Your Running Training Pace

During the course of training for a race, a runner will likely be trying to hit many different paces as they go through different kinds of workouts, tempo, race, easy, intervals, long etc.  Calculating the correct targets for these different workouts can be a challenge so I am hoping to make it a bit easier.  This information is for beginners, if you can run 7 minute miles, I probably can’t help you.

Hopefully you already have a training plan, or at least a target race you are training for. Putting together a training plan can be challenging as there is so much different information out there. Once you chosen one, reading it can be even harder.  The plan may refer to “race pace”, “10K-pace”, “easy pace”, etc.   After doing a bunch of research, here is what it boils down to, starting with my own calculations for my current half marathon goal.

First, you need a goal for the race, if your goal is just to finish, you shouldn’t be worrying about how fast you run, but just about completing it. My current goal is for a 2:10 half marathon. (If you want to run a 29 minute 5K this works too.)  Go to the macmillan calculator and enter in your time and distance.  You will now see a page of predicted times and events.  (This calculator will show you “Equivalent Performace”. So if you can run a 59:09 10K, you can likely run a 28:24 5K assuming you train for it. )

Now that you have plugged in your goal, you should do a sanity check to make sure this is reasonable for you. For example my 10K record is 59:09 and my expected 10K finish according to this is 58:25. This is aggressive, but I do not believe this is out of scope for me.  I also tried plugging in the goal of 2:15, but that actually puts me behind my 10K record, so I settled on 2:10 as my stretch goal, and 2:15 as my “would also be good” goal.

Now based on this page I can get the different paces I should be aiming for during my various runs:

• easy pace - this means either, don’t pay attention to how fast you are going or the “Easy Run” section. So 10:58-11:28 for me for now.
• tempo runs – This refers to the tempo portion of the run, not including warm-up or cool-down.  This gives me a pace of 9:31 to 9:56. Generally if you are training for a longer distance it should be towards the end of this range.  So if you are training for a 5K aim for 9:31 tempo runs, for a half more like 9:409:45. The guidance is generally about 5K pace + 30-40 seconds or 10K pace + 15-20 seconds.
• race pace – this is the pace you intend to run the race at. So if you are aiming for a 2:10 half marathon run these runs at the prescribed pace for the 13.1 mile event, that would be 9:56.
• Speed Workouts. – You can read this from the Speed Workouts section, so if your plan calls for 4×800, run 4 intervals of 800m and aim for the specified range.  The ranges will vary by what kind of runner you are, and what you are training for.

Hopefully this post will be helpful, I would love more input, as this information is from what I could find online. Anyone have any other tips?

More information:
From Runners World: Learn How to Run a Perfect Tempo Run
You can also check out this alternative pace calculator here.
How fast should I run?
Goal Pace Running