Got up this morning and did 3 miles on TM to warm-up for today's half marathon, including 1 mile at a quicker pace...ventured out to Colchester and tackled a "beast" of a course. It was in the low 30's with a light snow here and there. Not only did it have crazy hills, but the 3 sections of trails were covered with snow (absolutely no tracking). Last year the trail section provided relief, but this year it was a stretch that took serious work. Here are the splits...
Mile 1: 6:41 (fairly flat...established a very managable pace)
Mile 2: 6:46 (mostly uphill...had to work, but not too hard)
Mile 3: 6:56 (mostly uphill...worked hard)
Mile 4: 6:47 (rolling hills...kept steady going up, pushed a little coming down)
Mile 5: 6:50 (mostly downhill w/a few rollers...just kept steady, managable effort)
Mile 6: 6:42 (mostly downhill...just coasted in antipation of a "monster hill")
Mile 7: 7:40 (this was a trail with a hill...much snow and no traction-worked very hard)
Mile 8: 7:26 (1/2 mile downhill, could not gain speed- no traction, 1/2 steep uphill)
Mile 9: 7:21 (partly trail/uphill, returned to road a found downhill relief- regroup time)
Mile 10: 6:48 (mostly downhill, not feeling my legs too much at this point)
Mile 11: 7:23 (mostly downhill, but back on a nasty trail, weaving to try to find footing)
Mile 12: 7:29 (back on the road, but all uphill)
Mile 13: 7:33 (100% uphill- crazy finish)
Final .1: 7:42 pace (steep incline...spent at the end!)
The time does not reflect the effort. Felt like I a had a very productive training run. The trail portions could have all been sub-7 if the footing was there (except mile 7). Feel as though I'm almost back to normal. This is a great building block for Boston.
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