14.59 mi, 1:55:24, 7:46 avg
Last long run for this training cycle. 1.5 mile warm up, 10-11 @MP, 1.5 mile warm down. At the start of this plan, these long runs with MP miles were tough, part of it was weather (back in August), part of it was fitness, and part of it mental since I'd usually only ever run faster miles as part of a fast finish long run. Today's run felt good. I had a little more confidence than usual that I could do the job.
Got onto pace ok for the first mile after the warm up. Ran in Starkey Park on the bike trail. Happened to start right at one of the half mile markers (1 1/2 mile line), trail is marked to 6 1/2 mile line, then it hits the Suncoast Trail. I had one 10 oz bottle, thought I might stop briefly if I needed more but I'd keep going if I could. Took one Roctane gel (salted chocolate) - also, an hour before the run I had a beet juice concentrate.
First mile at 7:32, then 7:27, and then back to 7:32. After that the miles each got a little bit faster. Still felt good at the turnaround and pace kept on increasing a little bit. Last mile at 7:00.
MP miles - 7:32, 7:27, 7:32, 7:25, 7:21, 7:26, 7:17, 7:17, 7:15, 7:14, 7:00
Except for the last mile I didn't feel like I was pushing too hard or racing the workout.
Two weeks from today, hopefully I can lock in a good pace and hang on. This will be my longest marathon plan and probably the most varied one and only one so far with scheduled hill repeats.
Next big accomplishment for the day was disposing of two old tube TV sets sitting in my garage to the county hazmat dropoff day ($5 each was worth it - old paint and stuff like that was free to drop off).
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