Trouble going long… help? (Page 2)

Hey Scott,

One thing you had mentioned to me a week or so before was that you felt tired / worn out, which surprised me at the time, but now I wonder if it was also a clue as to your performance.  I think the comparison of your last long run to the race is really interesting... your training run had a faster pace, lower heart rate and, while you slowed down, you didn't "bonk".  So, while I think you probably would have been better served going out a little slower in the race, maybe the question should be why weren't you able to speed up to around a 9 min/mile pace or at least maintain 9:15 (which I would have thought you'd be able to hit on race day)?  What was different about race day compared to your long training run?  Or maybe the week or two leading up to race day?  Different eating / sleeping?  Maybe stress (thinking of elevated heart rate)? 

Just a couple of thoughts from a very non-expert and again, bummed you didn't nail it, but I'm impressed with your desire to learn from it.  Maybe something else going on.  Oh, btw, I wouldn't compare this with the Ironman performance... I'm betting that run issue was more from lack of training on the bike (I had similar issue on my first HIM... sounded awfully familiar).

Stu

Pacing issue

What I'd suggest doing is what I worked on in 2009. I would do my long runs with goal pace for each mile and overall goal to make each mile faster than last one which meant starting out what felt ridiculously slow. I found it to be a fun game to play and made my long runs more mentally engaging. I got so I would be within 3-5 seconds of goal pace set by my coach each mile.

Come IM day it helped...I had bonked or come close to bonking on the bike as I had been throwing up for 4 hours. Off the bike I was determined to get calories and fluid in. My fastest miles were last 3 of IM run and first and second half run splits were within 7 minutes.  I am not fast but all those long runs forcing myself to slow down first miles really paid off.

No thread would be complete without Kathy's input.  Three years of being mostly a BT lurker thought me that. 

Those 'games' might be helpful to keep it interesting. Looking forward to trying them. 

I had a VO2 Max test done back in 2009. Can't seem to find all the info and test results but have attached what I have right now... but I had the same thought about my HR being high on runs. Figured it was just me running too hard.

Scott,

I plugged your max HR into the attached table. The HR zones are configured according to Friel’s HR zones. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 Sue

probably will need to see this image in my profile till I can make it bigger.

Pacing issue

What I'd suggest doing is what I worked on in 2009. I would do my long runs with goal pace for each mile and overall goal to make each mile faster than last one which meant starting out what felt ridiculously slow. I found it to be a fun game to play and made my long runs more mentally engaging. I got so I would be within 3-5 seconds of goal pace set by my coach each mile.

Come IM day it helped...I had bonked or come close to bonking on the bike as I had been throwing up for 4 hours. Off the bike I was determined to get calories and fluid in. My fastest miles were last 3 of IM run and first and second half run splits were within 7 minutes.  I am not fast but all those long runs forcing myself to slow down first miles really paid off.