Groups and Training Paces

Hi y’all,

Apologies up front. This is just plain LONG.  They will all be long for a bit…as we get all of the information out to everyone on how this will all go down!  But before you stop reading or delete…I need those that didn’t run Magic Mile to send me some info!

But first, BIG PROPS to all of you that came out on Saturday to run the Magic Mile!  Amazing!  It’s awful, isn’t it?!?  I didn’t run, but I was a little nauseated for y’all!  It was SOOOOOO hot out there and there were still some big ol’ PRs on Saturday. I had a few people asking about their times from last year…so if you didn’t keep track and wanna know, send me an email and I’ll send it to you.  A mere 5 second increase is a huge improvement…and there were some that had 30-60 second improvements over last year.  That’s just nuts.

What does this Magic Mile time tell you?  All sorts of good information.  For one, it predicts your Half and Full Marathon times. While it is a calculation…it still gives a pretty good indicator of what you’re capable of.  It also gives you the different training paces for runs we will be doing.  I’ve posted the link for the different Magic Mile times here: https://goparr.com/training-paces/   – so you can use your Magic Mile time (or if you have another race time) and use this chart to determine YOUR different paces. Go to the closest time to your MM and then read across for the different times (legend at the bottom of the page). I highly suggest writing these times down and keeping with you so you always know your different target paces. You will be doing all sorts of different runs during the season at these training paces.  For example, let’s say your MM time is 8:40 and Ric says to run your FM+1 pace.  You would target a 12:15 pace (FM is 11:15 and +1 means add a minute to that pace).

Forming Pace Groups We are going to be splitting up into pace groups for the rest of the season.  The groups will be determined by your Magic Mile time, a previous half or full time or your predicted race time…or the group you prefer to run in! We just highly recommend that you stick to your pace group or a slower one to avoid injury. If you are on the border of two groups, then you can pick which group you want to be in that best fits your goal.  Some people are more focused on finishing and just enjoying the runs.  Others want to be pushed every week.  It’s YOUR thing…so make it what you want it to be. If you ran your Magic Mile, then I have the pace group we would put you in and you don’t need to send me anything!

No Magic Mile for you? Then you tell what group you need to be in. If you ran the Magic Mile on your own, please send me your time as soon as you can.  If you didn’t run the Magic Mile and have no intention of running it, then I need to get some information from you to get you in the right group and connected to your group leader. Use a previous 5K, 10K or Half-Marathon or Full-Marathon time and determine which group you need to be in and let me know so I get you in the right spot!  And last resort if you have neither of those…your predicted HM or FM time (if you’re doing this one…I HIGHLY recommend you go out and run the Magic Mile to make sure you’re in the realistic ballpark!)

You can use one of the criteria in the groups below to best determine which group you should be in.

FULL MARATHON GROUPS

BLUE (intervals) / WHITE (running straight through): – Magic Mile:  < 8:00, Half Marathon < 2:10, Full Marathon < 4:30

GREY – Magic Mile 8:00 – 9:00 Half Marathon: 2:10 – 2:30 Full Marathon: 4:30 – 5:15

RED – Magic Mile: > 9:00 Half Marathon: > 2:30 Full Marathon: > 5:15

HALF MARATHON GROUPS

ORANGE – Magic Mile: < 8:00, Half Marathon: < 2:10

YELLOW – Magic Mile: 8:00 – 9:00, Half Marathon: 2:10 – 2:25

PURPLE – Magic Mile: 9:00 – 10:00, Half Marathon: 2:25 – 2:45

GREEN – Magic Mile: > 10:00, Half Marathon: > 2:45

OK, all for now. Please don’t hesitate to send me a note if you have any questions.  This is a lot of information.  I’m going to be getting this and additional information on the website and will let y’all know on Thursday when I send the Saturday run information.  Buzz kill: Another email AND we start Saturday Hill work this week.  I’ll have the groups up on the website by Friday…so don’t forget to send me your times and/or group placements if you didn’t run Saturday!  We’re planning to run with our groups starting this week.  Don’t be left out. Because if you think I can write a long email…wait til I start bugging you for this information!  You ain’t seen nothing yet 🙂

Have a great week,

Aimee