Confidence

With the hill workouts pencilled in for Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I moved this week’s long run to Thursday. With my resolve to cut down on the miles still in place I decided to “only” run 20 miles. But, with those doubts about my sluggish legs fresh in my minds, I also chose to push the pace a little bit more than usual and see where that leaves me.

For the first 17 miles I ran my trusty Caragh Lake Loop, with all its ups and downs. It was still quite dark when I left at 5:10 am, and a bit windy, but the conditions were pretty good. After one or two slow miles to warm up I increased the pace ever so slightly, and kept going. Last week it had taken me 68 minutes for the first 8 miles, this time I was 4 minutes faster and still feeling good. At that point the long 3-mile climb started, but my legs are sufficiently strong by now to take that in their stride, so to speak. I felt pretty good on the climbs and the knee held out on the downhills, and when I reached the flat section after 14 miles and still felt good I cranked the pace up a bit more. I decided to turn the run into what coach McMillan calls a fast-finish long run, except that I didn’t go as fast as 10k pace for the last bit, and of course I ran the whole workout on an empty stomach and without any extra carbs on the way. I timed myself for the last 3 miles and covered them in 21:52 (7:17 pace), which I was very pleased about. That’s almost the pace I’d like to run in the marathon, and it didn’t feel outrageously fast. Of course I couldn’t yet hold it for 26 miles, but to crank it out for the last miles of a hilly long run was a very satisfying experience. That was by far the best long run I’ve ever had, and as a result I’m much more confident about the race now. To be honest, I should have trusted my training all along, but when you try something new for the first time you can never be sure about the outcome. I’m definitely much happier now than I was before that run, and gained a lot of confidence.

As mentioned at the beginning, Friday’s workout was supposed to be another hill session, but my legs got stiffer by the minute as Thursday dragged on, and by the end of the day I knew that I had to throw in an easy day. I didn’t mind, and I take the fact that I gave myself a bit of flexibility as a good sign, rather than stubbornly stick to the training plan. 10 miles at a very easy pace felt good, and I just went by whatever felt like recovery pace. The first mile was as slow as 9:20, and the legs felt so heavy that I seriously considered turning around and bagging the run entirely, but they felt a lot better once they warmed up and after the first 5-mile loop settled into a comfortable 8:30 pace without complaining.

I've provisionally pencilled in a hill workout for tomorrow to make up for today, but if I’m still tired I’ll completely scratch it. I’ll head out for the Devil’s Elbow, and once I get there I’ll decide if hills feel like a good idea or not. Whichever way I decide, this week’s mileage will be a lot less than the previous few weeks, somewhere in the mid-80s. Funny, last week I got suckered into running more miles than planned, this weeks I swung the other way much more than planned. That’s fine by me, now that I’ve finally got some reassurance that the training is working I feel a lot more relaxed.

2 Aug: 20 miles, 2:36:59, 7:50 pace; last 3 miles in 21:52 (7:17 pace)
3 Aug: 10 miles, 1:26:55, 8:41 pace, avg. HR 137