The past 3 weeks have been excellent training. After going 100, 103 for the 2 weeks post-philly half, I decided to take a day off this week and dipped down to 81 for mileage but the QUALITY of my runs was terrific. I did 2 really great workouts this week. The first was 4x2mile at goal 10 mile race pace on Wednesday. The day was pretty humid so I didn't feel great, but I got the job done. Splits were 10:02, 10:04, 10:14, 10:20. Average ended up being 5:05 pace. The second workout was an out and back 17 Miler on the C and O Canal Towpath on Saturday, at Pennyfield Lock(a little less than half a mile from mile marker 20). I ran a bit furthur than the last mile marker(28) I had to turn around since the mile markers from mile 20-28 are all a bit short(for accurate markers you can go by this website- http://www.rundc.com/Trails/DC/C&OTowpath.html. The first 1/2 mile was a warm up run but then I quickly fell into 5:40 pace...working down to 5:30 pace. It felt fine, and I increased the pace slightly during the entire duration of the run. Turn around point was 48:00 minutes in, and I felt fantastic. I honestly love this shit. I love just hammering and running forever. On the way back, I picked up the pace, continuing in the 5;30s. My Garmin gave me a 5:15 split at one point...but I'm not totally sure it was right. Who knows. Who cares? I was just running by feel anyway. I think my body feels its best when doing this. It just gets in that rhythm and takes off, strong, unstoppable, and powerful. I came back in 47:00, finishing a dip under 1:35:00, averaging a 5:35 pace, or 2:26 pace for the marathon. This is a great run, and shows my fitness is sharpening at the perfect time. Running 17 miles close to marathon pace is an entirely different experience than running 17 miles. It's almost a dream...when I finish I'm like, wow, that didn't take very long...yet it seems I traveled so far. It is an ubelievable feeling. Sunday I did a long slow run of 23 miles, which was tiring the day after the hard 17, but at the same time the pace was easy, so it was all about just getting on my feet for 2.5 hours. It was actually a very nice loop. I started at the Georgetown Branch Trail in Bethesda, took that down to the Rock Creek Trail all the way into DC, across the Arlington Bridge into VA, and picked up the Mt. Vernon Trail and headed back over the Key Bridge, and then back towards the Capital Crescent Trail to take that back up to where I started.
Monday: PM: 6 miles
Tuesday: OFF/Core/Strength/Weights
Wednesday: PM: 4 mile run, 4x2mile @ 10:02, 10:04, 10:14, 10:20. 12.5 miles total.
Thursday: AM: 5 miles/PM: 7 miles
Friday: 10 miles
Saturday: 17 miles @ Marathon Pace: 1:35:00 (5:35 pace)
Sunday: 23 miles: 2:39:00 (7:00 pace)
Total: 81 miles
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