Monday, July 13, 2009

Is anyone else obsessed with McMillan's Running Calculator? I've been known to analyze the numbers, fantasizing about achieving the half and full marathon times that McMillan claims I could. Of course I realize that these are only estimates and depend on several factors, but I'd like to think there's some truth to the formula.

Anyone who has been paying attention will realize that my 5 and 10K times do not reflect my longer distance races. I'm working on it!

Naturally, I plugged in my latest 5K time less than 24 hours after the race. Let's see what McMillan had to say.

Who can ignore that (BQ!!!) 3:40 marathon? I don't remotely think it's a possibility any time in the near future, but it feels good to think that maybe, if I really worked for it, I could be capable of that.

oh man i love the pace/race time calculators. :) mine did the same thing to me for a couple years - kept telling me i was capable of a bq! took me a little while but i got there; i don't doubt you could too!

I find the pace calculators give me training paces that are REALLY slow for the long run. Both McMillan and RW Smart Coach say my long run should be at a 7:00+/km pace...if I did my long runs that slow, I'd be out there all day Saturday!

But of course...I can't help thinking, if I follow those paces, would I actually hit my marathon goal times?

i think these times are super helpful ballpark goals. i know for me keeping what i definitely should be able to do in my head helps me not make things too big of a "white whale" because i will get there eventually with training, hard work and a little luck :)

I got hung up on that for a long time too and it only ended up making me feel discouraged and that I somehow didn't measure up, that I was a slacker. While it may be a possibility to reach those numbers, what is it going to take to actually get there? That's not always explained and sometimes not possible to achieve based on life circumstances. Just keep doing what you're doing and I'm sure you will hit some of those numbers eventually.

I LOVE to obsess about the calculator too....but in my Marathon I quickly realized that two halfs don't make a full.. In other words, yes I am capable, but unless I can maximize my training for each distance I may not EVER reach the full potential that the calculator says I can. It is a GREAT goal and AMAZING to see those numbers.. With the right training plan and time it will happen. BQ for all :)

Ok, I am OBSESSED with these equivalent race time calculators--far more than I should be, really. I think I am naturally better at the shorter distances (5K and 10K) than half-marathon and marathon--because let's be honest, I haven't come close to my McMillan time at either distance yet. At the same time, though, I have also run a lot more shorter races than I have marathons, so maybe it will just take many more attempts and lots of training to get to that predicted time? Who knows. All I know is that I have a serious love/hate relationship with that silly calculator!

That being said, even if you don't BQ at your next marathon, I think with your work ethic and dedication, you will definitely make it happen someday ;)

It looks like you are super speedy! I think you can definitely get under 4 in a marathon and a possible BQ. I'm not sure how I feel the times transfer over, my times are similar to yours, but I haven't run a fully in shape marathon yet to compare!

My times are pretty accurate up through the HM, but supposedly I could run a marathon much faster than I did. I didn't do any speedwork before my marathon and did a pretty decent amount before my two sub-2 halves, so that may explain the big discrepancy.

I think you could definitely BQ if you keep up the work you've been doing!

I guess the thinking is that if you kept going with the same strength this is how fast you would finish. I tend to think that people that can pull a 3:40 marathon could probably pull a 1h30 half marathon if they really try hard and burn all that energy at once but that's not very scientific.

Every time I do one of those it says that I should have a super fast marathon but of the four marathons I've ran I'm nowhere close to what it projects. But you’re right it is nice to know what you could do.