Marathon tempo attempt #1. Ok so two things to note. (1) marathon tempos are easier than HM tempos. That's nice. (2) My body got pretty good at finding and holding HM pace (6:50-6:55) in tempos. (3) My body has absolutely no idea where marathon pace (7:10 ish) is. So I did 2 easy miles to warm up... by mile three my toes were still numb. I attempted my first tempo mile, but decided to run slow toward the end, as I wasn't able to hold pace (still cold and running into the wind). Turned around, and did 4 miles of "tempo" running. The award for uneven splits goes to...... 7:30, 7:13, 7:06, 6:52, 6:55. Hmmmm. They all felt pretty much the same, effort-wise, so I guess its fine, because effort is what matters with tempo running, right? It might take a little longer to find my marathon pace. HM pace was easy; it was really just below lactate threshold, and I felt like it was the hardest pace I could hold while still being mostly aerobic and not building up lactic acid too quickly. Marathon pace is hard because its a slightly lesser effort, and I have to hold that pace for 26.2. It'll be interesting figuring this out as my tempos get longer. In other news, I went to the sports doc, who said my butt/hamstring problem was simple: I have "white girl weak butt" syndrome (his words). Haha! Apparently my quads and hamstrings are very strong, and are just overpowering my backside. Easy to fix, and should be fine with about 6 weeks of some strength training focusing on the gluts, hips, piriformis etc.
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