Tuesday, November 21, 2006

7 miles w/2 at marathon pace

~1.5 nbhrd loops + track, 6.99 miles, 1:08:23/140 (9:47 min/mi, 2 miles@8:24 min/mi)

I decided not to do the marathon effort interval thingy and just did a straight 2 miles at marathon pace. Goal was to get a feel for 8:30 pace. First lap looked like 50.8 or 50.9 seconds when I crossed the line (8:28-8:29) and the first half mile 4:14 (8:28 pace). Lap 11 was a little fast (50 secs, 8:20 pace) and I settled into that pace for the last mile.

  • 1 nbhrd loop warm-up (2.93 miles): 30:16/131 (10:20 min/mi)
  • continue warm-up with jog to track and jog one lap around (0.3): 3:29/131 (11:37 min/mi) -- stopped to "draw" start line
  • 20 laps, hitting the lap button every 5 laps (0.5 mile per split, 2 miles total): 4:14/152 (8:28), 4:14/156 (8:28), 4:10/159 (8:20), 4:09/159 (8:18) -- overall 8:23.5 min/mi, a 3:40 marathon pace is coincidentally 8:23.5 min/mi.
  • jog one lap around, jog back to nbrhd loop, continue and stop at school fire hydrant (1.76): 17:48/140 (10:07 min/mi)

We know how this went last time, but it looks like 8:30 (and even 8:20) *should* be sustainable and a reasonable starting point. My first mile of the marathon in the spring was 154 bpm average, but of course I was starting completely cold then and would expect a lower heart rate than after a 3 mile warmup. The second mile in that race was 164(?) if I recall correctly. Here I'm doing 8:20 min/mi @159 for the second mile (plus I've had a warmup).

This was on a track of course and today was a cold day (30 degrees), but my 3:56 marathon is a total mystery to me. I probably could have run 9:00 pace at something like 145 or less today. Saturday's going to be warmer, but still should be around 50 at the start.

bah-bump worked great again.

tomorrow I'll do five. If I do one neighborhood loop and continue on the second until I get to Grly and then turn around back to the start point, then that's exactly 5 according to Google earth.

wc7-2

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