Ok, so I thought I’d lead off with some of the nerdy details from this morning’s run. The reason is because for the first time in a long time my overall pace for the run was under 11 minutes/per mile! Yes, lower temperatures and cloudy skies do make a big difference.
While the overall pace was great the splits were even better….
Mile 1 1:08 min/mile Mile 2. 11:04 min/mile Mile 3 11:01 min/mile and the old man sprint over the last 0.16 of a mile – 9:25 min/mile!
Additionally, my average heart rate during the run was 133 beats per minute (bpm).My peak heart rate was 149 bpm. So overall it was a great run. Not fantastic but compared to the last few runs which were struggles it was wonderful.
EK Turns to an Age-Graded Running Calculator
After those struggling summer runs, which most of them were, I needed to turn to an age-graded running calculator feel better about the run. An age-graded calendar uses an age-grading percentage to provide a method of measuring and comparing the quality of a running performances. So the calculator takes into consideration, that while I don’t think I am , I am old! Here’s how it does it!
Calculating Your Age-Graded Running Percentage
From Runbundle.com
To determine an age-grading percentage…
A calculation is carried out that takes into account the age and the sex of the runner and produces a single percentage value. This value can then be used to compare performances between males and females and across different ages and distances
Using the distance I ran and my time from today’s run my age-grading percentage is 49.28%.
Here’s an explanation of what the age-grading percentage means …
The higher the percentage, the better the performance. A value of 100% is generally considered the best that is possible for a particular distance by a runner of a specific age and sex. It is often, but not always, the value produced by the world record time.
So basically, it means that I’m somewhere in the middle of the pack. I’m neither the fastest or the slowest! Typically, that’s where I was in the 5K races I ran in the past.
Now one example of using the age-grading percentage is to discover what times you would need to run at another distance to maintain the same percentage. For example, I would need to run a mile in 9:59:23 or a 10 K in 1:11:50 to achieve a 49.28 percentage!
Calculating Your Age-Graded Running Time
Now what I like to do is to look at is the overall age-graded running time. The age-grade time is determined by taking my time and multiplying by an age-factor.
There are several other factors involved and you can read about them here.
However, bottom line is that your graded time is a time based on your age against the fastest time projected for your age and the fastest overall projected time. So to determine the age factor you take the world record time and divide it by the best time projected for your age and that becomes your age factor. In my case it’s 12:59/17:06 which results in an age-factor of .76.
The final age-graded time is your time multiplied by the age factor. My result is 26:20!
Consequently, when I see that, when my age is factored in and the resulting time is around the time I was running, when I was in my 40s, I don’t feel too bad.
EK Sets a Running Goal based on Age-Graded Running
So after calculating my age-graded percentage and age-graded running time, I spent some time with the calculator and determined that if I set a goal to run a 5K in 31:15 my age-graded percentage would climb to 55.29% and my age-graded time drop to 23:29. That was around my best time I ran, when I was in my late 40s!
EK Sets a Running Goal
So that’s my goal! Over the next four months I want to run a 5K in 31:15! Now, using a pace calculator, at Active.com, I see in order to run a 31:15 5K, I need to run at an overall 10:04 min/ mile pace. And while today that may seem a little unrealistic, I think I can do it! Wish Me Luck! I’ll need it!!
The Soundtrack – Ordinary Madness Walter Trout
The soundtrack for the run was Ordinary Madness from blues guitarist Walter Trout. Typically, now is the part of the post where I write about the soundtrack album . However, since this post is so long I am going to write about the album in a separate post.
Until then, here is the Official video for the title track from Ordinary Madness by Walter Trout
