Downhill marathon pacing

Quoted message said:

Thanks for any intelligent comments...

You're screwed.

(Jim) said:

I will be running a largely downhill marathon in 2 weeks. The first
18 miles are downhill (1-2% grade) and the last 8 miles are flat or
slightly uphill. My goal is to run a 3:35 race (about 8:13/mile).
Should I run the downhill section faster (say 8:00 min pace) in hopes
of banking some time for the last 8 miles? Or should I try to run an
even pace over the entire course?

Thanks for any intelligent comments...

Judging by your email address, you must be doing the Top of Utah
Marathon. The course drops approximately 1045 ft, which is similar to one
I'll be doing with a drop of 955 ft. Here's my take. Normally you would
want to go with a consistent effort. However, you have to take into
account your quads getting a bit beat up from all the downhill running.
This could take a toll in the late stages of the race. But maybe it won't
matter with a 1-2% grade. I think that an 8:00/mi pace during the
downhill is probably conservative enough to not be too stressful. I would
take the first 5 miles a little slower than that.

Phil M.

--
"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make
them all yourself." ­Martin Vanbee

"Jim" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I will be running a largely downhill marathon in 2 weeks. The first
18 miles are downhill (1-2% grade) and the last 8 miles are flat or
slightly uphill. My goal is to run a 3:35 race (about 8:13/mile).
Should I run the downhill section faster (say 8:00 min pace) in hopes
of banking some time for the last 8 miles? Or should I try to run an
even pace over the entire course?

Thanks for any intelligent comments...

Intelligent comment - you had best be doing some long down hill runs in
preparation.!!! 18 miles of down is much Boston and can be a quad
crusher for the unaware. As for pace in a race like this, your strategy
seems sound (8:00 to 8:05).

-DF

Quoted message said:

Judging by your email a

See? You're screwed.

9-11 forget it, it's over. Who cares? Nobody.

LOLOL Imagine Doug Freese answering a thread where he specifically asked for
intelligent responses LOLOLOL

9-11 forget it, it's over. Who cares? Nobody.

Phil M. said:

Judging by your email address, you must be doing the Top of Utah
Marathon. The course drops approximately 1045 ft, which is similar to one
I'll be doing with a drop of 955 ft. Here's my take. Normally you would
want to go with a consistent effort. However, you have to take into
account your quads getting a bit beat up from all the downhill running.
This could take a toll in the late stages of the race. But maybe it won't
matter with a 1-2% grade. I think that an 8:00/mi pace during the
downhill is probably conservative enough to not be too stressful. I would
take the first 5 miles a little slower than that.

Having run on courses with similar grades, I think you'd usually expect to
be about 5-10 seconds fast on a downhill mile Wouldn't want to try for much
faster than this. You can usually get a few seconds per mile back towards the
end of the race if you're still in good shape, so going out a little cautiously
doesn't hurt.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/