Marathon pace tempo. 1 mile easy, then 8 miles at 7:18 avg pace. Splits were: 7:22, 7:24, 7:18, 7:17, 7:14, 7:18, 7:20, 7:14 1 mile easy cool-down. I was not happy with the run. I guess the splits are fine - they are my present MGP. But I felt like complete rubbish from the first tempo mile, and nearly quit at mile 2 (yay for mental strength development!) I would've liked to have run 7:10-15 pace like I did on my last tempo, or at least have a nice progression up to just slower than HM pace...so I was a bit disappointed. But I'm gunna go ahead a make few excuses for myself: - 5.5 hours sleep. Not enough.
- Just got off a 6 hour flight from NY- San Diego.
- Ran my longest run ever (18.5 miles) just a few days ago on Sunday.
- Ran a half marathon 10 days ago (this was my first "effort" session back).
- Suddenly running in 65 degrees with warm sun, after running outside in 30-40 degrees for several months.
Oh, I am the queeeeeen of excuses :) Come to think of it, looking at all of those things, I'm relatively pleased to have just finished the run at roughly goal pace. It may not have felt good or easy, but it wouldn't be marathon training if you didn't feel like a dogs breakfast occasionally, right? :)
Edited to add: the splits were a little uneven because of some wind coming off the oceans - [7:22, 7:24, 7:18 (into wind) 7:17, 7:14, 7:18 (wind at back) 7:20 (into wind) 7:14 (wind at back)] - but because they were really consistent with the wind direction and I felt my effort level was the same, I think I can safely say I was hitting the right paces.
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