Sunday, October 08, 2006

Nine weeks to go

In today’s long run I kept looking at my watch wondering what mile my friends were at in the Army 10-Miler. I visualized being in the race, which motivated me to run a good steady pace. The plan was to run 18 miles. As I approached mile 18 I couldn't resist running an extra 2 miles to make it 20. The legs were feeling good and as the run went on the pace slowly progressed. My 5-mile splits for the long run were: 1-5M: 34:49 (6:58 pace), 6-10M: 33:17 (6:39 pace), 11-15M: 32:51 (6:34 pace), & 15-20M: 31:01 (6:12 pace). I ran the last couple miles close to marathon pace, which felt economical. This is a good sign and it is boosting my confidence for the marathon. Well, I’m 9 weeks out from race day so it’s easy to say. Like most runners, doubt will eventually creep in as we begin the tapering process and come closer to the big day. For now, the focus is to continue training hard and get the legs accustomed to MP.

Today’s run: 2:11:58 (20M – 6:36 pace)
Yesterday’s run: 1:07:20 (10M – 6:44 pace)

1 comment:

Phil said...

Sorry you couldn't run the Army 10 miler. You would'have blown away the field. Nice run with great splits. Congrats on getting out to 20 miles and still feeling fresh. You still have 9 weeks to go and you're already ready race.