It's All About the Pace

Training for a half or full marathon your pace will break or make you. 26.2 miles is equivalent to running from Georgia State University (downtown Atlanta) to downtown Alpharetta. So, 13.1 miles is like running from GSU to downtown Chamblee. My point is regardless if it's 26.2 or 13.1mile, it's a long distance!

It's obvious that the more races you run the better your pace will be, but really that is no help to someone who is at the beginning of their racing career. Setting goals will help in perfecting your desired pace. Choose how far you want to run, how fast you want to accomplish that distance in, and then start timing yourself. You can also substitute one of your scheduled runs with a 5k or 10k. You can then calculate your race time to obtain your pace. Then calculate your pace into a half or full marathon distance. The challenge you have now set will help you to train harder. The harder you train your body will be exposed to a higher degree of fatigue similar to longer distance fatigue. It is important to have the long runs scheduled in your training to help mimic the distance on race day. Knowing the course will also allow you to pace your time better because you can evenly distribute your energy throughout the run. Being familiar with a course inhibits any surprise terrain.

Training Tip of the Week: During your run keep the same speed to run up hills as you would on a flat surface. Speeding up a hill will expend more energy then needed and will cause fatigue sooner.

Training Song of the Week: Two Step Remix- DJ Unk ft. T-Pain, Jim Jones, & E-40

Happy Running,
Jayme