NOT MEASURABLE

I was thinking during this morning’s 10 mile run that I must be the slowest sub-3 marathoner around. I took one split on the way out and saw 8:10. This wasn’t an easy split during a warm-up or the day after a hard effort. This was a pretty typical “putting in the miles” pace.

8:10s? Goal pace is 90 seconds faster per mile.

Now I realize I put more stock in long runs, tempos, speed workouts and races, than I do “putting in the miles” pace. But I can’t help but think about how slow these are, especially when I constantly read about other (slower) runners training well below 8:00 pace.

Would I be faster if I ran 7:30s for these runs instead? Would the other runners be faster if they slowed down? I don’t know the answers – just something to ponder.

Heck, the last 3 miles I dropped to 7:40s. The effort wasn’t that much greater, but there was a mental effort that’s required to get there.

This is my final big week before tapering and I was planning on getting 65-70 miles in. However, I ended up taking yesterday off to rest my knee, along with a new ache under my big toe. Normally, I’d run through those aches, but at “23 days out” I don’t want to take the chance of doing something stupid. The difference between a zero and a six in the log book, at this point, is probably not measurable.

If you have time, be sure to check out Chris Lundstrom’s latest journal entry.

Quote of the day;

“Training well requires so many things to be working in unison. Mastering the physical side alone is tricky enough. Add to that the mental and emotional side, to say nothing of the logistics of actually getting things done, and you start to see how tenuous optimal training actually is.” – Chris Lundstrom