AM... 16 miles total, which is what I had scheduled for my long run (I've built two miles per week for the last 3 weeks). The plan for the "race" was to get up to Eden early and put in 4 miles prior to the race--around 6:40-:45 pace--run the "race" on marathon pace (and if I felt good maybe try to run a little faster the second half)--and finish up with another 2 miles after for 16 miles total. I haven't done much tempo training since my injury, so I figured this race, which is pretty low key, would be a good barometer.
When I got to Eden, I found out that none of the Weber State team would be running, and figured that even running only 6:00 pace I could be close to winning. I ran 4 miles prior to the race on about 6:40-:45 pace, allowing myself only 5 minutes until the actual race started. Right out of the gate, I was running alone and as I suspected, was able to do a controlled [M] pace run and was able to win the whole thing. I got a little excited and ran too fast on the first mile (especially with my stated goal of running target [M] pace for St. George), but got back on pace after the first mile abberation.
I held 6:00 pace just as I planned, although there are a couple of hills involved that actually make the course a fair challenge and the effort may have been a bit harder than 6:00 pace. There is a gradual climb from the start through mile 3, with the majority coming between mile 2 and 3 (approx. 400 feet total, about 300 feet between miles 2 and 3). There is also another short hill around mile 7, that actually wasn't all that bad. You can see the course and elevation at the following link... http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=145076 After the race I tacked on another 2 miles and did a regular stretch.
I was happy to run 10 miles of [M] pace in the middle of a 16 mile run. I was fairly comfortable throughout, although I will admit the hills did feel pretty tough--not sure if thats a function of where I'm at fitness-wise, if the hills were really that tough, or if my third workout of the week caught up with me. All-in-all, I was happy as I set out to do exactly what I wanted--10 miles of [M] pace and 16 total. I missed a lot of mile markers, but here is what I did get...
Mile #1 - 5:28
Mile #2 - 5:55
Mile #3 - 6:52
Mile #4 - 6:01
Mile #5&6 - 12:05 (missed the 5 mile marker)
Mile #7&8 - 12:08 (missed the 7 mile marker)
Mile #9 - 5:46
Mile #10 - 5:48 | 