It’s hard to be totally excited about a “PR” that you know exists only because you don’t race the distance very often. I mean, I’ve run faster than 6:25 pace for half marathons on numerous occasions. Overall, I ran a decent race. My splits were 6:15, 25, 22, 30, 27, 22, 26, 35, 32 and 1:54 for the last three tenths. For awhile it looked like I was going to be running all alone. Then at about 3.5 miles, the top 2 gals came by and I was able to work with them for the next 3 miles. However, when we went up the large hill for the last time on this 3-loop course, they gapped me. I thought I’d be able to catch them on the downhill, but I couldn’t and I ended up running the rest of the way by myself.
Of course, now I’m second guessing my marathon training. For example, numerous times I’ve run sub-6:30 pace for the Winter Carnival Half Marathon in January just off of base mileage and hills. And now, with a bunch of marathon pace and tempo workouts I can only manage 5 seconds faster per mile – for 4 less miles!
It seems like either; a) I’m not improving or b) I’m getting old and just fighting off the declining effects of aging.
Anyway, I thought the simple answer would be to increase my mileage and add in hills. But then I looked back at what I was doing last year before PRing at Grandma’s. Starting in April I actually began taking one day off per week and dropped down to an average of 60 mpw.
I need to figure out if I should stay the course, do more or do less.
On a lighter note, here's an Olympic poll;
What has been your favorite Olympic moment so far?And speaking of the Olympics, I admit I snickered when I heard one of the swimmers last name is "Tancock".
A) The Opening Ceremony
B) The U.S. swim team’s 4 x 100 relay team beating the French team
C) The return of Melissa Stark to TV
I guess there are nude beaches in his country.
Quote of the day;
“Citius, Altius, Fortius - faster, higher, stronger.”
1 comment:
Chad, there is no complaining about a PR allowed. It is generally accepted by the running community that a PR is a PR.
I had a 15km tune up race similar to yours before my most recent marathon. It felt like I ran a good 9.3 mile tempo. Every thing felt good, just couldn't kick it into a faster gear. I just considered it to be a good work out and figured that at the height of marathon training with no taper to speak of the results were not too far out of whack.
Unless you've developed some underlying injuries I would suggest you stick with the Daniels running plan and have confidence that in 8 weeks you will be race ready.
Mark in New England
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