Today’s assignment: distance run, 18 miles.
This is my first attempt at a distance that long and was a bit nervous heading out. Have to admit, I was really pleased with the entire run: good weather, good pace, good time of meditation.
I’m starting to get really excited about the Columbia Marathon in a couple of weeks, but I couldn’t be any happier with the training to this point.
Set out for a six-mile tempo run this AM and was feeling pretty good. Decided to see if I could push it a little bit since I missed Monday’s track workout due to a cold and not sleeping well.
Weather was perfect: 42 degrees, not much wind, clear skies. Legs felt good at the start and kept going. This lead me to a new PR with an ever-so-slight negative split (4 seconds or so). However, my fastest mile was the last.
Today’s Assignment: 16 miles at MP + 30-45 seconds / mile.
In wanting to mix up my long runs, I decided to run on Greenville’s Swamp Rabbit Trail. The trail is one of my favorite places to run. Well maintained, paved and surrounded by trees and nature.
I started right around 5:30 AM, heading north towards Furman University. Their campus is right at mile 6 from my start point and seeing the sun rise over their lake was beautiful.
I was very pleased with today’s run. The goal was to maintain a 9:30 pace, which I did the first half (9:25/mi avg). As sun came up and I turned around to head back, I was feeling strong and wanted to see if I could up the temp a little bit. Had a good negative-split on the return route (9:00/mi avg.)
This was also my first “marathon week” as I totaled 26 miles between the three runs (Track, Tempo, distance). Added all together I was at 4:00:49. Next week’s scheduled runs (4.5, 10, 12) will be in the same range and I’ll look forward to seing how the weeks compare.
Still Smiling after 15-miles in the cold.
Today’s assignment: 15-miles at Marathon Pace + 60 seconds/mile.
Notes: Had the privilege of running with a long-time friend, Mark Herbster, who I’ve not seen in a couple of years while he was in town for a couple of days. Not many people would accept a random email invite to run 15 miles at 5:30 AM on a Friday.
Temps were about 27 degrees during the run and seemed like the wind wasn’t bad … until we turned around to head back at 7.5 miles. Last half of the run had us dealing with 14mph winds on our face and made it pretty miserable. We finished (though I slowed Mark down a bit) and am glad to have a running partner for the day.
