Eugene Marathon, 3:10 goal
S, 4/9: 19 - Started out not sure how I was feeling...my new shoes were not quite broken in yet, and I was a bit worn out after previous weeks of 103.5 and 95.5...a couple miles in I just said, "F*** it; I'm going and I'm going hard," and I did. Don't know the exact pace, but I was pushing. Some tough hills, too. The turnaround point was at the bottom of a ~1.25-mile hill, and as I started up it, I heard a bicyclist behind me about 10m, so I tried to hold him off. That lasted about 3/4 of a mile, and then a flatter section came around and he went 10m in front of me, and for the last 1/2 mile of it I held him at that distance or less. At the top he had a friend waiting for him and they stopped for water and I, naturally, kept going. When they started up again (on flatter terrain) and passed me they asked if I wanted water. So that was nice. Splits were 73:45 on the way out and 71:11 on the way back; I was conservative with my pace estimate so I called it 19, but it may have been 20+.
S, 4/10 11.5 - easy
S, 4/11: 9.5 - easy
S, 4/12: 9.5 - 5@tempo: 6:20, 6:32, 6:08, 6:01, 5:46 (15:57 out, 14:51 back) - felt a bit sluggish, even at the end. Perhaps should have warmed up a bit more, or even at a bit faster of a pace?
S, 4/13: 9.5 - easy
S, 4/14: 9.5 - easy - I really didn't mean to have 4 9.5-mile days in a row. It just sorta happened.
S, 4/15: 13.5 - easy
Total: 82
Man, I am not a fan of tapering. I'm at 80% of my high week right now, and even though I hadn't run 82 miles in a week before a month ago, I feel like I'm doing nothing, and that nothing is wearing me out. I spent some time looking at past LR threads on marathon tapers, trying to calm my nerves. Also I've been wondering about my goals...I have had two bad marathons and just want a good one, so I think I am playing it safe. My first was Seattle 2003. I got sick 6 weeks before it (I suspect mono now), could barely finish training runs, and ended up walking most of the race, spending probably 45 minutes total in portapottees, and struggling just to finish, somewhere around 5 hours and 40 minutes (for comparison, my friend with whom I had been training before I got sick finished in 3:14). My second marathon went only slightly better...I had been worried about stomach problems that I get a lot, and decided to employ a method I had used quite successfully in recent 12ks and 10ks: not eating for 16 hours prior to the race. While this works splendidly for races lasting 45 minutes or less, a marathon is slightly longer, and apparently requires much more energy (who'd've thought?). I was on pace to run just over 3 hours right up until about 14 miles, at which point I (predictably) ran out of energy and once again struggled just to finish, this time notching 4 hours, 23 minutes. That was Rock 'n' Roll AZ 2007, 3 months ago. So since I got 5:40 in a marathon everyone said I'd be under 3:10 in, and 4:20 in a marathon everyone said I'd be under 3:00 in, I kinda wanna not run a completely terrible marathon this time around. I feel like I'm in good shape, and I ran 35:10 for a 10k when I was in all right shape and 1:23:12 for a half marathon a few years ago when I was in not great shape, so one would think that I could be closer to 2:50 than to 3:10.
I think I may be overthinking this just a hair. I'm a bit scared to run off how I feel instead of what my watch says, and I'm a bit scared to run at 2:55 pace instead of 3:05 pace, and I'm a bit scared to run at 3:05 pace instead of 2:55 pace.
Yikes, I think I should go for a run right about now to relax.