It's probably just as well that I was too busy this morning to think much about the fact that this was Patriots Day, and that my office firewall (and my schedule) prevented me from watching the Boston Marathon webcast or following the race online as it unfolded. Because I probably would have been beating myself up, that if I'd just run a little smarter race in Memphis, I would have been there instead of plowing through a Monday morning clinic. That, by the way, might actually be true, but it's water under the bridge. My task now is to make sure that I'm not doing clinic NEXT Patriots' Day, that I'm in Hopkinton instead. Toward that end, I had what may be my toughest workout of the entire cycle tonight -- 6 X 1200 at VO2 max pace, dropped into a 12-mile run. Had thought about doing it at the track at the nearby high school, but it was just a bit too warm and windy today, so decided to do it inside, where I could at least make sure I maintained the proper pace on the dreadmill. So I ran all six reps at 6:40 pace (9.0 mph). Finished the 12 miles in 1:40, including warmup, 600-meter jogs between reps, and cooldown. Did have a little time today to think about strategy -- strategy for the Toad Suck 10K, and strategy at Newport. I think I'm just going to try to go out and run steady 7:00 miles at Toad Suck, since I know the course and it has no brutal hills. At Newport, I think I'll start fairly conservatively for the intown four miles, pick up the pace a bit after I clear the hill at mile 4, and try to pick it up even more after the turnaround at mile 15+. If I run the kind of pace I want to run, I'll have a chance to break 3:20 entering the last 10K, and I'll also have some cushion for cramps or whatever. I'd like to break 3:20, but breaking 3:31 is essential, and I want to build in some cushion for that. Then the last six miles, balls to the wall with whatever I have left -- something I really didn't do at Memphis. | 