AM - 4 miles, easy shakeout run on campus. PM - 13 miles. Last Chance Workout! 2 x 5 miles, starting at marathon pace and then stepping it down... one mile warmup, two strides, then got rolling... First 5 miles in 26:02 - 5:17, 5:15, 5:16, 5:12, 5:02. Ran by feel and didn't look at my watch too much. The effort felt very sustainable. 1 mile recovery in 6:45 (I only really needed a fraction of this, but I wanted to replicate the same workout from May 31st, 10 days out from Utah Valley) Second 5 miles in 25:42 - 5:11, 5:11, 5:10, 5:09, 5:01. I told myself I was not allowed to run under 5:10 until the last mile, and pretty much stuck to that. I was in a great rhythm for the first 4.5 miles, and then only picked it up over the last half-mile. Cooled down a mile w/ Andrea. Honestly, I felt like I was holding back the entire time on this workout. I got what I needed out of it, but I'm saving the real big effort for 10 days from now. I saw the list of athletes running Philly today. Its a fantastic field, and should be a great, very competitive race. The apparent contenders include: -Kenyan guy with PRs of 1:04 / 2:16 -Ethiopian guy with PRs of 1:03 / 2:17 -Winners of the 2011 Hartford and Baltimore marathons (both ran 2:21 in those races) -13:26 / 28:30 / 1:03 guy making his marathon debut -Former 3:43 1500m guy and USA World XC team member -About 7-8 guys who have run 1:07/1:08 for the half-marathon or low/mid 2:20s for the marathon Now I have to just contain my excitement for a little bit longer! |