciate it at the time 
)
Ended up about 10 sec/mi off my projected pace for a flat half- close enough to be optimistic for the next one in a couple of months with a faster course and a bit more training I think, but with the women’s field mostly working itself out early on I was mostly just holding on for dear iife lol.
Couple of 10ks coming up in the next month- uni nats on the 24th and a road event 2 weeks later where I can hopefully grab a state team qualifier (I have the time standard by a good margin but not in a sanctioned event, so should be doable with a solid enough effort based on recent workouts, assuming I don’t drop dead as the former will be the real test)
I’ve heard about this, faster float/recovery than the reps. Ouch!
I had a look back over this year as I’ve trained in preparation for my first 50miler on Saturday.
I’ve not followed a plan, just done what I’ve felt like with the aim of not getting overly tired or injured. Isn’t it fascinating how my body became more capable in such a linear fashion?
It’s not totally scientific as there’s been a blend of speeds, elevation, terrain etc, but there’s a definite pattern.
Feeling great about my race. I have no niggles and I’m really excited about it. That’s all i could wish for.
Does anyone have any advice on how to approach this last prescribed workout on my marathon training plan?
Race is on Sunday…
Seeing this has given me FOMO
Good luck.
I love those last tune up sessions… normally a great confidence booster if tapered well.
But how hard and how easy 
I’m assuming a bit over and a bit under MP?
