10 miles @ 7:53/mi. Trefoil to mouth of Provo Canyon with Kevin.
I wanted to use this run to test my marathon pace in preparation for the Utah Valley marathon in 2 weeks. I've run everywhere between 6:43 pace and 10:00-ish pace over the past few weeks, with intervals, uphills, downhills, tempo runs, and recovery runs at various intensity levels...but I didn't have a good idea of what my target pace should be in the marathon, or more important, what that would feel like.
This morning I started a little easy to loosen up my stiff hip, and backed off a little at the end to not aggravate the blister I felt forming, but tried to run what felt to me like medium fast marathon pace for most of the run.
7:53/mi avg. Splits: 8:15, 7:40, 7:35, 7:28, 7:50, 8:10, 7:47, 7:49, 8:20, 8:02
My analysis:
1. Based on how I felt at miles 9 and 10, I probably need to back off today's effort level a little at the start of the marathon. I felt okay (except for the blister) but I'm doubtful I could have maintained that effort for another 16.2 miles.
2. Today's run didn't have any long uphill stretches like the marathon has. I might be able to run 8:00-8:15-ish pace for the good downhill sections, but with the hills mixed in the overall pace will likely be slower than that. I need to average just under 8:24 pace for a BQ. It may still be a possibility, but the stars will have to align and I'll have to run a nearly perfect race. Just breaking 4:00 hours would be a good improvement over last year's UVM, and matching my 3:47 time at St. George on the UV course would be a nice achievement as well.
3. I was lazy with my foot preparation this morning and got a blister. I need to be careful to not do something similarly foolish on marathon day.
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