When you are training to try to make a certain time in a race, how do you determine what pace you should be running?
One source I use is Greg McMillan. He is a coach and writer who has studied running and offers excellent advice on his website for free (he also charges for personal online coaching, but I think he free site has more than enough information for most people).
One of my favorite features is his run pace calculator. You plug in a recent race time and his calculator gives you equivalent times for other distances and a full selection of training paces for every kind of run. I've found his time conversions to be uncannily accurate. I have finished several of my races within seconds of the times his system predicted for me. Now, that might be because, equipped with a goal time, I trained to that pace and then accomplished it. But that's his point: he gives you a reasonable goal, provides the pacing you should use to train for it, and predicts that your training will yield that result.
You can find his site at www.mcmillanrunning.com WARNING: he is currently running an ad for one of his DVDs that kicks in seconds after you load the page and includes a loud audio feed. Turn down your sound before you click.
One source I use is Greg McMillan. He is a coach and writer who has studied running and offers excellent advice on his website for free (he also charges for personal online coaching, but I think he free site has more than enough information for most people).
One of my favorite features is his run pace calculator. You plug in a recent race time and his calculator gives you equivalent times for other distances and a full selection of training paces for every kind of run. I've found his time conversions to be uncannily accurate. I have finished several of my races within seconds of the times his system predicted for me. Now, that might be because, equipped with a goal time, I trained to that pace and then accomplished it. But that's his point: he gives you a reasonable goal, provides the pacing you should use to train for it, and predicts that your training will yield that result.
You can find his site at www.mcmillanrunning.com WARNING: he is currently running an ad for one of his DVDs that kicks in seconds after you load the page and includes a loud audio feed. Turn down your sound before you click.
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