Today was my last hard workout. I started at 60th and the aqueduct and headed east to the turn around behind Highland. It was cold, 39 degrees at the start, and there was a cold breeze across the aqueduct for the first hour. I came back on the dirt side and stopped at 8 miles to regroup (1:01:40 or 7:42 pace). I then started into the marathon pace finish portion of the run on the asphalt side, made the turn, and then a 180 after 4 miles so that I could come back on the asphalt side. As I was running I realized that my marathon splits are actually easy to remember. Every 3 miles should be exactly 20 minutes (6:40 pace). So I should be 40 minutes at 6 miles and 60 minutes at 9 miles. That will definitely keep me from looking at my watch too often on race day. Today I practiced staying relaxed at 6:40 pace and actually felt good about it. My right leg feels about 90-95%. As I was coming up on 8 miles I saw Clay starting his warm up and I decided that I should make it an even hour at MP so I added on an extra mile (mile 17 on the day was the fastest at 6:13). I was pleased with the effort given the fact that I did not eat breakfast, did not take in any fluids during the run, and did not do any gu's or gels. Here are the splits:
8 mile warm up= 7:56, 7:52, 7:56,7:44, 7:37, 7:35, 7:31, 7:25.
MP portion= 6:43, 6:43, 6:42, 6:41, 6:37, 6:46, 6:36, 6:34, 6:13 (avg 6:37).
Total time 2:01:20 or 7:08 pace
I will start to shut it down from here on out with exactly two weeks to go. I need to get my legs feeling fresh. I will do easy running from here on out with probably a 12 miler next weekend including 3-4 at MP.
NCAA Div III championships was Saturday and Ray Ostrander from CLU finished 144th out of 276 on a major off-day with a time of 27:03. I don't know what happened but I'm sure traveling took its toll. The Div III west coast runners always get crushed.
NCAA Div I championships is on Monday and I found a pre-race video interview with Ryan Sheridan of Iona who has an intersting story and has a great outlook on running, racing, and life. Here are my favorite quotes:
"That's the best part about our sport. You compete against these other people and at the end of the day you can still be friends."
"If I go out on Monday and finish dead last it's not a loss, I'm still running. I'm still physically able to do it, and there are people who can't do that...to be able to run is victory enough."
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3 comments:
Good job! Looks like you were hitting your miles right on target. Nice to see that you still had a 6:13 in your legs after 8 miles at marathon pace. Glad to hear that your right leg is feeling better. The taper could not have come at a better time for you.
What a great interview. I told Zac to watch it Twice.
For a 20 year old kid he sure has things figured out quite well. He'll be running for a long time!
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