Day Seventy Six - Marathon Pace
In the spirit of, oh, I don't know, actually training to run this marathon I decided that it's probably a good idea to get back on my running schedule. So I decided to run 5 miles today, just like I'm told I should. I headed up to the gym after work and hopped on the treadmill. I suppose I could have run outdoors, but it looked pretty chilly...although I guess I should be getting used to that, right? I decided to set the speed of the treadmill to match what I HOPE to be running as my marathon pace of 9:30 per mile. Now - that is a lofty goal, I understand. And I'm not saying I'll settle for anything less. I mean, to get there I'm going to have to do some real work seeing as my Staten Island Half Marathon pace was about 10:00 per mile and this is...well, twice as long. Anyway, gotta have a goal, right, and I figured no time like the present to start working towards achieving that goal. So I set the pace for 5 miles at 9:31 per mile, or 6.3 miles per hour.
It was not an easy run, although I'm willing to place some blame on the treadmill factor and some on the fact that it's been a while since I just flat out ran. The good thing was that it was my muscles that were tired - my legs obviously, and not my wind that made the run difficult. Cardiovascularly I'm at the point where I can just keep going, it's just a point of whether my legs hold me up or collapse underneath me. No danger of collapse last night, but the 50 or so minutes I spent running felt like twice that. But I did it. Kept the pace for 5 miles and then did a 2 minute cool down before stretching and hitting the showers. So while it wasn't a banner night by any stretch, at least I know that I can keep my desired pace for less than a fifth of my total distance...
...wait a minute...that's not very encouraging at all.
Damn.
Friday is a day off and Saturday is 11-15 miles in the park. I think I'll go for somewhere between 13 and 15. Wish me luck.
Thanks for reading. More later...
DAY 76
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 5.18
TOTAL MILEAGE: 141.23
It was not an easy run, although I'm willing to place some blame on the treadmill factor and some on the fact that it's been a while since I just flat out ran. The good thing was that it was my muscles that were tired - my legs obviously, and not my wind that made the run difficult. Cardiovascularly I'm at the point where I can just keep going, it's just a point of whether my legs hold me up or collapse underneath me. No danger of collapse last night, but the 50 or so minutes I spent running felt like twice that. But I did it. Kept the pace for 5 miles and then did a 2 minute cool down before stretching and hitting the showers. So while it wasn't a banner night by any stretch, at least I know that I can keep my desired pace for less than a fifth of my total distance...
...wait a minute...that's not very encouraging at all.
Damn.
Friday is a day off and Saturday is 11-15 miles in the park. I think I'll go for somewhere between 13 and 15. Wish me luck.
Thanks for reading. More later...
DAY 76
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 5.18
TOTAL MILEAGE: 141.23
posted by Demps at 9:38 AM
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