The 15K as a Warm-up for a Marathon

I ran in the Fort worth Running Club’s Labor Day 15K Run this morning.  A humid day, but what a great run.  A 15K is a great warm-up for a marathon.  Last year, my warm-up run for the Dallas White Rock was the Dallas Half.  Either distance is good, but what I like about a 15K is that it approximates a hard quality running day.  While the pace is faster than a long tempo run, it is not so long that you need an extended recovery nor a taper before the race unless this is your big race.  After running 20 miles on Saturday and 4 miles at the track yesterday, I could have been more rested.  My plan was to go out at 7:30, pump it up to 7:10 at mile 4 and then finish strong at a 6:50 pace for the final 3.3 miles.  All was according to schedule for the first 7 miles, but I Had trouble holding pace for the final leg, but still came in at a respectable 1:07:48.  Daniel’s VDOT levels put me at 46.4.  You can use this to predict you other races.  Based on this race, I could be looking at 3:22:58.  My goal is 3:30.  I am hopeful.

VDOT 46.4 - Predicted Finish Times
Distance	Time	min/km	min/mile
1500 m	5:46.1	3:50.7	6:11.4
1 mile	6:14.0	3:52.4	6:14.0
3000 m	12:19.9	4:06.6	6:36.9
2 miles	13:18.2	4:08.0	6:39.1
5K	21:15.1	4:15.0	6:50.4
8K	34:49.4	4:21.2	7:00.3
10K	44:03.9	4:24.4	7:05.5
10 miles	1:13:04.9	4:32.5	7:18.5
20K	1:32:11.9	4:36.6	7:25.1
Half marathon	1:37:36.7	4:37.6	7:26.8
30K	2:21:58.5	4:43.9	7:37.0
Marathon	3:22:58.7	4:48.6	7:44.5
Calculations are based on data from Daniels' Running Formula by Jack Daniels PhD.

Race Calculators are fun to play with and here is one I like and my results are depicted above using it based on my 15K at 1:07:48:

http://www.runworks.com/calculator.html