Second Wind

Rest.

Since so many people that ran SGM are starting to do tempo runs and faster miles, I decided to jump on the band wagon today and do a short 3 mile tempo run just to see how it felt.  I was kinda wimping out on what pace I thought I should run those miles.  At first I was thinking I would just do marathon pace miles but as I got going, I decided to try and do true tempo pace miles.  After a three mile warm up I got into the tempo pace and settled into a pretty good rhythm.  Splits came in at 6:50, 6:53 and 6:55.  Cooled off with two more easy miles and called it good.  The morning running weather here has been simply perfect and looks to continue for the rest of this week too.  We are usually in the high 50s and get up to the mid 80s during the day, which is way above our average of mid 70s.

6 weeks until LVM so it is time to get serious again about a solid build up and a couple of 20 milers.  The plan is to do 20 this Saturday and then 17-18 the next week and then 20+ in three weeks and then the usual 3 week taper.  Hopefully with enough duct tape and glue I can hold my body together for one more marathon this year.

Time:  1:02:29  7:49/mile

NB768 354.78 NB768 (new) 161.26  Saucony A2 11.9

I love the new shoe tracking addition to the blog.  Now I don't have to copy and paste my shoe entry every day   wooohooo!!

Just took it easy today and enjoyed a nice run with Meg.  She told me today that she will not be running Vegas for sure so I guess I will be doing this one solo.  I sure hope the race day weather is like it has been this week.  Today was perfect again with a temp of 60 and no wind at all.  I'm sure things will change by then but it sure is nice right now.  We steadily picked up the pace each mile today and finished our last couple of miles right in the 8:00/mile range....and it felt really good.

Time:  58:35  8:22/mile

Decided to do some GMP miles today.  Started out with a couple of miles warm up and intended to do 4 miles at 7:28 or better but ended up doing 5 at that pace and then cooled off with a couple of slower miles.  Things are starting to feel good again.  Hopefully that will continue through this three week build up to LVM.  Weather was warmer again today with a starting temp at 67 degrees.  Supposed to be back down in the high 50s for the lows this weekend so maybe the weather will finally start to shift to more fall like temps.

Time:  1:09:55  7:46/mile

Took it a bit easier this morning and kept the pace at a moderate level.  Ran with Meg most of the way and and had lots of great conversation.  Another beautiful morning for running, 60 degrees and no wind.....simpliciamente perfetto.

Time:  1:06:38  8:20/mile

Intended to take it pretty easy this morning but following the "hard easy" principle it was time for a little more hard work today.  Decided to do a one mile time trial just for fun this morning.  After a three mile warm up I started the mile,  man I'm slow.  I would like to think I am capable of a 6 minute mile but was only able to manage a 6:15 this morning.  I'm not sure what my problem is, but I'm sure I could come up with pleanty of excuses.  Anyway, once that was over I just settled into a nice easy rhythm and finished off the miles hoping to save something for tomorrows long run.  Weather was great again, even on the warm side at 66 and overcast.

Time:  1:06:10  8:16/mile

The plans in getting ready for LVM include a 20 miler this week and another in two weeks.  So today was the first of the big nasties.  My original plans included going out and warming up for a few miles and then hitting some marathon pace miles to finish it off.  I decided to scrap the marathon pace miles and stick closer to the 10-20% slower rule based on this high mileage week.  So during the course of running I decided I would at least run the second half faster than the first half.  The first 10 came in at 1:22:45 and the second 10 came in at 1:20:59 for a 1:46 negative split.  One of my many weaknesses in the marathon is fading off really bad toward the end so I really wanted to buckle down and concentrate on running at least an even split and I accomplished better than that today.  Overall I am happy with the run and have no worries about being ready for LVM in 5 weeks.  Just keep the injury bug away, thank you very much.

This concludes only my second 60 mile week ever, glad to be done with it.

Time:  2:43:44  8:11/mile