Planned run 50 minutes

Date: Wed, Sep 2, 2009 6:44 PM
Avg Pace: 04:39 min/km
Distance: 10.85 km

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/12456106

This is the fastest ever 50 minute training run I have done. I did the first 3km's pretty quick:

4:35
4:14
4:20

I bit too fast but I did not feel that bad doing it. I made a concious effort to slow when I realised how fast I was going, and did the next 1km at 4:40 pace. Did pretty much between 4:40 and 4:35 from then on except for a couple of blowout 1km distances.

The first blowout was in the 8th km. I was concentrating on getting the watch to display what I wanted to see - It seems to react to sweat running onto the touch sensitive bezel that is used to control it. So it sometimes sets itself to some display mode that is a bit useless to me. I was trying to get it to display the info I want, and slowed down. It happened in an area of the route I took where it is quite a bit darker, and is having some pathways worked on, so it was a difficult area to run through safely. I need to be careful in a race that I don't let the watch distract me. I did that well in the Gold Coast HM race I did in July..

The next blowout was in the usual last 2 km's or so hill climbs in this route I take. Usually the hills slow me to a pace of about 5km/min or worse but this run I managed to remain at 4:54 which is quite good.

I managed 4:39 average, and did the biggest distance for a 50min training run of 10.8km's. In the last HM race I managed to do another 10km at that same pace which to me now seems quite amazing. I never managed to achieve that pace in training leading up to that race, so this run looks like a good sign. Given a slight taper in training, the fact I have about three weeks of no alcohol, and the opportunity of a few days rest leading up to my next HM race on 19 September, I think I will be in good condition for a faster run.

Here I have my 8 and 10km splits for this run in first column, the splits for the Gold Coast HM race I did in July, and my previous 8 and 10km races in third column:


8km 36:43 37:46 38:38
10km 46:21 47:08 48:02

This illustrates a decent amount of progress over about a 6 month period. I am convinced that I have at least a sub 45 minute 10km race in me right now. The 8km race would be be sub 36 minutes too, possibly even faster if I get the pace right. As far as the half marathon pace, I feel I have the ability to go faster than my last race now. I did 1 hour 38 minutes, 58 seconds then.

Based on this 50 minute run, and assuming I can hold the same pace for the full HM distance it will be 2 minutes quicker. It is the right time now to set goals so here they are:

Ultimate goal - 1 hour 33 or better
Challenging goal - 1 hour 35 or better
Satisfactory goal - 1 hour 37 or better