Friday, June 8, 2007

Getting Back Up To Speed

Went out for my 5 mile tempo run today, which is still pretty slow - my training plan called for 3 miles at a 10:04 minute mile. I started slowly (my first mile was 10:47), but felt good from the start and knew I could pick up the pace considerably once I passed the 1 mile mark. I ended up averaging 9:32 for the next 4 miles, my fastest run in a couple of months. The best part was that the increased speed wasn't a struggle at all. I'd planned to slow to a jog for the last mile, but I found myself keeping the same pace without much effort. Overall, I feel like I'm about back to where I was before "the slump," and feel much more confident about the the next 8 weeks. It's nice to know it's possible to take a month and a half off and not have to start from scratch again afterwards.

Regardless of that, I'm beginning to feel vary nervous about the marathon. On almost every run, I catch myself calculating the percentage of marathon distance (19% today), judging my pace and guessing at how long I could maintain it. Part of that's good - a way to start preparing and predicting for the actual event. Part of it is the steady accumulation of nerves that will not lessen until the race (or, run) is over.

1 comment:

Bruce said...

Thats good that you're getting your speed back. What's your schedule for the next few weeks building up to the marathon?