Saturday, August 30, 2008

UGH-- the sluggish run!

Well- today was 14M medium-long run, and two miles in I could tell it was going to be brutal. I couldn't leave until after DH and DS #2 got back from 6:00 am hockey practice, so out the door at 8:00 instead of 6:30. Mistake #1.

3 glasses of wine last night. Mistake #2.

Have not been running hills, and decided to do a hilly route. Mistake #3.

Took Group Power yesterday. Mistake #4-- my legs really felt beat up from the beginning.

It was hot/humid-- that's not my fault, but refer to Mistake #1.

Average pace was 9:44, which is about 15% slower than my 8:35/mile goal time. I'm not feeling so badly about the pace, it was just HARD. I know from experience we're all gonna have some crappy runs every cycle, and I'm hoping this was it. When I switch my LR days to Friday in two weeks, that should help a great deal.

Also, did a LOT of thinking about pacing during the run. Went back and read Pfitz, and he said LR should start about 20% slower than MP, which for me would be 10:00 minute miles. Then, ramp up to 10% slower than MP by the end of the run, which would be 9:25ish. Pfitz said that if you are running much faster than 10% slower than MP that you might leave your best running out on the training course, not the marathon course. So- I was within the range. I think my goal range would be 1 minute slower than MP, so between 9:25-9:35. I'm going to try and stick to that in the future.

I must admit I get a bit caught up in the paces some of the ladies in RWOL thread are putting down, and use that to motivate me. BUT, I learned from the NYC 2006 debacle NOT to train to fast, and Pftiz worked great for me last time. I have to remember MY GOALS, and to run MY RUNS.

Whew! Glad that is over.

Taking the boys up my parents for a visit, then DH and I are meeting ML/JL for dinner. Should be a nice time.

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