Hammered

OK, that's it. I've been making it sound like "training" was over, but of course I had to get through the weekend, and that meant today's long run. I was up for ten miles, so I alternated two and three mile loops, with the first five miles at a nice easy pace, three miles at high aerobic effort, and the last two at approximately 10k race speed. According to mapmyrun.com, the loops are actually 3.2 and 2.12 miles each. Looking at my times, I don't think those are really accurate. I know my effort (and much of the loops are the same roads), so the discrepancies in pace don't make much sense.

Loop 1 - 3.2 miles - 24:07 (7:32/mile)
Loop 2 - 2.12 miles - 16:41 (7:52/mile)
Loop 3 - 3.2 miles - 22:07 (6:55/mile)
Loop 4 - 2.12 miles - 14:10 (6:41/mile)

Now, my effort was almost identical for the first two loops. There's no way I dropped 20 seconds per mile in there. I upped the pace for the third loop, but wasn't fighting to keep it. I was right on the edge of my 4-4 breathing. Those last two miles were at an effort higher than what I do on T-pace. I was pushing, and find it hard to believe the difference between those two efforts is only 13 seconds per mile. So somewhere, something is a little off.

Now, are any of these paces correct? Probably not. Who knows how far I ran, all I know for sure is I had an increasing effort for 67 minutes and change. I guess I'll find out exactly how fast I can go on a measured course next week.

I've been napping and eating since I got back. My body is fully cooked at this point. Five days of moderate rest, a solid spin next Saturday, and flying on Sunday. That's the new plan.

Run: 10.6 miles (maybe), 1:17:05