I ran 10 miles easy at the start of my run, followed by running 8 miles on my 2 mile loop at marathon effort, but picking it up some the last 2 miles. I made it through the first 10 miles in 1:15:07, then ran out to the start of my 2 mile loop, ran my 8 miles hard and finished by running back to the house for a total of 18.3 miles in 2:01:42. I was able to mark out quarter mile marks during the first mile of the 2 mile loop (when starting in front of my apartment complex) in order to give myself better feedback while running, and this was the first time that I had the opportunity to take advantage of these marks. I was surprised to a certain degree by what I found out, as I learned that the uphill sections on this course really slow me down a lot. When I would hit 5:20 pace on the flat sections I was hitting about 6:00 pace on the uphill sections. This is a little deceptive because it was windy, and it was just my luck that the wind was killing me on these uphill sections while providing no net effect on my pace during the flat sections as a result of buildings blocking the wind (i.e. virtually no tail wind at all during the tempo). But, it still seems evident that the hills slowed me down a lot. The second mile where I don't have any quarter mile marks was windier than the first, and the 2 mile (distance is actually a little longer than 2 miles) splits showed the effect of the wind. Splits were: 11:16, 11:16, 11:16, 10:54. I was consistently hitting about 5:20 pace on the flat sections at the beginning of each loop with a HR of about 170, which is consistent with what I tend to see in more controlled environments like the track or the treadmill on a 1% grade. The HR jumped to about 177 during the last loop, which felt manageable, but not for more than 8 miles I would imagine. Overall I am happy with the workout. It wasn't supposed to be a killer as I run the Santa Barbara International Marathon in 2 weeks. I just need to start fine tuning things now that the race is getting closer. I feel better prepared for this marathon than for any other marathon that I have ever run, so I am somewhat excited and nervous at the same time. At least I am busy with the family, work, and school so I don't really have any time to dwell on things.
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