A burst of spring and along with it some pace

Had one of the best runs of the year, and it was not a coincidence it was the first spring-like day we`ve had. I have purposefully skipped pace and speedwork this year, just concentrating on running.

Yesterday, put on the shorts and T-shirt and took to the streets for a 17 miler. It felt great and I put some pace. I wasn`t even paying attention to my splits but more than half way through it, I noticed I was pulling in much faster than 8 minute miles. Hit the half-marathon mark at 1:41 and didn`t loose any of that speed for the last four miles. Ended up with an average pace of 7:41.

Out of nothing came a 17 miler pace run. Not 3:10 or 3:15 pace, but something close to a real marathon pace run. Not bad.

14:34:21 1.00mi 00:07:46 7.72mph 23.3mph
14:42:17 1.00mi 00:08:05 7.41mph 7.8mph
14:50:23 1.00mi 00:07:40 7.83mph 8.2mph
14:58:03 1.00mi 00:07:50 7.66mph 8.0mph
15:05:53 1.00mi 00:07:35 7.91mph 8.4mph
15:13:29 1.00mi 00:07:41 7.80mph 8.2mph
15:21:11 1.00mi 00:07:47 7.71mph 8.2mph
15:28:58 1.00mi 00:07:38 7.86mph 8.3mph
15:36:36 1.00mi 00:07:42 7.78mph 8.6mph
15:46:22 1.00mi 00:07:46 7.72mph 8.7mph
15:54:09 1.00mi 00:07:51 7.64mph 8.3mph
16:03:40 1.00mi 00:07:35 7.91mph 8.7mph
16:11:16 1.00mi 00:07:43 7.77mph 8.1mph
16:18:59 1.00mi 00:07:41 7.81mph 8.4mph
16:26:40 1.00mi 00:07:39 7.83mph 8.3mph
16:34:20 1.00mi 00:07:28 8.03mph 10.3mph
16:41:49 1.00mi 00:07:09 8.38mph 10.3mph
16:48:58 0.01mi 00:00:05 8.69mph 0.0mph

Did 50 miles for the week, which, piled on with last week`s 55 miles, is starting to give me a great endurance base.

Next four weeks will bring better running conditions, we `spring forward`next Sunday and I start a month of races. A 5K next week, a half marathon in two, a 30K in three and a `double`5K and 8K` race day in early April.

By then, taper will have started and I will be well on the way to the marathon.