A.M. 2.25 with Benjamin from Computune in 17:42.
P.M. Ran with Jeff. Joined him for a part of his control tempo run. His target was to run at 173 HR for 4 miles, then run the last mile hard. The purpose was to get an idea if he was fit enough to have a shot at prize money in Richmond half. I ran the first and the fourth mile. 5:15 and 5:25 respectively. Also coasted through one more mile in 6:13 immediately following the 5:25. The foot did not like the 76 quarter at the opening of the first mile. I thought about stopping at 0.5, but decided to tough it out a bit more. Not sure if it was a good idea, but well, I did it. In the second mile it was not as drastic since the pace never was faster than 5:20, but the foot was already irritated from the previous mile. So my conclusion from this and my Saturday's run is that I should not run faster than 5:40 for some time. Not that I would be particularly anxious anyway - I do not look forward to anything faster than 7:30 in this kind of condition. Jeff ran 21:27 for the first 4 miles, and then once the HR speed limit was removed, closed with a 4:54 mile. I think 173 HR is way below his half race effort, which is a good sign. So I am doing the following math - half race pace on the trail 5:20, take off 5 seconds for the weirdness of the trail (that's the difference I see between running on the trail and running on a street/highway), take off 10 second for going to see level. That gives us 5:05 pace, or in other words 1:06:38 for the half. With that he should be in the money in Richmond. Also, it would be nice to covert this math from theory to practice, and if we succeed, that's only 1:38 from OTQ through the half - close enough to see a flickering beam of hope.
Now it is the matter of logistics - time off work, finding a place to stay (they do not give hotel to anybody in the half, only the marathon), and getting a good airplane ticket. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:27. Jenny and Julia ran with Sarah on a bike.
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