"There are no compromises." -Once a runner

5 on blackstone.  I feel really good.  Not sore at all.  Right hip was a little stiff but that was it.  It loosened up after the first little bit.  All I can think about is the marathon.  But I am not nervous.  I finally feel like I know what to expect and how to deal with it.

Yup, thats right, 4 miles.  I hate the taper.  Tomorrow I am doing 9 with some friends w/a bit at MP so I decided today needed to be super easy.  But in the 30+ minutes that I am not running

Did the haynes classic training run with 4-6 striders on slight downhills.  Run felt good.  I feel rested and im only 3 days into my taper.  Tomorrow I will do some mile repeats on the track but im not gonna go crazy with them.  Just 5:36 pace.  I do most of my vo2max work at 5:20 pace but its sometimes difficult to keep up for 1k's so its probably too fast.  We will see how this change in workout methodology goes.  Its probably gonna be too easy.  My 5k pace is 5:38 but I am sure that I could go 16:55 tapered now (5:27 pace).  If the first 2 feel too slow I will finish it up in 5:28-30.

3x1mile with 400m recovery

5:31

5:32

5:40

I meant to do 5:36 for all of them but I couldn't hold back.  Then at the same effort the pace dropped.  Oh well, still probably effected by the half marathon.  I could have hit the last mile faster but I didn't want to push it and I still averaged faster than planned.

Blackstone + some trails for a pit stop.

4x2km w/400m recovery

7:21 (faster than I wanted to go)

7:24 (better, but still too fast)

7:20 (felt easier than the last one so I didn't stop it)

7:05 (kicked it in a bit, ok a little more than a bit, but still felt good)

Tried out some new shoes-the nike luna racers.  5.5oz but still have tons of cushioning.  I like how the st3 racers fit better but do I like them 2.3oz per foot better?  Not sure yet.

Went up to Gilbert hills and did a trail run.  Went really slow.  Seems like a short distance but spent 2 hrs running so I didn't want to do any more given that the marathon is just over a week away.  I think I am gonna change my workout schedule as well to perhaps 2 marathon pace runs of 5-8 miles just to feel the pace for a while.  I think that the early pace is crucial to success and we can't afford hitting 6:40 flat for more than 1 mile or hitting 6:55's or 7:00's in the middle miles.  My natural pacing would probably be something like 6:40's until mile 10 and then slowing to 7's until 20 or so and then not being able to speed up when I should because of the fast first half.