Just go with the flow

That's basically what I did in today's long run. The plan was to go 18 miles or 2 hours. Going into the run the legs felt okay, definitely not fresh or rested. As I strolled on the cycle path the Forerunner split my first mile in 6:48. This is about 30 seconds faster than what I normally hit the first mile in my daily runs. I thought that I shouldn't worry too much about pace if it feels easy and relaxed. The 2nd mile split at 6:26 so I decided to just go with the flow. I settled into a good rhythm at low-6:30ish pace for the next 7 miles. To my surprise the pace slowly increased (i.e. faster) for the remainder of the run. I ended up doing 20 miles in 2:08:40, a little over 2 minutes faster than last week's 20-miler. The 5-mile splits for the long run were 32:56 (6:35), 32:35 (6:31), 31:46 (6:21), and 31:23 (6:16). An average pace of 6:26 for the 20-miler.

It was a good run to end the week. In fact, I hit the magical 100 mile/week. I'll have to look back on the logs because I don't recall the last time I had a 100-mile week. Here's a recap of this week's training.

25-31 Aug

Mon: Noon - 6M (42:50 - 7:08 pace); PM - 6.1M (43:20 - 7:07 pace) easy run; 12.1M total
Tues: Noon - 4.2M (30:44 - 7:19 pace); PM - 7M with 1200 & 1K intervals (1200s = 3:44, 3:43, 3:46; 1K - 3:02, 3:02); 11.2M total
Wed: Noon - 7.1M (50:01 - 7:03 pace); PM - 9.2M (1:02:05 - 6:46 pace) surprisingly the HR was consistent in the mid to high 130s at 6:40ish pace; 16.3M total
Thur: Noon - 7M (48:34 - 6:56 pace); PM - 9M (1:01:58 - 6:53 pace); 16M total
Fri: Noon - 6.2M (44:07 - 7:06 pace) easy but legs felt crappy; PM - 10M (1:02:40 - 6:17 pace) including 6 mile tempo in 34:32 (5:45 pace); 16.2M total
Sat: 9.4M (1:05:44 - 7:01 pace) was only planning on 6 miles but it turned into 9+ miles.
Sun: 20M (2:08:40 - 6:26 pace) steady pace; 5-mile splits: 32:56 (6:35), 32:35 (6:31), 31:46 (6:21), and 31:23 (6:16)

Weekly Total: 101.2 miles