Saturday, March 26, 2011

Didn't I Nail It?

I have been clueless about what my next marathon pace (MP) would be and really haven’t cared much. Rational: I am very happy with my current training. My goal is to run better without getting concerned on the measure of “better”, and I know that in just 7 weeks, I am running way better!!!

But being 8 weeks from Coeur D’Alene Marathon, I felt the need to have some idea on what my MP would be. My current plan calls for similar long runs than Furman’s, which establishes the paces a run should be done. I decided to use my great Mercer Island results from last week to do the reverse calculations. For the same week than Mercer, Furman called for a 13-miler at MP  + 15 seconds. As I did that race in 10:21, my MP, according to the formula, is 10:06.  Though it seemed a really ambitious MP, I decided to stick to that number.

Plan for this weekend was Birch Bay 30K race (18.6 miles). Furman has an 18-miler at MP + 30. According to MP of 10:06, I should run the 30K race at 10:36, for a finish of 3:17:30. Though I had this number as a not-to-exceed finish time, my primary goal was to run freely at the pace my body dictated. And I ran that way. I had a good idea of how I was running as I passed every K mark and had a watch to tell me how long I have been running for that distance, but other than that I never really knew what pace I was running.

With a course divided in Ks, my race segments where one K at a time. And because they are shorter than segments of one mile, the time flew faster. I had a solid run, I was strong all the way, never felt bad, and nothing went wrong.

I crossed the finish line in 3:16:05 for a 10:32 pace. A 15-min PR. Didn't I Nail It? 





2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You nailed it! You are such an inspiration!
I have never run a race marked in kilometers and even though I felt pretty lousy during the race, the km markers REALLY helped. Felt like I was ticking off mileage faster.

Irish Blue said...

I agree with all of the above! You are so awesome! You have really inspired me. I'm back to running and I want to be as dedicated to it as you are. Hugs!!

Any chance you would want to meet up out west at the Bizz Johnson Marathon in 2012? It's on my radar and I'm pretty sure I'm going to do it.

Much love friend,
Melisa