So here I am in another first -- my first marathon-equivalent in 36 hours during training. Tonight, 10-mile progression run on the TM; Saturday morning, 16 on the road. I am pleased to report that the abdominal discomfort, while not completely gone, is much better, The legs, well, not so much. Not painful, but just lackluster. I was able to maintain a good pace, all right, but the energy wasn't there. Of course, a little session of, uh, marriage maintenance before the run might have had something to do with that :)
Started the run at 10:12 pace and just gradually bumped up the pace, spemding about .75 miles at each level before speeding up again. Finally got it to 8:20-something for the last two miles and left it there. Overall average for the 10 miles, right at 9:00. Since Sub-Four remains Plan B, that's kinda sorta MP-B on average, and the last half of the run was faster than MP-B. Never quite got to MP-A level, though, so I'm not going to count any MP miles on the log.
Saturday will be interesting. In my favor, the weather is supposed to be much cooler, maybe even in the high 60s when we depart pre-dawn. Working against me is an extremely hilly course -- Arts Center to Central High to the Capitol, up Kavanaugh, loop around Cammack Village, back down Kavanaugh and Markham to the River Market, then work back to the Arts Center. After this one, though, Memphis, even with cambered streets, should be a snap. And the last probably 6-7 miles is essentially downhill. Hopefully, I'll handle this 16 a lot better than last Saturday's almost-16. | 