Tag Archives: running

Thoughts on the Marathon Goal Pace Run

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I’m coming to you smack dab in the middle of an awesome weekend, but I wanted to talk a bit about this morning’s run before it got lost in the shuffle of awesomeness.

Original Plan: 9 miles, 7 at marathon goal pace (9:09)

Modified Plan After About Five Minutes of Running and Feeling Tight as Hell Legs: 7 miles, 5 at MGP

I’ll admit, while I try to be tough about running and force myself out in the cold, I’m a total weenie when it comes to the rain and usually opt for a treadmill when it’s raining. I would rather run in freezing weather than in a little rain. But this morning, after sleeping in until 9, I dragged myself out in the rain to get some miles in.

Halfway to the West Side Highway, my legs weren’t feeling any looser, and I decided to stick to 7, instead of pushing myself to do 9. I’m ordinarily all for pushing myself in a run, but I have 18 planned for tomorrow and pushing myself would not have been smart.

I did an MGP run a few weeks ago, but considering it was only 4 miles and included two bathroom stops, I’m not counting it, and counting this as my first real MGP run.

I did some tempo miles at 8:30ish pace the other day that weren’t terribly difficult, so I thought I wouldn’t have too difficult a time today–and I didn’t, as in it wasn’t difficult on my legs.

The concept of a marathon goal pace run is so that you know what your pace feels like so that you can hold it on race day.

Well, kids, I still have some work to do on figuring out what it feels like. My average pace was an 8:58, 11 seconds faster than my MGP. This kind of run is absolutely a mental test of perceived effort.

I thought MGP would feel like I was running strong, but not trying to run fast, so that’s what I went for, a little too fast. I perceive an easy run to feel like a jog, tempos to feel like I’m running fast, and intervals to feel pretty close to sprinting.

It appears my perception is not my reality here. I’m interested to see if I get any better at honing in on MGP as training continues.

So many questions for you:

Do you do MGP runs?

Is 10 seconds off a big deal?

How do you hone in on the MGP while running? What does it feel like to you, in terms of perceived effort?

What’s the longest MGP run you’ve done/will do during training?

How This Time’s Different (Marathon Training, That Is.)

I‘m training for my third marathon right now. (Gratuitous recaps of first two: Chicago Marathon, New York Marathon.) Before I started running marathons, I never gave thought to how one training cycle could differ from another. I mean, don’t you just run lots of miles every time?

In short, yes, but there’s a few ways that this cycle is different than the first two.

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Time. This is the biggest difference. The first and second times around, I had so much more time, even if I didn’t realize it then.



The first time around, I was working at a less stressful job and was out by no later than 6:30 every night. I had less going on after work and less of a commitment to Junior League.



The second time around, I had been laid off and any time I wasn’t searching or interviewing for jobs, I had free to do whatever I wanted. I threw myself into my marathon training because it was a great escape, and because I could.



This time, I’m working more than ever and I have taken on a tremendous Junior League commitment. Time is not on my side, but I’m still making it work.



Commitment. Looking back at the first time, I was not as committed to my training as I should have been. I got my long runs in, but frequently skipped or cut short my during-the-week runs. No wonder I wasn’t ecstatic with my time.

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Last year, I stepped up my commitment majorly. I was going to come in under 4:30, come hell or high water. I nailed at least 90% of my workouts and nailed them good. I came in at 4:19, so I’d say this paid off.



This year, I want so badly to break 4 hours. I think about some other things sometimes, but I’m usually just thinking about the marathon right now. Even when I don’t get all my miles in as planned, I find a way to close that gap as much as possible and make sure to get my quality workouts in.



Run more. From reading speed demon blogs, I’ve realized that if you want to run faster, you need to run more. I’m running 5 days a week now and way more miles than I did the first two times around. I’ll occasionally run a double if I need to get miles in. I’m also running back-to-back days a few times during the week, and my legs are totally fine. I know this doesn’t work for everyone, but it’s working for me right now.



Flying solo. Well, sort of. The first time, I was still working out with a trainer, and he helped me design my plan and alter it when necessary. Last year, I worked with a coach. This year, I’m participating in the RW Challenge program. I have access to their coaches to ask questions when necessary, but I’m finding that with my third time on this rodeo, I have fewer questions and need less one-on-one interaction. I know what needs to be done and am more comfortable with shifting workouts when my plan doesn’t fit my schedule. It’s not rocket science.

Morning running. I finally just broke down and started doing it–most of the time. It’s getting much easier to get my runs in now, and I am so happy when I get to work.
What lessons have you learned after your first marathon (or half, or 5K), and what have you changed?