Oh! My Strategy. I Take You Seriously

I finished the marathon training a week ago with a 17-miler and 10 Yassos two days later.

The 17-miler went pretty well.  Started with an easy mile, then 2 uphill miles of 6% gradient, to mimic Big Sur miles 10-12 (4.7%). Though it will be different to run 2 uphill miles at mile 10, I still wanted to sense the incline and the effort. Then I jogged one mile and toed the line for Easter Half Marathon in Lacey. I can't describe how strong I felt… to the point that I PRd by 2min 23 sec with 1:56:58 for 8:56 min/mile pace. 

On Tuesday I attacked the 10 Yassos at 3:57 min each. I felt really good throughout all of them, and finished really strong.

I feel really happy with the whole training process from all points of view. I added 35% of additional miles every week, I ran good speed work, good quality long runs, and a lot of fantastic recovery runs. Now it comes that time desired by many: tapering time. Curiously, I felt so good throughout all these past weeks that I didn’t feel like resting, but as disciplined as I am, I will welcome it wholeheartedly.

Yesterday, I went to run 13 miles (of course in another Half at Elma, WA). It was my 45th Half Marathon, which would take me to another level of madness in the Half Fanatics world (Earth level, 6 moons).

Plan was using that run to practice and mimic marathon effort during the first 13 miles: First 2 miles at 75% HR and the rest at 80-82%. Pace? No idea; whatever the HR dictated was the pace at that effort. I did what I was supposed to do: first 2 miles at 75-77%, then 80-83% without allowing the HR to go beyond that. At mile 10 I wanted to know how easy or hard was to crank it up and to unleash. A good sprint would be OK. Oh Boy, it was very easy! Did mile 11 & 12 at 90% and mile 13 at 98%.... and, without looking for any time, or glory, I PRd again, not by much, 5 seconds, but I was not expecting that with such low effort for most of the race. 1:56:53 - 8:56 pace. How do you run the last mile of a Half Marathon at all-out effort? With a lot in the tank. Oh! My Strategy. I Take You Seriously.

Easter Half Marathon, Lacey, WA - 1:56:58

Spring Fling Classic Half Marathon, Elma, WA - 1:56:53