Saturday, October 17, 2009

Steam Locomotive


Today was Saturday track day!! Flatland! The weather is nasty. Cool, 45ish, dark clouds, North winds around 10-15mph. I dressed in my shortest shorts, I like them because when they get soaked with sweat they won't catch (drag) on my thighs, if you know what I mean?
Long sleeve shirt (Adidas tech, my fav), gloves and hat. A little cool to start but after a while I felt comfortable. Dressing for a cold marathon can be tricky so I want to test specific wear.
So, since I've decided to lay it all on the line in 15 days I need a strategy. Today as I started my MP run I wanted to simulate how I would start. But the first mile was a 9:50. That is too slow! It takes a bunch of miles to make that up if you want to avg 9:09's! If you start too fast your dead later? This is a tricky balancing act!? Today I wanted 10 miles at MP. I had one bad patch but that is good to experience and learn to work through. Two observations today. Have a couple of different strides in your arsenal. I noticed that when I shifted to a shuffle for a while I regrouped. Imagine yourself as a Steam Locomotive. You must feed the engine with fuel!

Here are the splits-9:50, 8:49, 8:44, 8:58, 8:48, 8:41, 8:41, 8:40, 8:45, 8:32, 8:15

Totals-11.01 miles/ 1:36:55/ 8:48's.

Next week Taper- looks like a max of only 30 miles-Wow! That seems like such a small amount of miles! Peace!

7 comments:

Bob A said...

Enjoy your taper week. Looking forward to the race report.

Beth said...

Wow, 30 miles in a week looks small to you now. That is amazing. I don't know if I will ever get to that point, but it's fun to think about. Great job at the track!

Unknown said...

That's the cool thing about tapering, LESS MILEAGE!! Rest up, keep resting, yep still rest!! Nice visualizing by the way, a steam locomotive is much nicer than my donkey image...

Love to Run said...

Remember to get your rest and sleep. That is the thing that always gets me, the lack of enough sleep. I have read that it is not the night before the race that matters, it is the week before that day that matters.

Lindsay said...

that run certainly turned out well after the slower, warmup first mile! check out your splits! nicely done.

feels good to be logging higher and higher miles so now you can say "only" 30!

Marlene said...

You killed the MP workout! Strong pace, Mark. You are looking good.

Unknown said...

Very nice, Mark. I've always found it harder to maintain MP goals when I run by myself, and they come easier at the race. But you have done wonderful on this long run. Best of luck, can't wait to hear about the race.

Sauna

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