Well, I am starting to get the butterflies already and
it`s over 2 weeks away. I completed a solid 8min mile 22
mile long run 2 weeks ago but last weeks final long run of 20
miles did`nt happen as I caught a cold.Maybe I was pushing myself
a bit too much.
Anyways my last hard workout at the track was last night and
although I game myself a bit more recover time between intervals
mainly due to the heat (and the fact that I am still recoving from
that cold)
The session was:
4 * 1 mile at 6.20 pace
2 * 800 metres at 3.00
Felt tough but that is par for the course for these speed
sessions but I can bank that one and hopefully it will help me
in a few weeks.
The only trepidation I have on the big race is the unknowns :
What pace can I hold for 26.2 miles ?
How much will I suffer ?
What pace should I go out at ?
What finish time can I achieve?
It is hard to guess accurately as I have`nt raced a
half marathon/or a 10 miler in the build up to the marathon.
My plan was to target breaking the magic 3hr mark but I have
now decided to aim for between 3.07 and 3.15 as I don`t want to
go off at 7 min pace and blow up in the second half.
As this is my first effort I am going to be a bit cautious
- for once !
I can aim to break the 3 hr mark if I decide to do another one ..
So,my plan is to go out with the 3hr 15 pacing group, settle
into the race and take it from there.
Depending on the conditions and how I am feeling I may kick on
after 10 or 13 miles.
I may stay with the pacing group till the 20 mile mark and then
try to "race" the final 10 k home.
Whatever happens it should be a blast and i am looking forward to the challenge.
Just give me 2 more injury free weeks and a cloudy race day
and i`ll be happy..
My own experience (Cork will be my 6th Mara) is that you can have a blinder to halfway and end up walking at mile 23 or you can feel that you are having an average day up to mile 16-18 and then suddenly you find your groove and come home at a constant pace and happy with your day. One of the problems with going out too fast is the lactic has no where to go so you end up seizing up late in the race. Going out too slow and you will never know whether you could have had a better day.....good luck and lets pray for rain/clouds/wind/cold weather!
ReplyDeleteCheers Richard
ReplyDeleteLong - term weather forecast is cloudy so fingers crossed as I gather you are no fan of running in the heat either..
I guess if it does`nt go as planned we can all hitch a lift on Grellan`s 3.30 express !
I hate the heat. My last blog post gives an indication of how it impacts on my performance for the same exertion.
ReplyDeleteMy own advice is to feel like your running too slow for the first ten miles,let runners pull away from you.
ReplyDeleteIncrease effort over the next ten so you feel like your running ideal effort[ your start to hold then catch runners in front of you] then give all you have left in the last 6.2 [you should start to pass runner after runner now].
thats pretty much how I ran my last marathon and it really works, most people blow it in the first couple of miles, good luck.
That is sound advice Rick - I am planning along those lines and will try to increase the effort after 10 miles going on "feel".
ReplyDeleteThen go all out for last 5/6 miles - we are racing after all!
Will be interesting to see how it all unfolds..