Today's 'long' run was a short one compared to recent weeks. We ran for 2 hours, which gave us 11.5miles. Once again, Karen managed to find a couple of new sections to the route so we had a bit of variety. The weather was great running weather, overcast, right temperature and even a bit of rain.
The schedule included two marathon pace sections of 15 minutes - one at the start and one at the end. I wanted to see how I did here as my pacing has been a bit erratic. I didn't do that badly - with the first one at 9:55m/m and the last (mainly downhill) at 9:45m/m. I did find myself going too fast and then having to slow down, which isn't good. Still, there are a few more marathon pace training in the schedule yet, so I may still get it right.
The rest of the run was at steady pace and the splits were: 10:18; 10:15; 10:23; 10:18; 10:27; 11:34; 11:01 (long steady hill); 10:51; 10:23. Everyone felt that pace was comfortable so hopefully on the day, with our race-heads on, we'll be able to manage 10min/mile pace. With so much energy left, we went to play in the park!I've been thinking about my race plan this week, and reviewing how things have gone in training so far. My primary goal is to finish and enjoy it. I loved the last marathon I did and want to feel the same way at the end of this one - tired but happy and proud of what I've achieved. I'd like to stick to my original goal of a 4:23:00 finish. The training has gone well so that doesn't look unrealistic. However if the weather is warm, I will try to go slower at the start so will be changing the goal to a 4:30:00 target. I am a bit wary about setting targets as I don't want to feel disappointed, especially if I realise at mile 20 or 22 that the target isn't achievable. On the other hand, I've work hard in training so want to give it a good shot.
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