FINDING THE RIGHT PACE

There are three established ways of determining the right running pace:

1) Orientation according to one's sense of personal well-being (for beginners)

Please note: Beginners include not only complete beginners, but also all those who have not yet achieved 60 minutes uninterrupted at a slow jog.

For beginners running up to 60 minutes at a time, personal well-being is the main criterion, i.e. you should feel good/OK during the entire jog and be able to chat comfortably with no breathing problems. If in doubt, run a bit more slowly. This does not mean that you should always run at the same pace. If you can already run for 30 minutes, you can run a little faster than usual once a week - even at this faster running pace you should still feel OK and be able to hold a conversation.

2) Orientation according to one's maximum heart rate

The problem is finding your maximum heart rate, as it can vary widely and a general estimate like "maximum pulse = 220 minus your age in years" is only accurate in 30% of cases. For the other 70%, this formula should not be used.

The only way to really get your maximum heart rate is to measure it at the end of a competitive run over a distance of 3000 - 5000 metres. Why? The only time you give it your all is during competition.

If the only way you can measure your maximum heart rate is during a training session, follow the following plan: do a warm-up run for 15 minutes, followed by a 10-minute pause for exercises. Then run at full power for about 3000 meters (as if it were a competition). Try not to slow down at the end, as this will cause the heart rate to decrease again. The heart rate you achieve during the last few meters of this 3000 m test run is your maximum heart rate.

You can now set your running pace along heart rate zones which are calculated as percentages of your maximum heart rate.

The slow run: 65-70% of the max. heart rate
The relaxed run: approx. 75%
The medium slow run: approx. 80%
The intensive run: approx. 85%
The faster run: approx. 90%
Fast runs according to difficulty: 90-95%

3) Orientation according to the maximum 10 km running pace

Runners with a goal will need the maximum 10 km pace (or the correctly determined pulse) to determine the level of strain for each workout. If you want to compete in competitions and train effectively, this is something you can't do without.

If you are able to run for 60 minutes at a slow jog, then you should take part in a 10 km competitive run to find out your personal 10 km max pace. Alternatively, you could run the 10 km flat out in a training session. The following instructions will helpo:

If you have not yet participated in a 10 km competitive run, you should schedule a hard 10 km training run. Plan for a 10-15 min. warm-up, followed by a 1- min. pause for exercises. Then run 10 km at full speed, just like you would in a competition. Beginners usually have trouble finding the correct initial pace. If you run too quickly at the start of the race, your pace will drop off and your finishing time will not be representative of your ability, as regulating your pace results in faster times. In this case, you can take off approx. 90-120 seconds, because you would probably have run the 10 km more quickly in a proper competition.

Example:

You finish the 10 km in 57 min. in the training test run. You assume a competition time of 55 min., which means that you have a maximum 10 km running pace of 5:30 min./km. Correspondingly, your slow jog would be 100 seconds slower, i.e. about 7:10 min./km.