Last weekend’s Barossa marathon festival is always a highlight on the calendar. A relatively, flat fast course is all the incentive people need as they chase that elusive PB. Now that I have had a chance to review some numbers and cross reference what people did, versus what was planned, the standout difference between those who hit their goals and those who didn’t was the ability to follow a plan.
For me runs are a lot easier to manage than a triathlon. You only have one discipline to consider and there is far less that can go wrong, provided you get yourself to the start line in one piece. When it comes to setting a race day plan for me my first preference is always Heart rate. Sure, we have an idea on pace, and we use it for the first 4-5km as the HR levels out, but after that HR is our number one focus.
Experience has told me that using pace (or power on the bike) has too much emotion attached to it, sure we have a plan to run at a set pace but when you see a pace that is 5 or 10seconds quicker and it feels so easy to start with, that competitive part of the brain that wants a Pb takes over and we simply keep chasing these numbers instead of listening to how our body feels.
This year the race was complicated with 30km/hr winds. My usual advice is to factor in the wind to your pacing expectations (maybe 5-10 seconds slower). And 5-15seconds is a lot! The difference between your 5 and 10km pace for most is around the 7-10sconds, between your 10 and 21km is roughly 15seconds, while the difference between a half and a full marathon is only 10-12seconds. So, if you go just a bit over (or don’t allow for the wind) then by halfway through your race there is every chance that the body will start to slow and your dreams of a PB fade.
Those who follow a HR plan which starts controlled and builds through the run, will often go close to an even or negative split for the run and will be able to thrive over the final kilometres as they chase down those who went out too hard.
It was Jeff Symonds who won the final ever Melbourne IM who summed up pacing perfectly,
Every training session or race is a chance to practice pacing. We are all guilty of letting ego get the better of us, so runs like we did on Thursday night where we had people jump back on at the turn arounds are perfect for us to control our desire to race. Practice patience and control in training and it will pay big dividends come race day.
This race also highlighted the mental side of racing. If you look at the results you will see a cluster of results around each of the key finish times 3hrs, 3.30 etc. compared to a few minutes back. Even though the bell-shaped curve should mean there are more who finish after 3hrs. This shows just how important it is during a race to have a focus. In this race the wind did affect some people’s times and when they couldn’t meet their goal time, they lost focus, and the white flag went up. If this happens on race day, the key is to reset your goals on the fly and see what you can salvage.
So, we now have 13 weeks to go until the Adelaide marathon. So, while there is a lot of running to do between now and then, for me the most important ingredient is to learn to run to a plan, to learn the effect wind and hills have on pace and above all learn to use HR and feel to guide your pacing. To do this properly you will need to use a HRM strap. The readings you get off the watch itself or other wrist or arm monitors for me isn’t accurate enough to be used with any confidence.