Another tough workout tonight. 16 miles with 12 @ M-pace (6:14's). I headed over to the the Highline trail again for this one and after 2 miles easy, got into it. Again running without GPS for pace and just going on feel. Felt relatively good as I got into it and managed to roll all 12 miles at an avg of 6:10-pace. Splits were: 6:11, 6:11, 6:02, 6:06, 6:11, 6:11, 6:07, 6:11, 6:10, 6:09, 6:14, 6:21 (total 1:14:10).
As you can see, the trouble really came in the last 2-miles... at least time-wise. What I found is that I lost focus at the start of mile 8. Until then I had just been able to cruise and not think about anything other than my perceived exertion and monitoring what was going on with my body. About mile 8, I just got bored and started thinking about other things... work, life, etc. Unfortunately, as I did this, it eventually led to me letting up on the pace and crashing those last 2 miles. It doesn't mean much for this workout since I still achieved what I had hoped to, but it definitely causes me some worry for the full marathon. Chances are I will be running most of the race alone (like tonight) and I need to figure out a way to keep that focus throughout. In Rome (in March) I think I did a good job of it through about 15 miles. Started struggling from 15-20, and was just totally out of it for the last 10K. I don't want to do that again. Anyone know any good secrets? If so, feel free to share!
Anyway, wrapped up the night with 2 more easy miles but my legs feel totally cooked. It's going to be an extremely easy day tomorrow. On a sidenote, my buddy Rob Chenoweth (aka. the fastest masters runner I know... and an overall amazing runner) will be racing Twin Cities this Sunday. After an injury and a long time on the sidelines, I'm sure he's anxious to see how he can go out there (I am too!). It kicks off the real start of the Fall marathon schedule (not counting Berlin, which was last weekend... since I didn't know anyone running there) and I'm super excited to see how all of my friends do out there! This is a nice break from the Triathlon world... one that I needed.
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