10 miles, starting late (11:30). Had a date at 7, and didn't get to run beforehand, got home at 9:30-ish, and since it was already dark, I lazed around for a good 2 hours before getting out the door. Hah. Route was my place to 9th east to 27th south to 5th east, and back. I felt really fluid tonight (going as easy as I did yesterday certainly didn't hurt), so after a really easy feeling 7:22 first mile with about 80 feet of drop and 75 feet of gain and the next 4 miles at 6:40 average pace, with a net downhill of 135' in those 4 miles, still feeling really easy, I decided to throw in a few miles on the harder end of what marathon pace should be. Mile 6 was 6:18 (30' down, 15' up), and mile 7 was 6:12 pace for the first 1/3 of a mile before my watch died (+/- 5 feet, no noticeable hills), and mile 8 was similar to mile 7. Of course, based on the altitude, marathon effort would be roughly 17 seconds per mile faster at sea level. IE, marathon effort 6:15s up here are more like 5:58s at sea level, which would be my ultimate goal pace at Phoenix if my training goes extraordinarily well in the next 3 1/2 months. Anyway, after mile 8, I jogged the last 2 miles back uphill to the Aves at 7:30-8:00 pace. Throwing around a few miles on the faster end of MP here and there in base phase seems like a good plan. It's not taxing with just a few miles, so it doesn't decrease my ability to get in decent mileage, but it also keeps me in touch with the pace I want to be racing at in March.
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