Was wondering the same. Thought that was a flower delivery service… but knew it wasn’t. 
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Seriously, @Eric, that was a great explanation. It makes a lot of sense… but I’m still not sure I get how to determine it. So let’s say I guess and say I think I can maintain a 7.5 for 30 minutes and I start off at that… Do I adjust it up or down to compensate for how I feel? Would I bump it up to a 7.8 if I were feeling like I could faster? Or down to a 7 if I became afraid I had drastically overshot? Or would I just run 16 minutes at 7.5 and then decide that wasn’t a reasonable number?
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The best thing is to pick the right speed. Obviously if you can’t hit it and you are not able to make it you would have to drop the speed down. And if you have a lot left toward the end you could pick up the pace at the end. But that is not what we are looking for. We want a steady-state pace.
It will feel harder at the end than it did at the beginning, but ideally the pace will be constant even though it will feel more and more difficult as you get closer to 30 minutes. We want a constant speed, not a constant RPE! At the very end of the run your RPE should be about an 8.5, while maybe at the beginning it was only a 4 or 5.
What can you maintain for 30 minutes? Look at everything you have been doing. Look at your workouts.
I hope it is north of 7.5. Two weeks ago you did 32 minutes at 7.5, and you said this:
So go back and look at your runs. They are all in the spreadsheet. Figure out what you can do.
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Also consider that I gave you 3 rest days this week, and your FTP test is sandwiched between a bunch of easy stuff. Let that speak to you a bit on how hard I want you to go on Wednesday.
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Be back in a minute with thoughts. Must put kids to bed. 
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Clever, by the way… thought that was just some kind of weird visual of the one day being tougher than the other, but I see it now. 
Must drop kids off at various places and then I’m coming back to see what I can do.
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So… I started my run… and had to abort. I was in a lot of pain and just couldn’t. I had a medical exam yesterday for a second opinion on a recommended surgery, and the exam stirred up a lot of pain. I thought today it was more reasonable, but it started up as soon as I began the run. Last night was killer, so I’m not entirely positive I didn’t bail as much out of fear as I did out of pain, but the pain did come on fast and strong, so… 
I know today was an important run. Pretty bummed. Ate junk food instead of a dinner. Like some appetizers at my pity party. And some dessert.
The last exam I had done left me with a solid two days of pain. So tomorrow may or may not be good. Not sure what you want me to do. 
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Oh, man, Nicky, sorry to hear this. You work so hard to put aside time for these runs, too. Yep, junk food will make you feel better, for about 10 minutes! Then the spikes come … We all share your pain and frustration.
I’m hoping and praying tomorrow will bring you a much better day, pain free!
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@Nickyghaleb, sorry to hear of the troubles, hope you get through it and get it taken care of.
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I am very sorry to hear about that.
Let’s bail out on this and we can see how you are doing in a few days. Don’t do the FTP test tomorrow. You have a practice race in a few weeks, let’s focus on getting you back for that.
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So surgery September 30th. Race on the 29th… which is preferable as far as order goes. 
I think I can run today. And probably should. My pity party turned into a pity four day weekend bash. Maybe a run would help me stop doing whatever it is I’ve been doing that I cannot share. And show my face again.
It’s a food joke. I should be clear.
So what do you think??
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@T1john and @Trying, thank you both. That was really nice. I even put the donut down for a while after I read your messages.
All is well, and all is gonna be fine. It’s small stuff. John, how is everything going with you?? I hope this finds both of you well. 
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Errr…
This does not sound ideal.
Your muscles will not be in the best condition after your race from microtrauma and microtearing of muscle fibers, reduced flexibility, inflammation, and soreness. All of those things will increase your recovery time from surgery. And if the surgery limits your ability to move around and do active recovery, the surgery will delay your recovery from the race a good bit.
Basically, the race will make the surgery recovery worse, and the surgery will make the race recovery worse.
I highly advise a change of schedule.
This is not a target race, it is a training race. You don’t have to run it.
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@Nickyghaleb, I agree with Eric. Surgery is a traumatic event anytime and you want your body to be well rested for it. I know it is hard to give the race up but better to postpone it tIL your body is fully recovered.
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I figured as much…just wasn’t sure I cared, I do though.
Damn.
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I care.
Hang tough. Let’s get you another one in a few weeks.
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Thank you. That was really nice. 
And I don’t even know if I should tell you about today’s run… because it wasn’t anything I was supposed to do today and…It started off as a “just need to break the spell” run, and then I attempted the test. 
So you tell me if I should even bother explaining it, or if I just try again another day.
You can tell me.
But it is supposed to give us information. If you are hurting or tired, it doesn’t really tell us much. Then it becomes just another workout.
But tell me what happened.
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So things you should know first…
I’ve eaten very shameful things and very shameful amounts of very shameful things over the last few days. It wasn’t even eating, really, as much as it was an attempt at fixing, avoiding, soothing, and venting. I’ll take it up with my therapist next visit and am already doing better today, but I headed over for a run today much for that reason… just to cut it out. Mission accomplished in that regard.
The other thing is I’ve had a sore throat for two days, and I definitely feel a little more run down after finishing my run. So I assume I’m getting sick… and can probably assume I was running a little worn down.
That’s the context. Or most of it. The other thing I’d add is that I ran the first mile at 6.5 and was feeling particularly fresh and strong. I probably should’ve just kept at that, but I started thinking fresh and strong might be a great way to be for the test. So I just kind of jumped into it. I started at 7.6 for a quarter mile, then 7.7 for the next quarter, then 7.8 until I was almost 3 miles into it. (I had to edit—I originally said 2 miles, but I slowed down almost 3 miles in). All of a sudden I felt spent and decided I’d just call it and try again another time. I slowed down to a 6.5 again for .04 of a mile (so almost nothing) and then decided I could finish it. I ran the next quarter at 7.5 again and then the last half (??) at 7.7.
It was tough. And it was spontaneous. And I hope I didn’t blow it by doing it that way. I needed a little something today, and I did at least finish feeling some level of accomplishment… even if that were really for making myself finish.
RPE… really hard for maybe the last 11 minutes?? I must’ve been at an 8.5 when I knocked down the speed, but it was hard till the end even with the overall speed reduction.
-No basal-iq
-No ZB
-Yogurt
-Cutting basal at start
Starting bg: 157
Mi 1: 135
Mi 2: 131
Mi 3: 140
Mi 3.8: —
*cut speed to 6.5 for .04 mi
Mi 4: 160
*Speed: 7.5
*.6unit bolus
Mi 5: 169 finished and walking
RPE like 8.5 coming up on mile 3 (mile 2 of timed)
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I can appreciate all the stuff you are dealing with, the eating and feeling sick and all of that.
And the fact that you finished, that’s a good mental boost. So take it as a positive for the day. Let’s pick this back up another time.
Let’s talk about the 10k race. Can you cancel out of it? How long do you expect your recovery from surgery to take?
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