What's My Pace?

My marathon training plan includes several different paces. When I've trained for mid-distance races in the past, I've had a general idea of what these paces should feel like, but I wasn't very precise about the numbers. Now that I'm training for a marathon, it's time to be more focused and deliberate.

Most of my training runs are either "Easy/Long" or "Threshold" pace:

• Easy/Long (E/L)
• I can hold a conversation in complete sentences at this pace 
• Running this pace teaches my body to burn fat more efficiently
• Threshold (T)
• This feels "comfortably hard"
• Running this pace teaches my body to process lactate more efficiently

Some of my runs will build from E/L to "Marathon Pace":

• Marathon Pace (MP)
• This is my goal race pace!
• It isn't an efficient training pace, but incorporating it strategically into my plan teaches my body what this pace feels like & builds my confidence in being able to maintain it

Some of my track workouts also incorporate "Aerobic Capacity" pace:

• Aerobic Capacity (AC)
• This is faster than T, but not the absolute fastest that I can run

What are my numbers? I pulled together information from various sources - my VO2 Max testing, recent race results, some online calculators, and a table from my PR Training plan to come up with some ranges, and then I ran them past Coach Adam for some refinement. Here they are:

I'll be trying these out for the next few weeks and seeing how well they fit!

(To see how my pace improved, go to August and September)