UKC

After I said I thought running was prone to causing joint problems and getting a bit of a slating from some of you on another thread I decided to give it ago again after many years of avoiding it. Glad to report no problems so far and I'm actually really enjoying it... I guess there's no point if you don't. I've even done a few triathlons now, including an Olympic distance triathlon.

Anyway, having missed out on a sub 3 hour time by 3 minutes (and wanting to remedy that) I'm just seeking some advice about pacing from those of you with more experience that I have. I'm pretty sure that with cycling if you don't push it when the going gets tough, your average speed takes a kicking and it seems disproportionally hard to get it back up again. It therefore seems quite important to get to the base of a climb with plenty of juice in the legs. Is this the same with running? Is it better to maintain a steady effort throughout and then to push on uphill sections or ease off on the hills and regain the lost time when the course is flatter, thereby maintaining a similar level of exertion throughout?

Just to add a bit of context... my 10K course is on paved surfaces and has a 1 km section at a pretty steady 5%. There are a few minor lumps and bumps elsewhere.

I have no idea about Triathlon (runner only) so this is likely unhelpful. I would hold some reserve for after the hills rather than killing yourself on these. It is too easy to enthusiastically blow up on the first few hills and do poorly thereafter. Of course it rather depends on the hill!

edit further to your context:

You will do well to do hill repeats in training for that kind of hill - sounds very runnable, but sustained 

Watch your HR.

I think push the hills a bit, no need to hit the actual pace but get close, and gain some, but not a lot, on the downs.

I ran 2:44 recently and ran 1:22 and 1:22 and the last half had all the hills. I just kept my HR at 141-147/148. If on a hill it went to 148 I backed off a bit but that normally kept me around 6:25 pace, then down the hills my HR could drop to 140 or so and I'd be running 6:05-6:10. 

Yeah, I have thought about this and might start watching it more closely whilst running. Thankfully, my HR is falling the more I get used to running. Despite being someone who does a lot of cycling (I don't hang around and there's lots of hill around here) it started off in the high 160s, which is my max (220 - age). I was quite surprising on this front, my HR only hits that on the most brutal of hill whilst cycling. It's now dropped to around 150, despite me getting quicker and I'm down to around 8:20 pace now from around 9:50 when I started. Maybe it's just a question of running more?... the Eddie Merckx approach to training... I've been quite amazed how quickly I've improved in just a few weeks, but want to improve more.

Pity there's not a swimming sub-forum as I'm properly rubbish at that! I can't do crawl in open water... I need a line on the floor to follow. 😄