Confidence Run

I had a great run on Sunday. I almost always run with a partner or small running group these days and rarely run alone. That's quite a change from years past, and even earlier this season, when I would almost always run alone. I also think this reflects my "break through" in running this past season.

One of my fears, though, in running with others is that I wouldn't or couldn't hold the pace on my own. Well, the run this weekend should lay those fears to rest. I ran just shy of 14 miles in 1:54, which is an 8:11 pace. I wasn't trying to run at any particular pace. As a matter of fact, my legs were just a touch tired from a group ride the day before, as well as the cumulative effects of the week's training. I even felt tired at first and considered cutting the run short.

I stuck with it though and hit a great groove. I didn't look at the clock or my heart rate for the first 50 minutes. After that I was monitoring my heart rate to keep it in my aerobic range, below my lactate threshold. I was also watching how things were on the hills (up), which dominated the second half of the run. I averaged 148, which isn't too bad for me.

I also hit another PR on the half marathon distance. Though I don't have a GPS watch, I ran basically the same route as last time (a couple of weekends ago) and remembered roughly where the 13.1 mile mark was. I used my watch and took three splits at the end of three blocks and then when I plotted the run on dailymile.com the 13.1 mark was between the first two splits. The second split was 1:48:19, so I beat my previous PR of 1:48:11, by about a minute.

Yesterday, I signed up to do the Madison Marathon at the end of May, both to keep me motivated to train and as a way to gauge my progress at the beginning of next season. I'd love to run it in 3:30, which would be an 8:00 pace. If I could hold the pace I just ran, I'd finish in 3:34:24. I know that's not reasonable. Typically, you're 5% slower, in pace, when you double the distance. That would mean an ~8:35 pace and a ~3:46 marathon time. So, I still have quite a bit if work to do to shave the 16 minutes.