But, I was very happy with how this workout ended up! My 3.6 mile warm-up was slower than usual (8:17), which made me concerned that I was feeling this week's mileage and intensity, but I think it was mostly because Missy's dog who ran with us was being a bit crazy. Missy and I ran our warm-up together, and then did our own things, so I was solo for my workout. I was a big weirdo and set up a card table next to the trail we were running on as my "aid station" in order to practice during race fueling on this run. I had small Fuel Belt bottles of mixed Osmo (electrolytes, a little carbs, mostly water) and Accel gels that I could grab while on the run. My goal was to do all of my fueling on the run and without stopping my watch so I could get used to doing it when running hard. I managed to do this, but I will say that picking gels and bottles (laying on their sides, a mistake) up off a table is not as easy as having someone hand them to you! I just picked nutrition up twice - around miles 3.5 and 6.5 (each time did half a bottle of the Osmo mix and half a gel). My regret of the day was not taking a picture of the "aid station"!
It was kind of an odd run, because I didn't feel wonderful but I didn't feel bad. It seemed to take me about 4 tempo miles to really get warmed up and into a rhythm. At the beginning I had to focus to stay at pace and not drift to 6:40 pace, and I never had points where I had to hold back from running too fast early (which is usually the sign of a good day). I'd run an 8 mile tempo on this same course at 6:24 pace so I was hoping to be around that pace on this run, but halfway in I wasn't sure I could be much under 6:30 (my goal pace range was 6:20-6:30). But the miles went by pretty quickly and when I hit mile 8 I told myself it was like mile 11 of a half marathon and then my pace really dropped. For some reason this technique works really well for me to pick it up at the end of long tempo runs; I guess because I'm running about half pace and when I frame it like that I know I have more to give towards the end. My final 2 miles of the tempo were 6:13 and 6:09, giving me 10 miles in 1:04:02. Geez, I should've run my first mile 3 seconds faster! Overall I probably could have started a bit faster, but you know what they say about hindsight. Strava told me that this was my second fastest 10 mile run ever (my fastest being in my PR half). I ran 2 solid 10 mile tempos late 2015 and early 2016 in 1:04:12 and 1:04:52 on this same course, so I kind of hoped this one would be more under those times than it was, but those tempos were run very fresh and the faster one without the "bonus" hard mile I had after this one, and also in cooler temps (it was 68 degrees with 12-15 mph wind, and light rain started towards the end, so not bad but not 45 and sunny with no wind), so I hope it evens out to show I'm more fit now.
After my watch beeped 10, I rolled right into my recovery mile (I did stop for about 5 seconds to get a sip of Osmo during the recovery when I passed the "aid station") and got ready for my hard "hammer" mile at the end. My goal pace from my coach for this mile was 6:08-6:12, but I wanted to run it faster than the final mile of my 10, so I pushed from the gate. I looked at my watch about 0.3 in to see that I was averaging 5:56 pace for the beginning of the mile at that point, so I thought I would try to get under 6:00. I was really happy to finish the mile in 5:53, and I think that's actually the fastest mile I've run this season (clearly I haven't done much speed work - but seriously I don't know how much faster I could run a mile even if I was fresh!). Glad to have this workout in the bank, and it also showed me that I need to race a half (my half PR of 1:24:31 is 6:27 pace, although on a course harder than I ran today).
Then, funny thing, my 1.4 mile cool-down ended up being exactly the same pace as my warm-up (8:17). I couldn't have done that if I tried!
 |
| Splits for the 12 workout miles |
 |
| Strava "best times" |
That is awesome, Sara! When I saw the picture of your 12 mile pace I was thinking the same thing. You need to run a half marathon so you can PR! What an awesome workout! It always feels so good to be able to finish hard and really kick it in!
ReplyDeleteI'm not exactly sure when I'll run my next half, sadly! I couldn't make an area one fit with an early October full. Route 66 or White River are maybes, but they are 2 weeks after Bass Pro so it will be a last minute call. White River is a little closer and also a really fast course, but it fills up, so a last minute decision will more likely put me at Tulsa - and it would be fun to see you! How is your half training going?
DeleteThat would be awesome! That would be soon after a full, I couldn't do that! Training is going well. I'm getting excited!
DeleteAfter reading about your recent long tempos, I think you're going to be ready for an amazing half! Whether I am there or not, I want to hear all about it. I ran the Route 66 half two weeks after the Bass Pro full in 2010 and it went fine, and last year I ran a local half six days after the Dallas full and somehow felt far better than I did in the marathon, so it can go well. But then there's been other marathons where I couldn't even race marathon pace for a 5K race two weeks after, so one really never knows, haha!
Delete