Speed work: R pace

[Wieser]

Speed training:
I did speed training at R pace which i calculated from the my current VDOT
The training was taken out from the Jack Daniels book: 3 x (200m R pace with 200m recovery jog + 200m R pace with 400m recovery jog and 800m Rpace with 400m recovery jog).
For the 200m i was able to run the R pace; however, for the 800m distance, i was not able to run the calculated R pace;
Has anybody experience in calculating the Rpace for the 800m distance for slower runners; it looks like that someone usually runs 200 or 400m at R pace; and only when you are really fast you run 800m at R pace; I guess i am not fit enough for 800m of Rpace; i guess runners with lower VDOT dont run 800m in R pace.
any other thoughts?

[Michelle Lowry]

I used the Jack Daniels pacing a bit several years back.  I would suggest you plugging some numbers in to McMillan's running calculator.  I think it is easier to understand and works well, though you have to learn how to read it for you a bit.  What I mean by that is that I know I am a stronger marathoner than a 5k racer, so I can't put in my 5k PR and expect the projected marathon time to be accurate (it will be too slow in my case).  It should work well if you put in your best recent time in your best event, or what you think you can do right now based off your training.  Then see if his paces correspond with what you can do in a workout right now. 

[Matthew Rowley]

Everybody has speed workouts that you plan on doing with a specific goal.  If you are not hitting the planned paces.  What should you do.  Example 800 at 3 minutes with 3 minute jog 400 inbetween, 10 sets,  The first 6 splits are good between 2:58 and 3:02, then the next 2 is in 3:05, then 3:15 What should you do with the last 2 sets.
1) countinue workout at what ever pace you can (Suffer fest)
2) Turn the workout into a tempo run
3) End workout
4) other

[Wieser]

Found some answer:
I was listening to an interview with Jack Daniels; it looks like 800m at R pace is a too long workout for a beginner runner like me; 800m at R pace takes to long for me; R pace work out should not exceed a certain amount of time per run segment according to JD; in the case of 800m at R pace the workout exceeds that time if I am running it; as such I will focus only on r200 and r400 for now.

[Wieser]

Thanks for responding; for now I am increasing my weekly mileage and run races on the weekend. I will start again with quality runs after i hit 60 -70 miles per week.