What would you do...?

ike

Firstly apologies if I don't phrase this correctly... anyway without getting too serious, I'd be curious to know peoples thoughts on the following and it's probably more relevant to the longer distances particularly the marathon.

OK lets say you've trained for a 3:15 marathon and the training has gone well you've done the miles hit the long runs, did the speed work etc. On the day your feeling really good and I mean really good so you ignore the 3:15 pace and say feck it, this is going really well and your on for a 3:05 or better, do you

A) continue knowing the wall could be hit at any minute and you do and you end up with a 3:30 but knowing you came close to a REALLY good time

or

do you pull back and hit your 3:15 target and bet left wondering whether you could have done better.

Ok I realise there's a lot of what ifs, buts and maybe's but on a high level I'd like to hear your thoughts

Personally I think I'd always opt for option A if it was feeling right on the day and take the risk, the idea of hitting 20-22 miles way ahead of target on race would probably be a huge motivator for next time.

(btw this post in no way reflects my strategy or current target times! )

ultraman1

option A...

Peckham

Assuming that all the speedwork, PMP, tune-up races have been done to 3:15 pace, then this is what I'd stick with. I'd be too worried about hitting the wall by going at a pace too fast relative to my training.

Maybe see how I'm feeling at mile 18 or 20 and try to get close to 3:10, but no faster than that.

On the day you should feel really good anyway, i.e. that your target pace feels way too easy during the first half of the race.

shels4ever

B for me, A marathon is always going to be planned and trained for. I'm ever feeling good at 20 miles i'll giver it a lash.
But for shorter races it's aways option a would never run a 5k-10k with plannned pace it'd always race and run hard if i felt good.

scottreynolds

c. Run till 15 miles at the PMP pace then pick it up if all is going well...

But it really all depends would you be shattered with a 3:30, 3:45 or would you still be okay. I mean 3:15 is awesome but if you would be horrified with 3:30 then do 3:15 and then pick up your 3:00 next time with more training.

tunguska

Option A. The what ifs will kill you, at least this way you'll get to find out what youre made of.
Have a plan of course, but on the day if youre feeling good, go for it.

Although option (c) as detailed by scottreynolds, looks like a pretty smart approach.

RJC

I have had both experiences.

Went out for a 3:30 - felt great and came home with a 3:20 (it was a 3:16 with 3 miles to go so the 'felt great' only applied to the first 18 miles).

Earlier this year I went out for a 3:15 and got whacked so badly I ended up on a drip and a 3:41. (The GP says it was a virus).

Still,

the regrets will eat you up so I'd go for option A

Krusty_Clown

C. Run to 15 miles, at pmp. Then pick it up, for the next 5 miles. Then pick it up again, for the next five. Then run like hell, for the last mile. Then crawl for the last 385 yards.