08.21.2019 Wild'N'Wet Wednesday

We have the same humidity here.  I think today was the muggiest weather I have run in all year.  It felt like running through a mister.  

I started on my 12-mile run at 5:15 AM this morning.   This time last year I was doing this type of runs at my 70.3 run race pace.  Today I hit the run at about 20 sec/mile slower.  I have been doing lower intensity by longer duration runs.  I have to pace my self to get through the full week's training so I have slowed everything down.  

Hmm?  Pacing?  I am not expert on this.  I have miss paced my fair share of races and I tend to learn how fast I can go based on what didn't work in the past.  

If your fastest 7 mile training runs are at 7:35 min/mi pace then I am guessing that is going to be about where you want you 13.1 run pace to be at for a 70.3 race.  I personally pay attention to my breathing and legs on the run. I run until my breathing starts to get heavy then I slow it down just enough to keep my breathing from getting heavy again.  As for the legs I just want to keep them relaxed and feeling like they are fast but never having to strain or get any burn in them.  

For a 70.3 bike leg you should be 80-85% FTP.  If you can get you FTP on your bike trainer or have a power meter you can work those efforts in training to see how they feel.  I also follow the Heart Rate.  My bike HR is 125-130 BPM.  I don't remember what % that comes out to but I ride by HR outdoors and practice long intervals.  On the indoor trainer, my hard intervals can get up to 140 BPM (i.e. the last of 6x on 120% FTP).   

So....bike pace about 10 BPM under what you max out at on hard VO2max intervals and on the run close to you 7-mile fast work outpace.  Give or take a little but that is a starting point to play with in workouts.