I did it! My first 80 mile week ever! Josse and I met at the end of the HobbleCreek 1/2 course, drove up to the 6 mile mark, then ran up easy, then ran down, with alternate miles of easy and 1/2 marathon goal pace. When we got out of the car to start the run it was 50F!!! It was a little chilly to start but perfect weather for a long run. Note to self: water out of spigot of the campsite at the hobblecreek start tastes nasty! Took a gu there, so at mile 6.
So we got in about 7 miles before our first hard mile. I really would like to keep my HobbleCreek pace to 6:00 average or below, so my miles should be 6:00 or below on this workout. I would have been fine with 6:10 on the last one since its flatter. Here are the splits for the hard miles: 1 - 5:52 (mile 2 of Hobble Creek race)
2 - 5:48, did two miles easy between 2 and 3 because we missed our water bottles so we got a drink at the cherry campsite. The water tasted better there but the spigot was close to a smelly bathroom. (mile 4 of Hobble Creek race) 3 - 5:57 (dreaded mile 7 of Hobble Creek race, two uphill segments in there, though likely still net downhill) 4 - 5:47 (mile 9 of Hobble Creek race) 5 - 5:58 (mile 11 of Hobble Creek race, a nasty but short hill - likely .15 in length, also road was gravelly for last 3/4, like they purposely tore up the top of the asphalt, hopefully they will repave before the race because it will slow me down). 6 - 5:55 (mile 13, including .15 of grass at the end--why does there have to be grass at the end when my legs are so tired?). So I am happy to be sub-6 on all miles. It didn't feel easy. Hopefully this means a 6:00 pace for the race is getting close to do-able, and I am hoping this also means I am ready for a fast DesNews. I have been blessed to have great training this week, even as ran the most miles ever. Good stretching when I got home (felt way rickety by the end), ice bath up to the navel, and 45 minutes of weeding when I got home. 1:34:17 for the 1/2 marathon weight 122 (even after a banana and a bottle of water-way dehydrated).
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