Tag Archives: McMillan calculator

Training – part two

Started back on the training yesterday with a slow run out around to Balaena Bay from Queen’s Wharf then back via the hill and Oriental Bay. Took around 45 minutes with a friend from work to cover the 8km. Went out alone today and ran a slow five minutes followed by a quick 10, repeated, then finished with another slow five. All in all running for 35 minutes, covering slightly over 7km.

The waterfront route that I usually run has a few leftover kilometre markers so I was able to time a kilometre today at the faster pace. On the way out and back I ran it about 4:20. Translated using the McMillan running calculator makes that pretty much a 1:30 400m. I’ll use that as the basis for some of the speed training I’m doing in the weeks ahead.

For the training I’m basing it on the Runners World programme, starting at week 4 of the intermediate programme. Expect I’ll be running slightly more than the distances in the programme but will stick to the overall shape.

Steady state

Had a good longish run out to Greta Point and back covering 10km in under 50 minutes – the fastest 10km I’ve done since before my son was born. Back then I managed 46 minutes on a slow undulating course in Berlin (coming second in my age group! First place ran about 40 minutes, third place was a pacesetter for some local teenagers and dropped out, and that was the size of the field in the 30 to 39s), and a 45:16 at Victoria Park in London.

If I put 45 minutes into the McMillan calculator it estimates that I can do a half-marathon in 1:40:08. So maybe something around the 1:45 mark isn’t totally out of the question… Noticed on the race info page that there’ll be pace-setters running the half at 1:40 and 1:50 pace, and a few others, but no 1:45.

Today’s run: 10km, 49 minutes

Northland shops

Took a long slow run round the back way and up to the Northand shops, over the top of the ridge and down through Thorndon. Back along the key and up Old Porirua Rd.

A friend in the UK was in touch to stress that I need hill running and a weekly long long run so today’s run covered at least the hilly angle and is a good starter for building up to 1.5 to 2 hour runs. He also sent through a link to the McMillan running calculator, that lets you input a sample time and it’ll work out optimal times for all distances as well as different training paces.

Based on the 50 minute 10km I ran earlier this week, the calculator thinks I should be able to run a half-marathon in 1:51:16. Something to aim for at least; certainly want to be under 2 hours and the closer to 1:45 the better. Here’s the full race times and training pace summary:

Today’s run: 13.5km, 78 mins