I just finished my last long run!!!!
I am so glad to be done with these long runs for a little while. I only had eight miles scheduled this morning, but I did not want to run even one or two miles. I allowed myself to sleep in until seven, which meant that I missed the entire group that leaves at seven (which I was planning on running with). Sleeping in put me down at the starting point pretty close to eight o'clock, and you might think that it would be just a bit warmer at eight in the morning than it is at six in the morning, but then you'd be wrong. It was a whole 34 degrees out when I left the house this morning. This convinced me to not only wear tights, but also a jacket and gloves...all of which I was glad I had once I felt the breeze coming off the river. Trust me, this outfit will definitely be in my bag for next weekend, just in case.
I felt pretty good this morning, despite the total lack of motivation. My legs felt strong, and thankfully, there was not a repeat of last week's killer bout of nausea. I managed to run a negative split again, with my first four miles run in just over 36 minutes and my last four run in just over 34 minutes. The splits looked good too:
Mile 1: 8:43
Mile 2: 9:00
Mile 3: 9:03
Mile 4: 9:14
Mile 5: 5:57
Mile 6: 8:54
Mile 7: 8:30
Mile 8: 8:23
Total run time was 1:10:55. I'm pretty comfortable with that and feel like I'm positioned pretty well for under 4:00 next week. My tentative plan is to go out with the 8:30 group and settle into a slightly slower pace as I get warmed up and more comfortable. I'm convinced that the course is flat, and I know that I can comfortable run an 8:30 if I'm running over flat ground. There's no way that I can run an 8:30 pace for the whole race, but if I can pick up an extra minute or two at the start, it'll only benefit me later.
I'm shooting for around 1:50 for the first half, so that would mean that I'll need to run slightly under 9:00/miles for the first half. That'll give me a little wiggle room if I get tired as I'm going through the second half.
Now that I'm actually thinking race strategy, I'm starting to get pretty pumped up!!!
4 comments:
Your race plan looks great. I think you'll find that getting your goal is easy as long as you aren't stuck doing lots of weaving the first few miles.
And I promise, Chicago is flat. The only inclines you'll find are going over the river (bridges) and then at the end...Pinkowski Hill, conveniently located at mile 26.
That's an awesome plan. Good luck and enjoy the last week of the taper.
You are going to kick ass. We really need to try to get together - I don't think I've seen you in 3.5 years!
Good luck with tapering.
Wiggle room huh? I forgot about that! You'll be fantastic!!
Post a Comment