So, since I'm racing a big half marathon next weekend, the point of today was to run a controlled tempo run/longer run. I had the idea that I wanted to run six minute pace, but in the back of my mind I knew that I would probably run what I needed to win.
I did a longer warm-up, because I didn't want to be too fresh. I'm trying to learn to run marathon pace on tired legs. I warmed up six miles. The race started at 8:45, so it was really warm during the race. Between the heat, a small field that left me by myself for the whole race, and continuing stomach issues from the last few days, I was pretty happy with the outcome.
I got out a little quickly at the mile, running through in 5:46. After that, I didn't get consistent mile splits. I missed the two mile, and thought that the 5k mark was for the 10k, when it actually was the turnaround point for the 5k. At this point, I just got into a groove, and tried to keep even effort. I did see that I was 30:44 through 5 miles, so I picked up the last 1.2 miles, and managed about 6 minute pace for the last mile.
I felt comfortable with the pace the entire race, just not the heat. I liked the course, and wished that it had been run a little earlier in the morning. The good thing is that I felt like I could run 6:10 pace for a long time. If I could hold this pace through a marathon, I would run a 2:40, which would be great!
So, the real test is next week. I cooled down 3 miles, and started to crash. 15 for the day is good, but if Teren gets home from work at a decent hour, I may try to get 5 more in. | 