Boston, here I come?

Objective: 17 mile long run

Semi-fail.  I was nervous about my stomach at the start, and avoided making any pit stops until I looped back by my house at 6.3 miles..figured I'd have to stop at some point soon so I'd just get it out of the way at home.  I felt a lot better and then continued on my way, thinking I'd be just fine..after all, my legs felt great and now I was more comfortable.  Then I made a big mistake..eating Gu chomps on a clearly tender stomach.  Nothing really felt right after that, and when the second loop by my house was complete I turned in.  My overall pace for the run was 7:33/mile, but the last mile was 8:16 and felt like forever.  The week was still solid and I shattered my old monthly record, but I hate coming up short in a run.  Next Sunday was supposed to be 12, in a step-back week, but I'm going to do 17 that day instead to make up for today.

8 weeks down, 10 to go! 

Objective: 3 easy miles

Week 9 started off like the others, with an easy Monday run.  I kept the pace nice and slow, averaging 7:30/mile and kept my heart rate in the mid-150's.  More importantly, my stomach was okay and my legs feel great. 

Objective: 9 mile run

Now that's more like it!  I wanted today's run to mimic the first 9 miles of the marathon, and I did exactly that.  Started out going easy, but keeping my focus on a decent pace - went 7:12, 7:02, 7:06, 7:09, 7:07 for the first 5 miles, right about what I want to do during the race.  The last four miles I turned it on a bit, but kept myself under control, going 6:44, 6:48, 6:36, 6:40, for an overall 6:56/mile pace.  I was really worried about my stomach in the last three miles..had it been the marathon I would've been trying to bank extra time for the inevitable pit stop.  But it never got uncomfortable to the point where I slowed down, and actually relaxed for the last half mile for a happy finish. 

Objective: 4 mile run at my normal pace

The first mile today felt like the typical morning-run-after-a-fast-evening-run, as I didn't push too hard and clocked a 7:32.  I was fine with that pace but my legs woke up a bit and I noticed I was going faster..wound up doing the next three miles at 7:08, 7:00, 7:02 for a nice 7:09/mile overall pace.  My effort level wasn't particularly high, and I feel good going into an interval run tomorrow night. 

Objective: 6x800 intervals, 3:00 per interval

As usual, the "800m" is .54 miles, or about 870m.  Also as usual, I fell short of my very fast time goal on the fast stretches, going 3:03, 3:05, 3:06, 3:14, 3:18, 3:17.  I'm disappointed that the first three were over 3 minutes, because I probably could have pushed a little harder..after that I knew I had slowed down but was still going all out.  On my next speed day, I *will* get under 3 minutes for at least one of the fast parts...assuming I'm not in the hospital with a laboring wife (due date 8/25).

Objective: 9 miles, race pace

I came pretty close to today's goal..I wanted to mimic the first 9 miles of the marathon again.  The difference from Tuesday to today was the time of day..doing this run 40 minutes after getting out of bed is harder than after a full day at work.  So my times were all a bit slower - 7:16, 7:06, 7:16, 7:22, 7:22 to start and 6:58, 7:01, 6:58, 6:52 to finish.  Importantly, I felt good stomach-wise and in my legs - looking forward to a good long run tomorrow.