Week 10 – Key Run Workout #3

Another solid run today and a good way to end the week, especially as there’s only 6 weeks to go until race day. It was nice to ‘only’ have to run 15 miles instead of an 18 or 20 mile run, and the weather was the most pleasant it’s been for a while too. The plan called for 15 miles at Planned Marathon Pace plus 20 seconds, which for me would be 7 minutes and 8 seconds per mile – challenging, but certainly doable.

The first mile was just an easy warm up mile (8:01), but it was soon time to pick up the pace and hit those 7:08s. The next two miles were against a 15mph wind. I had to work harder than I really wanted to do at this stage in the game, but the pace was good (7:01 and 7:03). I also needed to use a toilet and finally found a spot in some bushes at the side of the road in the fourth mile (hence the 7:21).

From here on in however, there were no distractions. I was able to pick off the miles with pretty good consistency and before I knew it I was turning around to run the last 5 miles back to the car. I never felt under pressure at all in this run and, with the help of a couple of Energy Surge tablets (which I’m currently testing), was able to finish off the workout in a very positive way.

Splits for the 15 miles as follows: 8:01, 7:01, 7:03, 7:21, 6:53, 6:53, 6:52, 6:55, 6:54, 6:54, 6:56, 6:48, 6:42, 6:39, 6:21

For the record, Week 11 of the FIRST Marathon Training Plan looks like this. Another tough week ahead, but I definitely feel more confident (and less beat up) than this time last week. 6 weeks to go…the marathon is getting close!