Numbers, Stats & Post-Race Analysis from Berlin
Here are the some of the stats that I recorded from Berlin from my GPS/HRM traces.
Skate Numbers
Average HR (from 2.5km): 167
1st half: 43:36
2nd half: 44:38
KM splits ********** Lap Distance Time Pace GAP Elev HR
1 1.0 km 9:56 9:56 /km 9:56 /km 1 m 120 bpm 2 1.0 km 1:54 1:54 /km 1:57 /km -6 m 95 bpm 3 1.0 km 1:55 1:55 /km 1:53 /km 4 m 140 bpm 4 1.0 km 1:54 1:54 /km 1:53 /km 0 m 171 bpm 5 1.0 km 1:51 1:51 /km 1:51 /km 1 m 178 bpm 6 1.0 km 1:45 1:45 /km 1:46 /km -2 m 182 bpm 7 1.0 km 2:00 2:00 /km 2:02 /km -2 m 179 bpm 8 1.0 km 1:54 1:54 /km 1:52 /km 5 m 174 bpm 9 1.0 km 1:59 1:59 /km 1:58 /km 4 m 176 bpm 10 1.0 km 2:02 2:02 /km 2:02 /km 0 m 177 bpm 11 1.0 km 2:01 2:01 /km 2:03 /km -2 m 175 bpm 12 1.0 km 1:55 1:55 /km 1:53 /km 1 m 174 bpm 13 1.0 km 2:04 2:04 /km 2:07 /km -6 m 173 bpm 14 1.0 km 2:12 2:12 /km 2:11 /km 1 m 172 bpm 15 1.0 km 2:11 2:11 /km 2:11 /km 1 m 170 bpm 16 1.0 km 2:07 2:07 /km 2:05 /km 7 m 169 bpm 17 1.0 km 2:04 2:04 /km 2:04 /km 0 m 170 bpm 18 1.0 km 2:06 2:06 /km 2:07 /km -2 m 169 bpm 19 1.0 km 2:05 2:05 /km 2:05 /km 1 m 169 bpm 20 1.0 km 2:12 2:12 /km 2:12 /km 3 m 161 bpm 21 1.0 km 2:08 2:08 /km 2:12 /km -6 m 156 bpm 22 1.0 km 2:09 2:09 /km 2:07 /km 5 m 168 bpm 23 1.0 km 2:12 2:12 /km 2:10 /km 5 m 168 bpm 24 1.0 km 2:09 2:09 /km 2:11 /km -4 m 166 bpm 25 1.0 km 2:17 2:17 /km 2:15 /km 2 m 166 bpm 26 1.0 km 2:21 2:21 /km 2:18 /km 5 m 168 bpm 27 1.0 km 2:05 2:05 /km 2:07 /km 0 m 161 bpm 28 1.0 km 2:23 2:23 /km 2:24 /km -1 m 161 bpm 29 1.0 km 2:14 2:14 /km 2:12 /km 6 m 171 bpm 30 1.0 km 2:04 2:04 /km 2:06 /km -3 m 166 bpm 31 1.0 km 1:45 1:45 /km 1:47 /km -4 m 167 bpm 32 1.0 km 2:03 2:03 /km 2:03 /km 0 m 161 bpm 33 1.0 km 1:49 1:49 /km 1:51 /km -4 m 160 bpm 34 1.0 km 1:50 1:50 /km 1:51 /km -4 m 154 bpm 35 1.0 km 1:54 1:54 /km 1:53 /km 4 m 166 bpm 36 1.0 km 2:00 2:00 /km 1:59 /km 1 m 166 bpm 37 1.0 km 2:06 2:06 /km 2:09 /km -7 m 161 bpm 38 1.0 km 2:06 2:06 /km 2:07 /km -1 m 159 bpm 39 1.0 km 1:57 1:57 /km 1:50 /km 4 m 159 bpm 40 1.0 km 2:06 2:06 /km 2:00 /km 12 m 157 bpm 41 1.0 km 2:06 2:06 /km 2:12 /km -12 m 163 bpm 42 1.0 km 2:06 2:06 /km 2:07 /km 0 m 155 bpm 43 1.0 km 2:06 2:06 /km 2:08 /km -2 m 170 bpm 44 0.1 km 1:05 8:50 /km 9:13 /km -1 m 159 bpm
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The first thing to say is that I believe that there’s a great value to *racing* with your HRM. Some athletes who regularly rely on their HRMs in training don’t like to use it on race-day. Why?? While I am do believe in the old saying that “Racing is not Training” and there are differences which you should be aware of, I think that to do a whole race and then have this sort of biometric feedback to review can help anyone to understand how and why they performed the way that we did.
Looking at my at KM splits, it becomes clear that (once again) I set off too fast – look at my heart rate between 4km – 7km: 171, 178, 182(!) & 179. 6km could well have been the tipping point that defined the whole race for me ; this was the fastest km of the whole race, covered in just 1m:45s at an average heart rate of 182 (max of 184). That is about 92-93% of my (skating) maxHR, and well above my Lactate Threshold – which for me is around 170-174. Some bursts of intensity are to be expected, but it’s not good to be redlining at such an early stage of the race, and clearly I wasn’t going to sustain that intensity for too long.
What did we learn?
– Optimal pacing early on is still the key to a having a good race in Berlin. If you want to PR, it’s a knife-edge balancing act to get right between clinging onto the fastest paceline you can while still staying within operating range, or overcooking it and having to slow to allow the lactate levels to drop.
– I probably didn’t inject enough intensity into my skate training, considering I was only doing 3-4hrs a week leading up to the race. I averaged 140-150bpm in Training, and rarely if ever hit 170+. It’s all well and good having great base fitness, but you also need to work the tempo and threshold zones if you are going to be hammering it in these zones in a race situation. In hindsight, it would probably have been a very good idea to do some LT sets in training – eg 20min @ 175bpm.
– I should have done more warm-up. Despite doing two lengths of the new warm-up stretch, this was probably not enough, and I should have done 3 or 4. The key here will be to not hang around the bag drop area in future and instead make use of the warm-up area as soon as they allow. I’m positive that one of the reasons I did better in Copenhagen was that I had already done the half-marathon as a warm-up in the morning.
The kilometer that killed me – 1:45/km pace @ 182bpm.
Run Numbers
Here’s my GPS/HRM data from the run:
Average Heart Rate: 163bpm
1st half: 1:56:55
2nd half: 2:02:15
KM Splits ---------- Lap Distance Time Pace GAP Elev HR 1 1.0 km 5:54 5:54 /km 5:54 /km -1 m 142 bpm 2 1.0 km 5:31 5:31 /km 5:36 /km -4 m 161 bpm 3 1.0 km 5:37 5:37 /km 5:33 /km 3 m 161 bpm 4 1.0 km 5:34 5:34 /km 5:29 /km 2 m 160 bpm 5 1.0 km 5:29 5:29 /km 5:31 /km -1 m 161 bpm 6 1.0 km 5:47 5:47 /km 5:49 /km -2 m 159 bpm 7 1.0 km 5:36 5:36 /km 5:38 /km -2 m 160 bpm 8 1.0 km 5:22 5:22 /km 5:15 /km 5 m 164 bpm 9 1.0 km 5:27 5:27 /km 5:21 /km 4 m 164 bpm 10 1.0 km 5:25 5:25 /km 5:26 /km -1 m 164 bpm 11 1.0 km 5:19 5:19 /km 5:18 /km 0 m 163 bpm 12 1.0 km 5:20 5:20 /km 5:11 /km 0 m 164 bpm 13 1.0 km 5:28 5:28 /km 5:36 /km -6 m 163 bpm 14 1.0 km 5:20 5:20 /km 5:17 /km 2 m 165 bpm 15 1.0 km 5:17 5:17 /km 5:14 /km 3 m 163 bpm 16 1.0 km 5:17 5:17 /km 5:17 /km 0 m 164 bpm 17 1.0 km 5:23 5:23 /km 5:19 /km 3 m 164 bpm 18 1.0 km 5:28 5:28 /km 5:29 /km -1 m 164 bpm 19 1.0 km 5:24 5:24 /km 5:25 /km -2 m 163 bpm 20 1.0 km 5:15 5:15 /km 5:14 /km 1 m 164 bpm 21 1.0 km 5:23 5:23 /km 5:25 /km -2 m 164 bpm 22 1.0 km 5:19 5:19 /km 5:17 /km -1 m 167 bpm 23 1.0 km 5:29 5:29 /km 5:23 /km 4 m 168 bpm 24 1.0 km 5:30 5:30 /km 5:25 /km 4 m 167 bpm 25 1.0 km 5:20 5:20 /km 5:19 /km 0 m 168 bpm 26 1.0 km 5:29 5:29 /km 5:28 /km 0 m 167 bpm 27 1.0 km 5:41 5:41 /km 5:38 /km 2 m 166 bpm 28 1.0 km 5:51 5:51 /km 5:49 /km 1 m 167 bpm 29 1.0 km 5:48 5:48 /km 5:46 /km 3 m 165 bpm 30 1.0 km 5:47 5:47 /km 5:49 /km -2 m 165 bpm 31 1.0 km 5:58 5:58 /km 6:05 /km -5 m 162 bpm 32 1.0 km 5:48 5:48 /km 5:44 /km 2 m 164 bpm 33 0.7 km 3:43 5:25 /km 5:20 /km 1 m 166 bpm
Unfortunately my iPhone battery died after 33km, so I don’t have the 9-10km, but I think it was essentially the same at around the mid-160 for the remainder of the distance.
Compared to skating, I seem to have paced the run ideally, looking at my progress every 5km:
Split time of day time diff min/km km/h 5 km 09:43:17 00:28:26 28:26 05:42 10.55 10 km 10:11:10 00:56:20 27:54 05:35 10.76 15 km 10:38:23 01:23:32 27:12 05:27 11.03 20 km 11:05:44 01:50:54 27:22 05:29 10.97 Halb 11:11:46 01:56:55 06:01 05:30 10.93 25 km 11:33:28 02:18:38 21:43 05:34 10.79 30 km 12:02:36 02:47:46 29:08 05:50 10.30 35 km 12:31:08 03:16:17 28:31 05:43 10.52 40 km 13:01:04 03:46:14 29:57 06:00 10.02 Finish 13:14:00 03:59:10 12:56 05:54 10.18
I think my marathon pacing was the most pleasing aspect of the whole weekend. I managed to set off at a strong but steady pace and largely maintain the same pace all the way to the end, with just a 1.2% positive split. Statistics compiled for marathoners has shown a 3% split is the average number, which would work out to a 1:52 1st half and a 2:08 2nd half for a 4hr marathon.
Intensity-wise, I ran the whole race about 15-16 beats above MAF, at an average of 164, which is 82% of MaxHR. This compares to my running Lactate Threshold of about 175bpm, so I’m safely within my important threshold limit. It’s possible that with more intensity I might have been able to run at a higher HR nearer my LT, but again it was a concious decision on my part to do low heart rate training.
Some takeaways from the run:
– It’s a good idea to set your HRM threshold zone to just a few beats below Lactate Threshold level. I set mine at 168bpm and this was ideal, alerting me to just step off the gas. As it happens I have developed a pretty good feel for where my heart rate is, and usually I could tell within a beat of two exactly what my heart rate actually is without looking down at the watch. Nonetheless, it’s still reassuring to have there.
– “Run the first half of the race with your head, and the 2nd half with your heart” is an unattributed quote that I heard somewhere, and I think that it’s very appropriate. You need brains AND determination in equal and abundant quantities in order to have a good race.
– MAF HR training really is PERFECT for your first run marathon, much more so than for a skate marathon.
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