Home› General Training Discussions

Which Pace metric do you monitor while running?

morpheusmorpheus
in General Training Discussions

I've been running a little more this summer/fall.  

Using Pace (real time) on my Garmin.  As I've mentioned before, my terrain is full of rollers.  1/8, 1/4, 1/2 mile type climbs that start at 2% and quickly pitch up to 7-8%.  Glad they're short climbs.

I've been able to match pace RPE pretty well when hitting these hills.  Pace falls off, a lot, while RPE stays consistent (maybe a little bit harder).   This has allowed me to usually hit (or come pretty close) to my interval goals.  I used to go to the track for my interval work because of these hills but I'm taking a new approach to that.  Going to try to do almost all of my work on the same type terrain that I'll be racing on the local scene around here when the opportunity presents next year.

But, my question for you guys is whether you find the Pace (predicted for the mile split) helpful to keep an eye on.  I'm not sure if this would have me overcook the early part of a mile that may have started on a climb just so I can 'catch up' or if it will keep me in check on the flatter areas.

Just wondering what you guys tend to use....

 

Thanks!

 

Comments

  • Scott AlexanderScott Alexander
    I go real time pace.

    I wish there was a pace-like equivalent of "3 sec power" from our powermeters! My garmin is SO jumpy!
  • morpheusmorpheus
    OK, my question is moot.

    This is why I shouldn't post before my coffee.

    That watch that has the option of displaying Predicted Mile Pace? Well, it's not my Garmin 310xt. It must've been my last watch. Think it was a Suunto. Before my run today, I went to switch it over and realized it's not even an option.


    @Scott- Me, too. It took me a while to realize that my effort hasn't changed a bit and my terrain is pretty much the same, so, why in the hell am I running 1' slower than I was 20 seconds ago? But, at the end of the mile, it all seems to end up right, doesn't it?
  • Brad MarcusBrad Marcus
    I agree with Scott - too jumpy to watch "real time pace" for me. I just watch my average and use RPE until I get my mile splits as confirmation. I find this is good practice for races as to how to know how to pace myself in the different zones since I really do become more attuned to how those zones feel.
  • Al TruscottAl Truscott

    Chris - my reaction to this is, in my locale with *nothing* flat, I train primarily via RPE. But I do set the Garmin (used to be 305, then 310, now Fenix2) to auto lap every mile, and then I display "Current Lap Pace" along with HR and Cadence as my primary metrics. Seems to help me fine tune my RPE better than looking at even the smoothed current pace.

  • morpheusmorpheus

    Ahhhh....'Current Lap Pace' must be what I was remembering.  I'll try it out on tomorrow's run.


    one of my run projects is to really sync RPE with pacing and HR on these types of routes. Sometimes, I have be to at ease with a TP + 30'' mile that was run at TP RPE. It doesn't look as good in the training log books but I'm fairly confident that the payoff will be on race day. In addition, insisting on hitting TP for the mile when the mile has more ups than anything else, means that I'm living on the edge of z5 work, and too often. Yielding the inevitable injury/recover/rehab cycle. Another huge factor in my 'Improve My Run' off/outseason.

  • William JenksWilliam Jenks
    I use two quadrants on the Garmin watch for my pace. I use the "current pace" and the "lap pace", where I almost always have it set to auto lap every mile. (Of course, you can manually hit a lap any time short of that mile.) Especially outside when you are using GPS, there is some noise in the current pace data that you can get a sense of by comparing the two numbers and how you know you've been running the last 15 seconds or whatever.

    I use a multiple window setup where those two things are always the top two quadrants and other things are displayed in the bottom two quadrants, e.g., HR, distance, etc.

  • Mark CardinaleMark Cardinale

    I take the same approach as Al.  Auto lap every mile and display current lap pace.  I also display lap distance on my garmin when i'm training.  When racing i like to also include overall average pace to give me a more macro view of my run.

  • jalesliejaleslie

    I do exactly as William.  Autolap pace every 1 mile and current pace.  If it's fairly flat, I use current to make sure I'm pacing appropriately.  Up or down a hill (no mountains here...just rollers) I use RPE or make sure my HR is not spiking up a hill.  

    That said, I'm not a fast runner so not sure I'd listen to me!  

  • morpheusmorpheus
    So, I've been trying this...

    L upper: Current Pace
    L lower: Lap Pace (projected)
    R upper: HR
    R lower: distance

    Like.

    After doing enough miles now, I don't feel like I have to 'hurry' up these short 5-9% stretches. I've now seen that a steady press up is all that it takes to even the mile out. Seems like the only time that this really slows down, negatively affects, my mile split is if the particular mile has a couple of these steep bumps to crest. And, at that point, I'm just going to fall back on RPE 'wins'. Ultimately, my goal is to put together a long stretch of consistent training that will allow me to run faster on a race day, NOT a 100% precision rating based solely on hitting numbers. In my stubborn case, that approach often leads to re-injury.

    Thanks to everyone for all of the help!
Sign In or Register to comment.