Of Mice and Marathons

PM: 18 miles steady, averaged 7:08 or ~87% of goal marathon pace (6:13)

Plan was to do 18 miles easy, whatever that pace happened to be given that I have done 20 milers the last 3 weeks. Weather was cool at 73 and overcast.

I got moving up Germantown Ave and hit 8:00 for the first mile, which is pretty good considering 8:45 flat is my usual (often 9:00-9:30) so uphill this was decent. Weaved in around all the people out on a Sunday (bad time to do long runs). Decided to keep an honest effort for as long as I could handle. From about mile 5 until I came back up the hill I was running 7:00 flat to 6:40 with one 6:33 thrown in there.

I think this was the right effort for the day. I don't know. Basically 2 hours at a pretty honest pace.

AM: 7.25 miles SLOW. HR 117.

Definitely earned the 10-minute miles today from yesterday. My legs were very heavy, so I just shuffled, which felt nice. Cool and breezy. Very fall-like conditions. Should be nice and comfy for the midweek workout. I'm doing an 8-9 mile AT wave tempo.

PM: 5 miles slow. HR 121.

AM: 7.5 miles. Did some strides. HR was off. Not sure why I didn't ditch it last time.

A little tired today but legs felt a lot less heavy. Should be ready for a workout tomorrow.

PM: 5 miles moderatish.

Felt like I was flying but only ran 7:40 pace, but I cut down from 8:45 to just below 7. That rarely happens. I guess the nice, warm and dry fall air had me feeling froggy.

+ rolling, stretching, and core (late)

AM: Flourtown Tempo Loop - 14.5 miles, averaged 7:24

Workout was an 8-mile AT wave tempo, given as 4-5% slower than AT and 3-4% faster, which worked out to about 6:32-6:35 and 6:02-6:07 or there about alternating miles. AT was based off my 10k time from August where AT = 6:17.

The workout went well even though it was quite hard. I expected as much because I usually do alternating ks at HMP/MP for 10k for my 10 day out marathon workout. I had to concentrate and my legs did not want to move. I didn't notice a ton of difference effort-wise between fast and slow in terms of breathing but I definitely had to get my arms moving, get my knees up, etc. The last two miles I was starting to accumulate some lactic acid, so I think my effort was about right.

Averaged just under 6:20 for the 8 miles (6:30.5 for slow/6:08.5 for fast)

6:40, 6:10, 6:29, 6:08, 6:26, 6:07, 6:27, 6:09

3.4 up/3.1 down

PM: Off. Trying to make this a cutback week given the week before last really wasn't.

+ rolling, stretching, light core (late)

AM: 6.25 miles slow.

PM: 7.5 miles. Felt great.

+ rolling, stretching, and core (very late)

Lunch: 13.25 miles. Did a mile hard on the track at mile 11 in 5:26. Did 4 x 100 hard strides on the way home.

Didn't get out until just before noon. It was a very rough morning. The run helped a good bit though.

PM: off. Cutting mileage back this week.

PM: 5 miles. Did some strides.

That's it for today.

+ rolling, stretching, and core (very late)