pace day

Well it turns out that with school getting crazy I've been a crappy blogger. So be it, but I did have an encouraging run today. I'm in the middle of the so called taper, the gradual reduction of intensity before the race. For a marathon it's supposed to be a gradual three week reduction. I kind of screwed the gradual part up, but I'll talk more about that if I have time for another post. Today, I went on a run where I went slow (all runs are supposed to be slow in the taper) for a mile or so, then got to the track to do some pace work. It's been a while since I was on the track so I wanted to do a couple of miles there at my planned race pace to feel what that's like and get it into muscle memory. Planned race pace is 7:15 min/mile overall, but I'm shooting for 7:05 or so for the first 10-15 miles because the last 6 are uphill and I know I'll be a bit slower for those. Sure enough, I hit the track and cranked out the first lap right on pace for 7:10. Score! Plus it felt really good. I've been having some worries lately about my ability to achieve that pace, stemming from the way my last 20 miler felt and the extreme exhaustion that set in after that last hard week. Again, more about that later if there's time, but for now school and social obligations call. Today was a good running day!