Boston, here I come?

Today started my 4 day "marathon."  Today and the next three days will have runs totaling 26.2 miles, to see if I can pull it off in less than my BQ time of 3:05.  I know this is not the same as doing the actual race, but the idea is to run on tired legs the fourth day and see if I can maintain the required pace.  I don't have much doubt that I'll pull it off, but it'll still be a fun effort.

Run #1 went amazingly well - to try to be realistic, I'm not trying to blow the doors off with a 6:30/mile pace for any amount of time, since the runs are shorter and I could do it.  So on today's run I used the virtual training parter on my Garmin and just tried to stay ahead of the other guy (set at 7:00/mile pace) instead of paying attention to each mile split.  It worked out great, every mile was between 6:51 and 6:59 with an average pace of 6:56/mile.  Average heart rate was 163 bpm, with a max of 173, which seems low for this speed...another good sign.

Day #2 of the 4 day "marathon" - boy what a difference it makes to run half an hour after waking up.  Of course I know I'm slower that early in the morning, the difference is that I generally don't try to go fast anyway.  I couldn't afford that today, so I just dealt with the fatigue..my pace finished at 7:00/mile after a furious finish, so the goal was met.  The heart rate monitor showed what I was feeling though - my average bpm was 172, with a max of 189 (compared to yesterday's 163 and 173 for the same run).  My legs were fine so there are no concerns there, it's just hard to go faster that early in the morning.

One problem - I've developed a new blister around another blister on my right foot, and it hurts.  Tonight I'm going to soak my feet in the hot tub to see if the chlorine can work some magic..at least run #3 wasn't going to be until tomorrow evening, so hopefully it will heal in time.

12.94 miles down in 1:30:15, 13.26 miles to go in under 1:34:45 

Run #3 didn't happen yesterday, so as punishment I decided to do both 3 and 4 today.

Run #3 (morning): Very steady morning run, average mile of 6:55.  Started with a 7:16 and was under 7 after that - I woke up earlier than usual to give my body a chance to be more awake leading into the run and it made a nice difference in my energy.  The plan was to do another mile or so, but I just ran out of time before having to get to work.  Subtotal: 18.50 miles in 2:08:48.

Run #4 (evening): This was the key to my whole experiment, and I'm glad I wound up double-dipping today, made my legs more tired than they would have been, which was the whole point.  I took a Gu energy gel during the 2nd mile and it seems like it helped out.  I finished the 7.7 miles at a 6:52/mile pace, with some crazy consistency..miles 3-7 were all between 6:48 and 6:52.  The "tired legs" felt a little tired, but really didn't cause any discomfort.  This was a fun test and I'm glad I did the whole thing - final result was 26.2 miles in 3:01:47..I wonder if I can send my Garmin data in to the BQ people? :)

Individual miles: 

1. 6:57
2. 6:51
3. 6:56
4. 6:59
5. 6:55
6. 6:55
7. 7:15
8. 7:00
9. 7:03
10. 7:10
11. 7:05
12. 6:49
13. 7:16
14. 6:59
15. 6:57
16. 6:50
17. 6:42
18. 7:03
19. 6:57
20. 6:50
21. 6:50
22. 6:48
23. 6:48
24. 6:52
25. 6:39 avg (combined end of each run, 14.39/2.2 miles total)

Nice easy recovery run from yesterday/heading into tomorrow, averaged 7:20/mile and kept the heart rate down (155 avg bpm).  Planning on ~15 tomorrow, hopefully this doesn't just make me tired after yesterday's adventure!