How fast can I push myself in an 8k race?

Gunnersonny

Doing my first 8k Road Race on Saturday. Did an 8k in training last Friday to see how it would go. Did it in 36 mins. Had a heart rate monitor and kept myself around 157 bpm. I could push more but I'm new to using the monitor and dont want to burn out! I'm 38yr old male, 175 cm and 73 kg. I'm pretty fit and have progressed from the gym to the road in the past month. Any advice whats best to eat on the day of the race, how far I can push etc. would be much appreciated.

Cheers

messygirl

Hiya 36 minutes sounds really good to me, (but I am just a beginner) and maybe you could just up the ante in spurts, like I heard you run at your normal pace and then add in a few one minute sprints and just leg it for the last half k. Regarding what to eat I think its just carbohydrates like brown pasta and chicken, not a lot of protein or white "bad" carbs, and be well hydrated. I heard bananas help as well. I read that you should practice your eating before the day of the race, like test different foods and see if they make you cramp or react differently. Afraid I can't offer any other advice, best of luck!

shels4ever

Gunnersonny wrote: »

Doing my first 8k Road Race on Saturday. Did an 8k in training last Friday to see how it would go. Did it in 36 mins. Had a heart rate monitor and kept myself around 157 bpm. I could push more but I'm new to using the monitor and dont want to burn out! I'm 38yr old male, 175 cm and 73 kg. I'm pretty fit and have progressed from the gym to the road in the past month. Any advice whats best to eat on the day of the race, how far I can push etc. would be much appreciated.

Cheers

How did yuo find the 8k in 36 mins would you have been able to run further? I'd advise to start at around the same pace and if your feeling good at 4k then increase the pace a little, better to finish strong then to go out too hard.

Spiritoftheseventies

Gunnersonny wrote: »

Doing my first 8k Road Race on Saturday. Did an 8k in training last Friday to see how it would go. Did it in 36 mins. Had a heart rate monitor and kept myself around 157 bpm. I could push more but I'm new to using the monitor and dont want to burn out! I'm 38yr old male, 175 cm and 73 kg. I'm pretty fit and have progressed from the gym to the road in the past month. Any advice whats best to eat on the day of the race, how far I can push etc. would be much appreciated.

Cheers

just an observation but always find it useful to find someone in race who is running at the right pace for you. you should know if they are either too slow or too fast. Do you start out fast or slow as a rule?

cfitz

Gunnersonny wrote: »

Doing my first 8k Road Race on Saturday. Did an 8k in training last Friday to see how it would go. Did it in 36 mins. Had a heart rate monitor and kept myself around 157 bpm. I could push more but I'm new to using the monitor and dont want to burn out! I'm 38yr old male, 175 cm and 73 kg. I'm pretty fit and have progressed from the gym to the road in the past month. Any advice whats best to eat on the day of the race, how far I can push etc. would be much appreciated.

Cheers

My advice would be to not wear the heart rate monitor or any kind of watch in the race. Be very cautious at the start of the race because the excitement of a race situation is likely to make you push harder than you can sustain for 8km. After the first few minutes have passed, start to push on through the field very gradually and patiently. In the second half of the race, it's likely to hurt bad, but that's not an excuse to slow down - just suffer through it and see how many more people you can catch and what time you finish up with.

You're unlikely to run your perfect race the first day out - don't worry about it, you can only really learn by experience. Just make sure you don't leave any effort to spare, it's no use to you once the race is over.

Spiritoftheseventies

cfitz wrote: »

My advice would be to not wear the heart rate monitor or any kind of watch in the race. Be very cautious at the start of the race because the excitement of a race situation is likely to make you push harder than you can sustain for 8km. After the first few minutes have passed, start to push on through the field very gradually and patiently. In the second half of the race, it's likely to hurt bad, but that's not an excuse to slow down - just suffer through it and see how many more people you can catch and what time you finish up with.

You're unlikely to run your perfect race the first day out - don't worry about it, you can only really learn by experience. Just make sure you don't leave any effort to spare, it's no use to you once the race is over.

yes agree with last poster. a lot of traffic to get through in first few k's. but dont go out all guns blazing. its a marathon not a sprint as they say.

ecoli

messygirl wrote: »

Hiya 36 minutes sounds really good to me, (but I am just a beginner) and maybe you could just up the ante in spurts, like I heard you run at your normal pace and then add in a few one minute sprints and just leg it for the last half k. Regarding what to eat I think its just carbohydrates like brown pasta and chicken, not a lot of protein or white "bad" carbs, and be well hydrated. I heard bananas help as well. I read that you should practice your eating before the day of the race, like test different foods and see if they make you cramp or react differently. Afraid I can't offer any other advice, best of luck!

I would advise against this as all it will do is increase the development of lactate in the legs quicker which is going to make you hurt in the latter stages of the race. my best advise stick at the pace you know is steady but maintainable (perhaps your 36 min pace) for 5k after this possibly start pick targets in the race to go after. I usually take these as the person ahead of me and work past them one by one. If you have energy left then go all out in the last couple of hundred metres in the race. Best of luck with it and remember the main thing is about enjoying it

Gunnersonny

Cheers for that. Seems sensible approach. 3k of a bit extra effort will be enough for me on the first race.

OuterBombie

The only real way to learn how hard you can push it (you asked!) is to go for it.

Ask yourself, during the last 3k of this 36min training run, did you think you were about to puke? were your legs burning so bad you wanted to stop more than anything else? was your body willing you to ease up but your mind saying no, keep going? did you collapse over the end line and take at least a least a couple of minutes before you could stick a sentence together?

If you answered no, then yes you can go faster. I would take all the advice from above and get out there and go for it, don't worry about the clock till you cross the finish line. It is a race after all :cool:

Doesn't have to feel good, to do good. Enjoy!

Gunnersonny

Thanks Paul O' Connell !!

Gunnersonny

An update guys. Thanks for the replies. took a little bit of all your coments on board. Did the 8k in 35.03. Really enjoyed it. Had the heart monitor on and was up around 170 all the way. Thought that was supposed to kill me! Gettin ready for the next one now

rainbow kirby

Congrats

ecoli

well done. I think that you have got the running bug fair play keep up the good work