Wednesday, July 09, 2008

The new normal?

Getting the miles in. Did 5 on Monday at 8:02 pace (opps, a bit fast for recovery), 8 miles yesterday morning with strides at a 7:57 pace. I was going to do a 10 miler with 5 at LT but realized that i'm paying money to race a 10 miler race this Sunday. And LT speed is supposed to be your 15K to half marathon pace. Anyways, that got me thinking that i'll do the entire race at LT and get some benefits out of that.

Today, did my 14 miler on an out-and-back course. The wind was pushing me on the way out so the way back was tough. But amazingly, I was able to keep my pace up and even stepped it up. I did the first few miles in 7:54 pace but by the midway point, I was reeling off 7:45s and near the end, the 7:39s. Finished 14 miles in 1:48:14 with average pace of 7:43, not a whole lot slower than 3:20 marathon pace. I definitely pushed it as I was fighting against the wind, but my average heart rate was about 159 bpm.

I know my increased training and my loftier goals means that I gotta run faster. Even my everyday runs need to be a bit faster than my normal runs this past spring, or even for the past few marathon training cycles. It's feeling good so far. We'll see, though, as I'm due to go out for my 11 miler in 8 hours!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

:)

Triseverance said...

It sounds as if things are going swimmingly. Thanks for the Boston information, I am not sure I still fully understand it but I will figure it out.
I am thinking next fall I will have that two goal time thing working for me for 2010(3:15) and 2011(3:20). I am just not sure if this rule exists.

Sonia said...

Good going!! That Boston goal seem more and more attainable =)

Arcane said...

I think you'll have no problem come September. Your paces are getting much faster, very easily. I'd be hesitant to do a 21 mile long run and then a 10 mile LT run the following day, but that's just me.

I signed up for the 5k on Sunday, though I may -accidently- miss the 5k turn around and keep going! Looks like they will have corrals like at Harry's so I may see you at the start line.

yumke said...

Yeah, 31 miles in two days is not easyy but i'm well on my way!