Rhett

I decided to do pretty much this week what I did 4 weeks ago when I did my easy week so I ran a mile to a nice long steep hill and did 10 hill sprints with very slow walk jogs back down then did a few easy miles for a total of 6 miles. I don't think I will do any more hill repeats before Boston!!!!!

6 easy miles this morning.  It was an incredibly beautiful morning.  Mid 50s, sunny, light breeeze.  I love it!!!!

AP 7:33

I broke out the new shoes tonight for my tempo run. I did 1 mile warm up at 8:00 then 9 miles at 6:40 on a treadmill at 1% incline. Around mile 5 my mind told me that I was done. It took me about a mile to convince myself that I was actually running at a comfortable pace that I could maintain for a long time. By mile 6 I had convinced myself and the rest was fairly easy. The new shoes were comfy!

Tomorrow I have to head to Palm Springs for CE. I have to be there for my first class at 8am so I have to leave here about 4:30. I haven't missed a day (Sundays not included) running since Painter's so I may get up early and get in a couple miles to wake myself up. I won't get home till about 10 tomorrow night. It'll be a long day.

2 easy miles at 3:30 am before heading out to Palm Springs for CE. It was a good way to wake up the body.

AP 7:55

I felt terrible this morning. I woke up with a cold with congestion, sore throat, etc. I'm just glad it is still 2 1/2 weeks till Boston. Ran 6 easy miles in some crazy wind.

AP 8:00 exactly, not even trying to hit 8.

Today was the Havasu Half. Burt from this blog who lives near Phoenix came and stayed at my home last night. It was nice to meet him in person. He is a very nice guy and was a great house guest. My wife ran her first half and my son ran the 5K. Doone (my wife) did great finishing in 2:03:25. I'd say that is pretty good for her first ever half and Chase ran a 26 min 5K and I think placed in his AG... not sure yet.

I was trying to use this a my final good training run for Boston, so I did no tapering or carb loading or anything. I went in shooting for marathon pace and was pretty disciplined for about the first 8 miles, but then the competitive juices started to flow and I went too fast. I hope I don't pay for that at Boston. Here are my splits.

1-6:24 too fast, but the first mile always feels slow

2-6:45 settling into a good pace

3-6:40

4- 6:43

5- 6:41

6-6:50 running into a strong head wind for the next 2 miles

7- 6:45

8- 6:52

9- 6:40 this was the turn around spot and I was in 6th place

10-6:21 feeling real good

11-6:19 passed the guy in 5th, next guy a good 1/4 mile ahead

12-6:14 closed the gap a bit, he was only about 150 yards ahead

13-5:54 passed the guy to more into 4th

.1-5:04 pace sprinted home feeling good

Total time 1:25:41 AP 6:32

It was a fun race and I felt like I had a lot left. I hope I didn't push to hard with Boston so close.