Race Pace

What is L2/L3? What training plan is this?

The tests are workouts. And hard ones at that, so you'll want to be ready to execute them well.

I had the same question when i did my first Marathon 7-8 years ago.  I had a running group that I would do long runs with on Saturday mornings and track workouts on Tuesday evenings.   By the end of the 4 month training I had completed runs that we longer than my goal time for the Marathon (but less miles since I was running slower) but hadn't felt that the training program had done anything to help me with race day pacing.  Some guys in the group had done 20+ marathons so I felt the physical training was adequate the no the mental preparation.  About everyone agreed that pacing was the key to a good Marathon but group work ever covered pacing so I was pretty lost standing on the stating line not really knowing what to expect or what my race strategy was.  

I had to learn to pace by feel based on experience from other races.  In the last two months since I started triathlon training I have learned a little about heart-rate zones/levels.  In 30 years of running I never had hear of those.  I also have learned a little bit about heart rate monitoring to pace yourself in races.  This is also something that I had never heard of in 30 years of running. For the longer races that are three hours plus, these heart rate zones and heart rate pace monitoring are important because your body has to effectively use multiple sources or energy to preform at a high level from over about 2-1/2 hours.  It also has to refuel itself to sustain high intensity activity more than about 2-1/2 hours.  Training these heart rate levels and pacing to stay in the correct heart rate level on race day are crucial or you will "bonk" and not be able to keep going at a "race pace" (i.e. you will feel weak and zapped or energy and have to walk rather than run so that you don't collapse on the course).  

Races under about 2-1/2 hours you can train for and compete it with out knowing anything about heart-rate levels or pacing by heart monitor etc. (At least I did for 30 years).  It seams all the Triathlon plans are set up with these heart rate levels but I feel they can be confusing if you are training for a Sprint Triathlon.  Pacing for shorter races you just need to see how fast you can go without getting fatigued.  For running you typically do a time trial (as outlines in your training program).  You can do a one mile time trial on the track.  This would not be a race, just think of it as speed work.  Instead of doing 10 x 200m like a typical speed work out might be, you do 1 x 1600 meters.  If you can do two repeats at the same speed, then you have gone too slow.  You need to go as fast as you can at a stead pace for one time.  You also can do a 5K road race (this would be a race effort as fast as you can go).  If you use the 1 mile time trial  add 35 seconds to the per/mile pace and it should be pretty close to your 5K race pace.  For your 5K triathlon pace add another  15 seconds to your 5K per/mile race pace to account for fatigue after swimming 500m and cycling 12.5 miles.  

Do the swim and cycling time trial when you are rested.  You want a fresh legs trial for those. Don't do the time trial when you are fatigued.  I don't have a background in Swimming and Cycling so I can tell you how to make adjustments from the time trial to the race pace, but I was assume for a 500m triathlon swim that you would only have to add about 5 seconds to you per/100m time trial time at 200m (i.e. if your 200m swim is 4 minutes then your pace is 2:00 min/100m and on race day you might pace yourself at 2:05 min/100 meters to complete the 500m swim).  On the bike I personally can go any faster pace over an 8 mile course than I can a 12 mile course.  Biking paces are not that useful though since the same 8 mile will be a different pace on a course with lots of hills verses a flat course, a rough road surface versus a smooth one, windy verse no wind etc.  The bike is where a heart rate monitor might make scene on a short course.  Time the time trail as fast as you can and see where you average and maximum heart rates are.  On the 12 mile triathlon course your race pace (after fatigue from the swim) should probably be limited to about 90% of what your max was in the time trial and for pacing you will want to keep close to your average Heart-rate from the 8 mile time trial.

Hopefully this will help you come up with a "race Pace" and form a race strategy so you won't be standing outside the swim start on race day wonder how to pace yourself like I was 8 years ago starting my first Marathon.