Wanted to get a long run in today, but knew I would be unable to start until after 9am when Vanessa was in school. By then, the temps had climbed into the 80s, the sun was beating down, and there was a south wind. I wanted to touch base with MP in the context of a long run, and know a tempo in the heat was setting myself up for failure, yet I didn't want to run indoors. I finally settled on an oddball run where I ran every other mile at HMP to MP effort, trying to stay more along MP. I did this for 16 miles, then cooled down slow the last two, as in the final tempo mile by body indicated that it had done enough in the heat. Tempo miles were 6:50, 6:40, 6:39, 6:45, 6:41, 6:35, 6:34, 6:44. My body seems to find a nice groove around 6:40ish pace, which I hope is where it decides to coast for the marathon in 8 weeks. The last week or two I have really fallen off the bus with my eating habits, back at it today, must keep my weight down and clean it up for the final training push before the marathon.
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