I think the official term for the training we did last night was "Kenyan Outbacks," but really it's all about a negative split: run out for 15 minutes, make it back in 12. We'd done these once before already. I was on my own in Wisconsin, though, and failed miserably.
So, yesterday, in the still-sweltering August heat, we got together for a team run at Minnehaha Academy. Of course I forgot my watch. Kind of important when you're trying to figure out a good, steady, marathon-like pace for the first fifteen minutes before turning back around and kicking it up a notch. But I ran with a good group of runners that I've been pacing with much of the summer. I think we were somewhere around 10:30/mile most of the way out.
The good news? We finished in 11:45, dropping three-plus minutes on the return. After a brief cooldown, our coach offered a "bonus" run for anybody who was interested. What the hell, right? It'd only be another couple of miles.
Same path along the river, shorter this time, though: we'd run out for ten minutes, with a goal of getting back in eight. Ran with Crystal and a couple of others; we finished very strong, coming in a full thirty seconds earlier than we needed to at 7:30.
Great practice for the marathon, I hope, and even for this weekend's half-marathon.
Really want to focus on slow and steady through the first half before deciding if I can bust out a quicker pace for the last six miles or so.
Wednesday's training: 6 miles
Total Mileage: 240.5 miles
Leave a comment