Before you get too excited and think it's time for Run Rhaw tomorrow- I am away this weekend for a race hence the early email...
When it comes to training for a race of whatever distance, most people have a time goal which they set a few months out, such as a sub 3 hour marathon.
So if you are still several weeks away and perhaps half way through your training block - should you aim for target race pace, or your current race pace should you be racing it this weekend?
Ask many people and you'l get many different answers. Here's what I think;
Race pace is supposed to get your body feeling to how that pace feels, improve your efficiency at that pace, and help you train to fuel at that pace too. However you should only train at your race pace at the start/first half of the training block if this is realistic. If you have booked a spring marathon, it's likely your race pace would be too hard the first two weeks in January and you would push too hard, leaving you needing more recovery than you'd like...this will also leave you open to blowing up mid session.
I feel if you're in this camp at the start, you're better to go by race effort, which absolutely matters more at the start of a block.
In the second half and once you are getting into race specific workouts - this is here you should start to do race pace, or slightly faster.
If your race pace in a session is leaving you feeling destroyed rather than just worked, and you're unable to finish reps consistently, this is a sign you are pushing too hard.
This is the same when coming back from a period of time off, or injury. You need to train where you are today, not where you were 3 months ago, or where you hope to be in 12 weeks time.
I hope this helps. And also helps ease the pain of this session for those of you who start too fast...
Handily - this is a good session for those who start too fast - short fast efforts to begin with and a longer effort to finish. I hope to see you there.
If you're looking to get to your next finish line quicker - you can get in touch with me here - https://www.runrhaw.com/coaching