The Running Thread --2025

[Professor_Cookie]

Well done!

Thank you!

 

[RuntheMouse]

quick race recap- Revel Big Cottonwood Half Marathon

My legs and core are thrashed. Ran an average of 10min/mile, which put me under my goal of 2hrs 15min. Some interesting and concerning pains popped up momentarily, but all eventually went away.

It’s an amazingly beautiful race, but I did not take time to take pictures because i did not want to stop and throw off any rhythm I may have had.

Fantastic job!

 

[The Expert]

quick race recap- Revel Big Cottonwood Half Marathon

My legs and core are thrashed. Ran an average of 10min/mile, which put me under my goal of 2hrs 15min. Some interesting and concerning pains popped up momentarily, but all eventually went away.

It’s an amazingly beautiful race, but I did not take time to take pictures because i did not want to stop and throw off any rhythm I may have had.

Nice one!

 

[Professor_Cookie]

Thank you both!

 

[Disney at Heart]

@Professor_Cookie Congrats on a race well run!

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

This is welcome news. if you don't have access, the gist of it is that stronger calves imply doing exercise which leads to more blood flow overall, and especially to the brain.

If they can include drinking coffee as another factor, then I think I'm good for the sweep.....

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-...tal-health/matt-roberts-calves-healthy-brain/

 

[LSUlakes]

QOTD: So I have question. Lets say your goal marathon pace is a 8:00 min/mi. You have a half marathon coming up in a few weeks and want to see if fitness wise you are on pace to be able to run the marathon goal... What should be the half marathon goal pace?

ATTQOTD: From the charts I have seen online, it looks like 7:40 pace is a equivalent pace for a half to a 8:00 pace for a full. Ive also read 15-30 seconds faster. I dont know the actual answer, but curious as to what yall think.

 

[jmasgat]

ATTQOTD: Guess it depends how far along in training you are. I think the estimates are going to give you what’s possible, and maybe assume you’re training for that specific distance. If you’re close to the end of your training, then maybe you could do a half in a time close to the calculated expected time.

But don’t do like me. The first time I ran Boston, I did a half 3 weeks before. I didn’t intend to race, but well, yeah. Ended up with what is still my PR in the half. Not sure it helped me with Boston, but I made rookie mistakes there anyway, so who knows.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

QOTD: So I have question. Lets say your goal marathon pace is a 8:00 min/mi. You have a half marathon coming up in a few weeks and want to see if fitness wise you are on pace to be able to run the marathon goal... What should be the half marathon goal pace?

ATTQOTD: From the charts I have seen online, it looks like 7:40 pace is a equivalent pace for a half to a 8:00 pace for a full. Ive also read 15-30 seconds faster. I dont know the actual answer, but curious as to what yall think.

Having just raced a half while training for a marathon, I can tell you that it's a crapshoot. It's hard to race well with that much fatigue built up, even if you do a bit of a taper - though it can happen! But a half mid-marathon block may not be your best possible effort.

Marathons are also kind of when race equivalency calculators break down for recreational runners. They're kind of designed based on elite/sub-elite times, and the rest of us will probably never build up enough aerobic capacity to have the same conversions. So if you're putting a HM time into a calculator, you're probably going to want to add 5-10 minutes to that marathon time to feel comfortable about being able to achieve it.

All that being said, there are just too many factors in any race, especially a B race, to have any certainty about how things will play out in the end. It's why I'm not freaking out about my HM pace this past weekend even though it's about what I was hoping my marathon pace would be in six weeks.

 

[rick1zoo2]

Having just raced a half while training for a marathon, I can tell you that it's a crapshoot. It's hard to race well with that much fatigue built up, even if you do a bit of a taper - though it can happen! But a half mid-marathon block may not be your best possible effort.

Marathons are also kind of when race equivalency calculators break down for recreational runners. They're kind of designed based on elite/sub-elite times, and the rest of us will probably never build up enough aerobic capacity to have the same conversions. So if you're putting a HM time into a calculator, you're probably going to want to add 5-10 minutes to that marathon time to feel comfortable about being able to achieve it.

All that being said, there are just too many factors in any race, especially a B race, to have any certainty about how things will play out in the end. It's why I'm not freaking out about my HM pace this past weekend even though it's about what I was hoping my marathon pace would be in six weeks.

You just hit on a topic that my wife and I have been talking about recently - how accurate are the race predictor calculations? When I look at mine, based on the Galloway Magic Mile, the times for 5k and 10k seem somewhat reasonable, but the Half and Full Marathons seem really much faster than I think I am capable of - right now. Do the predictors indicate what your potential times could be if you trained appropriately for them? For example: if someone is only training to run a single mile as fast as they can, then they certainly won't be prepared to run the longer distances anywhere near the times the predictors will calculate.

The danger is that by using the race predictors, you may think you should be able to run a race at a certain pace, only to find out the hard way (like I did) that it's way too fast.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Do the predictors indicate what your potential times could be if you trained appropriately for them?

Yes, that's my understanding.

 

[sandam1]

Do the predictors indicate what your potential times could be if you trained appropriately for them? Because if I am only training to run a single mile as fast as I can, then I certainly won't be prepared to run the longer distances anywhere near the times the predictors will calculate.

I've found that the Galloway Magic Mile is scarily accurate, but yes, it does assume that you are properly trained for the distance. It also assumes that you are running in the same conditions that you ran the Magic Mile (temperature, elevation, course crowding, etc.) which may or may not be the case. Also, for the longer distances, things such as nutrition, hydration, and bathroom stops start to become a larger factor.

 

[Erika10021]

This is all really good feedback. I feel like my fitness has significantly improved from my last magic mile in June so I am going to do another magic mile tomorrow. Fingers crossed it shows how I feel!

 

[DianaMB333]

Race calculators.. so far I have found the race predictor feature on my Garmin to be more accurate (vs magic mile, vs google search)

 

[rick1zoo2]

This is all really good feedback. I feel like my fitness has significantly improved from my last magic mile in June so I am going to do another magic mile tomorrow. Fingers crossed it shows how I feel!

wait, we are doing what tomorrow?!?

 

[nancipants]

You just hit on a topic that my wife and I have been talking about recently - how accurate are the race predictor calculations? When I look at mine, based on the Galloway Magic Mile, the times for 5k and 10k seem somewhat reasonable, but the Half and Full Marathons seem really much faster than I think I am capable of - right now. Do the predictors indicate what your potential times could be if you trained appropriately for them? For example: if someone is only training to run a single mile as fast as they can, then they certainly won't be prepared to run the longer distances anywhere near the times the predictors will calculate.

The danger is that by using the race predictors, you may think you should be able to run a race at a certain pace, only to find out the hard way (like I did) that it's way too fast.

For me, the weather is the biggest issue. I can run fast for a mile (or half mile in the summer). My 10:18 magic mile predicts I can do a 33:43 5k (10:51 per mile) and I'm like LOL no way. At least not until the temperature goes down at least 20 degrees. I have a 10k next weekend and my prediction is 1:13:36 (11:51 per mile). I did two miles at that pace this morning, but I doubt I can hold on for four more miles in 75 degree weather and 90 percent humidity.

 

[Erika10021]

wait, we are doing what tomorrow?!?

Indeed!

Well I am, you can just do a regular run if you'd prefer. : )

 

[avondale]

For me, the weather is the biggest issue. I can run fast for a mile (or half mile in the summer). My 10:18 magic mile predicts I can do a 33:43 5k (10:51 per mile) and I'm like LOL no way. At least not until the temperature goes down at least 20 degrees. I have a 10k next weekend and my prediction is 1:13:36 (11:51 per mile). I did two miles at that pace this morning, but I doubt I can hold on for four more miles in 75 degree weather and 90 percent humidity.

Well, all race predictor calculations assume perfect weather (no T+D effects) and a flat course. So ideal conditions.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

I just went back and looked at my Magic Mile time, which was a 9:42 pace conducted on a high school track in temps in the upper 80s. So pretty ideal other than the temp. My half 5 days later had an overall pace of 11:32 (in slightly cooler temps, but also on a flat course), compared to the 11:38 pace from Galloway's predictor. As @sandam1 mentioned, scarily accurate.

That same Galloway page has my marathon pace 59 seconds slower, at 12:37/mile.
The question is: how long can one maintain said pace? For the half I did, I was at 10:53 to 11:20 for the first 6 miles, then the pace steadily dropped to 12:20 for mile 11 before being a little faster for the remaining 2.1 miles, which points to training, i.e. how long and how well can you maintain that predicted pace? (And yes, that was a classic "started too fast" scenario).

Plus what others have mentioned about variables such as temp, humidty, and how you feel that morning. Just yesterday, it seemed like an ideal afternoon for a nice long-ish run, and instead it just wasn't there and I did more walking than I cared to do. So a fair number of variables.

I'm thinking two ways to go about your scenario: Try the 7:30 pace and see how well you can sustain that for 13.1 miles and how you feel afterward. Or, try the 8:00 marathon pace and see how you feel at 13.1 miles. In the first case, are you totally spent or was it a fairly comfortable pace? For the second scenario: Do you feel like you could have gone faster? Still have plenty in the tank for another 13.1 miles at that pace?

YMMV.

 

[rick1zoo2]

So I looked back too. June 14 we did a local half marathon on a flat course. Weather was decent, 64 degrees and 88% humidity. I ran my personal best time of 2:20:46 which was an overall pace of 10:43. I did a run/walk of 3:30 / :30 for most of it and ran all out for final two miles. A few days later on June 20 I did a magic mile of 7:52 on a track. Weather was similar: 68 degrees and 78% humidity. Based on that magic mile, the predictor says I could do a half marathon in 2:03:45 at 9:26 per mile pace, which I think would be way faster than I am able. That might be a 10k pace for me. My COROS watch is predicting 2:07:42 which is similar to Galloway but still too fast.
So I think what it might mean is that with enough half marathon training and the right conditions, maybe I could eventually run it at that pace or maybe I need a better pace strategy for the half or I am just better suited for shorter distances, not sure.