One of those days where, if I weren't in training for a marathon, I probably would have come home from work, eaten something, and gone straight to bed. I got pummeled at work, and will again on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (holiday weeks are always like this). Instead, I came home, changed clothes, and put in a darn hard workout: Four miles of warmup on the treadmill, three miles at marathon pace, the last mile at something approaching LT pace, then go outside for 10 100-meter strideouts. This time the strides were HARD, probably reflecting that I was less than five minutes off a tough 74-minute training run.
Which brings me to pacing questions. I'm not sure where to go with this. I'm basing my MP for training off what I ran in the 10K two months ago, which gives me an MP figure of somewhere in the 9:00 to 9:10 range depending on whose tables I use. It was a good 10K, PR by six minutes, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't an optimal run (I walked for 200 yards, a temptation I always find hard to overcome in mid-run or mid-race). But when I base my pace off heart rate, like recovery runs, for instance, my HR at 9:00 pace is barely out of the recovery zone. And following Pfitz's advice to do longer runs at MP + 20% then MP + 10% is frankly too darn easy; I have a very hard time running that slow. My 11-miler on Saturday averaged MP + 3%, and the last three miles were well UNDER goal pace.
Not that there would be anything wrong with running four hours at recovery pace if that got me a sub-4, but I'm not going to unearth that hidden potential I'm trying to find by running at less than 70% of my heart rate reserve. Specifically, I'm not going to get to Boston that way -- unless there's a helluva lot more hidden potential there than I think. And yes, I have to quit the Gallowalking if I'm gonna maximize my ability.
So I'm now officially in mini-taper for the 5K. Take tomorrow off, an easy four- or five-miler on Wednesday, maybe a light jog Thursday, bust the 5K Friday morning, then a SLOW long run on Saturday (I know, I always say that and then end up busting it). But if I can get in the 22s or low 23s Friday, I'll deserve a bit of a break. And if I don't, I still need to take it easy on Saturday. | 