NEW LONG RUN PACE

Coach Jim the last three weeks on one map.

Hello there. I've been continuing to plug along. I've hit 30 miles a week for the last three weeks, so despite feeling like I'm slacking, I'm really not all that much. Looking back at last year I was hitting about 25 miles a week at this time, so I have nothing to be ashamed of. The only thing I could really improve on is my speed work, but I'll get that going more officially in a month or two. I'm still trying to get one "speed" run in a week.

What has really sped up has been my long runs. Part of my strategy to break through the 3:30 barrier in the marathon is to speed up these longer weekend runs. My first three training cycles have seen these runs at about 9:45/mile. When my target marathon pace is almost two minutes faster, come race day I think it might be too much of a leap. So I think speeding these runs up a bit should help me come race day.

Recently every weekend I've been running with Coach Jim and his group. For the most part I have stuck to the 3:20 marathon pace group which has been running at 8:55/mi-9:20/mi. We've been kind of going back and forth between paces, I haven't quite figured if that's on purpose but I'm sure there's some method to it. Anyways, these runs have been good for me. The pickup in speed has certainly been a challenge but one that I have seemed to handle pretty well.

Take today's run. We ran at 8:55/mi and had a very hilly miles 2-4. That killed the legs a little bit but I was able to feel pretty good through about mile 10. The last four were a total slog and the last two pretty uncomfortable, but I got them done. All told, twelve hours later, my legs feel pretty good. I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow but that is just par for the course. That happened when I went slower too.

My goal is to keep running with this group every weekend and eventually get my legs used to this new long run pace. By starting early, with these 12, 13, and 14 mile runs, I'll hopefully get my legs adjusted enough that when we hit 18 and 20 miles I'll be able to do those at this pace without completely taking myself out of commission for multiple days. Then when I hit the Eugene Marathon in early May I'll hopefully be able to go sub 3:30!