I ran this week true to the schedule:
Monday – 7 miles (5 @ marathon pace)
Tuesday – rest
Wednesday – 9 miles with 4 mile repeats @ 10K pace
Thursday – 8 miles easy
Friday – Mile time trial (+ 1 mile each to warmup and cool down)
Saturday – 6 miles easy
Sunday – 15 miles
Total: 48 miles
The one real modification was the long run. I opted to do my 15 at That Dam Half, running 13.1 after a 2-mile warmup, figuring a supported run on a beautiful lakeside course beat the pants off strapping 40 oz. of water to my person and running 15 hilly miles near my house. I was right. 🙂
My first perk was getting to watch the sunrise over the lake. Love how God says good morning!
It was windy, but I pressed into the wind, pushing myself as an act of worship…and then let the same wind carry me on the way back. Definitely a spiritual parallel there!
Pleased with this week’s time trial showing improvement, I decided to test out my marathon pacing strategy and set my watch accordingly. Over 15 miles, I held a pace about twenty seconds faster than what would be PR pace for the marathon. The time trial suggests I could do even better come race day, but time trials are tricky. It’s a lot harder to sustain maximum effort over the course of several hours than a few minutes. Today’s pace might be a bit quick for an extra 11 miles, but if I give myself those extra 15-20 seconds/mile back, I think I can sustain comparable effort for a couple more hours. I finished feeling FANTASTIC.
It was also great to see so many Eagles up for Team RWB and to catch up with these gals after the race.
The other bonus that beat running the neighborhood: Bling!
