Marathon Pace

I expected the legs to feel slightly fatigue or sore following Sunday's half-marathon because it was the first time racing since June. When Monday came around there was no soreness in the legs so I drove on with training. Mon and Tues was easy, Wed was a fartlek, and Thurs was another easy run. Today's planned workout was 8 miles at marathon goal pace, which (to be honest) I'm unsure of. According to Jack Daniel's Running Formula and McMillan Calculator, my recent 1/2-marathon time is equivalent to a 2:35 marathon, about 5:56 pace. I see JD formula and McMillan's cacl to be somewhat reliable; of course, that's considering we're doing the right training. After a couple miles of warm-up I tried to run at what felt like MP pace. The split for the 1st mile was 5:52. I tried to slow the pace just a bit on the 2nd mile but managed only to add on a second, 5:53. For the next four miles the pace seemed to hover around the low to mid 5:50s. I was feeling comfortable, maybe too comfortable, at six so I decided to pick up the pace for the last couple miles. Splits for the workout were 5:52, 5:53, 5:53, 5:49, 5:54, 5:51, 5:48, & 5:45 (46:45 - 5:51 pace). It was a nice confidence booster to finish the workout knowing I could have gone longer.

Here's the training log for last week.

08-14 Sep

Mon: Noon - 7M @ 6:55 pace; PM 6.5M @ 7:06 pace (13.5M total)
Tues: 10M @ 6:41 pace
Wed: Noon - 6.5M @ 6:50 pace; PM - 10M including 6 x 1Km w/ 200m easy; splits: 3:22, 3:16, 3:16, 3:14, 3:14, & 3:15 (16.5M total)
Thur: 8M @ 6:56 pace
Fri: Noon - 5.25M @ 7:03 pace; PM - 6M @ 7:02 pace;
Sat: 3M very easy; 5 hours on the feet (walking and biking Rotterdam)
Sun: Fortis 1/2 Marathon Rotterdam - 1:13:39 (PR)

Weekly Total: 76 miles