It’s a tricky thing when you talk about speed. I try to keep everything in perspective when pace comes up with runners and non-runners. I understand that you used to run a 5 minute mile in high school, but my goal is not to run a mile as fast as I can… it’s to run several as fast as I can.
The way I look at it is that someone’s 8 minute pace is fast when compared to a 10 minute pace. And that 10 minute pace is fast when compared to a 12 minute pace. And that guy’s 8 minute pace? Well, that’s slower than Meb’s Boston Marathon winning pace of sub 5’s. What I’m trying to say is that someone’s “fast” is always someone else’s “slow” and making comparisons can drive you crazy.
That being said: I wanna go FAST. Haha. Don’t we all? In less than 10 days I’ll be running Bay to Breakers in San Francisco. It’s a 12k race that draws a lot of attention for fast runners and costumed runners. I’ll be running up front with the faster pack. I typically don’t train for speed at shorter distances, but my 10k PR is around a 7:15 pace and my half marathon PR is around a 7:25 pace. If I’m running 12k (7.46 miles), is it fair to assume that I can keep that 7:15 pace?
Based on last year’s finisher results, a 54 minute finish (7:15 pace) would put me somewhere around the top 500 (overall), so I guess it’s time to throw some goals out there:
A Goal:
52 minutes. This is right at a 7 minute pace. It’s not a flat course, so I can’t just sprint through it.
B Goal:
Sub 54 minutes. A 7:15 pace seems very doable for 12k, but as I said earlier, I don’t really train at that pace. Typically I float in the 8-8:30 range so I’ll have to hit the gas a little bit.
C Goal:
Run, finish, grab my medal, take lots of post race photos and enjoy the finish line festival… this one seems very, very doable.
I’ll throw on some speedy shoes, compression socks, sunglasses (because it makes you look at least 30-seconds faster) and make a run for it
Registered runners receive:
- Official Under Armour Runners’ T: New design for 2014 race!
- Map My Run Membership: Free three-month MVP trial
- 15% off a Fitbit product
- Finisher Medal: YES! The medals are back!
- Awards: Seeded, Sub-Seeded and Centipedes will compete for awards
- Race Bib with Timing Tag: Set a PR with our timing technology!
- Course Entertainment: Local bands and DJs will be placed strategically along the course playing and spinning exciting, uplifting music to help you achieve that PR
- Finish Line Festival: Entertainment, partnership activations, consumer engagement and tens of thousands of runners celebrating their accomplishment!
There is still some time to register for the event if you want to run fast, slow, medium paced, in costume… but the race is on May 18 and online registration closes soon.
Bay to Breakers 12k, May 18
$5 off code: PAVEMENTRUNNER5 – Register now.
When you are training, do you mix in speedwork?
You are so right about the relative thing, people always say to me that if they were where I was, they would be content, but you always want to be better, you always want to reach higher, but that is what makes us runners; that drive to not settle and to continue to strive to be better! As you reach one goal, you set another.
Yes! This drives me crazy too! I have my 1/2 marathon coming up soon, and the doubts in my mind have been torturing me! It is so hard, especially with 1/2 marathon and above to know what pace you can hold come race day as you cannot run that pace in practice. I have been wondering how I will hold 5:35 pace for 13 miles, when I cannot do it for 8 in workouts right now?
Glad someone else is worrying about this right now! I need to calm my nerves!
Awesome goals!! I love that you set different goals – I should start doing that. Speed is a relative thing – there is always a need to constantly want to do better. To push ourselves to that next level!
I am starting to get interested in speedwork, I’ve never really done it before. The 12K sounds really awesome with great perks, I hope you make your A goal! I just want to be happy and strong in the pace that I am right now. I would be so thrilled to be a consistent 9 minute mile runner, but I’m not there yet!
That’s a good idea to make tiered goals. I tend to set my mind on one goal, and it’s all or nothing. This past winter and spring, I was really working on my speed because I wanted to PR in the 10K. I did speedwork a couple times a week, intervals, fartleks, tempos. They really worked, and I ran my 10K at a 7:00 pace. Compare that to 1.5 years earlier, when I ran a 52 min 10K, I got A LOT faster. Fast is all relative, and it only serves you when you are comparing yourself to yourself (unless you are an elite).
So true. I have trapped in the comparison game this year, and it has done a really number on the first half of this year. Last weekend I ran and EJOYED the goodlife half. I took time out of the equation. And remembered why I run in the first place. OS NECESSARY!
Love how you always keep it real. Yes, someone’s slow can easily be someone’s fast, and vice versa, and while we shouldn’t compare, we do. And I want to go fast too! Ha ha. Sadly, that is not in the cards these days. Good luck this weekend!
See you there! It’ll be a great day, no matter what your pace is :)
Given that I live so (kinda) close, I should really do this one year! I like the race shirt, I wish everyone gave away UA race shirts!! Good luck on your goal, I hope you crush it!
Right on! The only comparison shall be comparing against one’s self. I’m a novice runner, started a year ago as a woggler (walking+jogging) with average pace in the 15minutes range. Now I’m in the 12’30-13′, which makes me super proud. I’ll be adding speed work this year, and I’m excited to see where this will take me to my fall’s half :) good luck on B2B race!!
I’ve been training for a marathon and started getting serious about my speed work. I have found that I love it! One day a week we do hill repeats or 800’s, 400’s or some other distance. And another day we do a tempo run. Have fun at the race!
Yes! I think we all want to run fast… and our own personal FAST is someone else s slow. As a runner it is really hard (and challenging at times) to talk to someone about our personal goals because of this huge range of numbers of ‘fast’ (at least for me personally). :)
I am currently running for FUN… for all my runs and races. SO I am not necessarily incorporating SPEED in my workouts… but when I was actively training… yes. I did speedwork and tempo each week. :)
Enjoy B2B! It is SUCh a fun race! :)
Sunglasses and C … Have fun and if A or B work .. SCORE!!
Oh boy. I Google’d the race and I’m glad you’ll be out in the front. With all the flying body parts, I wouldn’t want to you to get poked in the eye B. Lol…I literally saw a guy having to hold his bib because he had his b day suit on. Not even a spi-belt.
It’s easy to think of myself as slower when I read fellow runners’ posts or see them along the canal here in Arizona. I’m not fast (well, right now I’m not even running, so there’s that, but when I run…I’m kinda slow). Even though I sometimes find myself mired in the “wow, s/he is WAY faster than I’ll ever be.” I’m usually able to remind myself that I’m not running for that other person but for myself, and I’m certainly faster than the self who used to say “running sucks!” (ok, sometimes I still say that if it’s a particularly bad run, but that’s beside the point). Zooey the Devil Dog would certainly love for me to be faster, but in general, I’m just happy to be out there, putting one foot in front of the other.
Good luck at Bay to Breakers!
Good Luck! Sounds like great goals :)