Believe in yourself, and you just never know...

Made a number of errors this morning so I didn't have the best run.  On the plus side, it wasn't terrible and if I get my preparation right then I could still run a good time in SA.  This wasn't the best week, but a new one starts tomorrow so thats my focus!

Longer recovery run today.  Felt good...had matches shoes on ;o).

8:15 average pace.

Legs felt a bit tired from Saturday & Sunday so headed to the trail for a run.  I knew I couldn’t do anything too strenuous, but wanted to do a couple of faster miles.  As such I decided to do a 2 mile warm up, then 1 mile at MGP, then 2 miles easy, 1 more mile of MGP action, and then a jog back to the house.  Here are the splits: 8:45, 8:17, 7:01, 7:59, 7:55, 6:43, 8:19, 2:41 (8:10 pace for 1/3 mile).  I felt good on the trail.  I’m taking Tuesday off as I’ve run a lot of mile in the past 3 days.  However, I’ll be back for 7 miles of close to MGP pace on Wednesday!

Cool but humid his morning.  Legs felt tired during the .9 mile warm up, and also for the first 3 miles (of 7 miles).  However, after that I started to feel good so I pushed on.  Last 3 miles felt really good.  Here are the splits: 7:29, 7:11, 7:25, 7:15, 6:46, 6:37, 6:37 (Average pace for the 7 miles were 7:03).  After that it was a .9 mile job back to the house.

Easy run on tired legs.

Medium run today.  Met up with Mark for a 4:30am start...the alarm call was not a pleasant one.  However, a good run.  8:02 min/mile average so nothing special, but not super easy either.  Conditions were cooler than Saturday, but still pretty humid.

Couldn’t face the early morning alarm call this morning so needed to run after work.  It was a little warm, but not too bad.  Ran 5 ¾ easy miles.  Could have gone further, but I’ll be doing a pace run in about 9 hours…yes that’s the price I pay for sleeping in this morning. 

Cooler, but very humid this morning.  It rained very briefly when I took for the pup out for a short walk.  I got back drank some more Gatorade, and then headed off to meet Mark and Frank.  Legs felt very tired the first couple of miles.  However, they felt better for the middle 3 miles.  I then sped up n the last 2 miles.  That didn’t feel good, but wanted to push on tired legs.  Average pace for the 7 miles was 7:14, which is 10 seconds that my BQ MGP, but if I could run 3:10 (7:15 pace) in San Antonio I would be very happy indeed….that’s why I’m putting down 7 at MGP. 

Got the miles in, but not the pace.  One more chance next week....

Short recovery run involving 3 laps of Hancock Golf course. Nice soft surface. Didn’t wear a watch. But I’d guestimate about 8:45 pace based on how long it took me.

Woke up, took the pup for a walk and then headed out for my run. It was a nice cool morning, but a little breezy. However, my legs were still tired from the weekend so I wasn’t able to do the tempo run I’d planned. Therefore, I set my sights on an MGP run. Alas even that was out of reach. I just couldn’t generate enough leg speed. However, I felt good aerobically but the pace wasn’t there. When I turned (south) for home I suddenly felt a lot better and the past few miles were close to MGP pace. Once I got home, I turned on the radio and figured out what the program was. There was a NNW wind of 15-20 MPH…and I’d spent the first 5 mile running straight into it ;o). I reckon that has to worth at least 10-15 second per mile.

Recovery run with the U-Loop crew. Pace was relaxed.

Warm up, drills and then 7 x 1,000 metres with 200 jog inbetween each one. Most of them were around 3:45. However, #5 was around 3:35 as instinct took over and started trying to keep pace with a faster runner ;o). Last couple hurt, and then we did 4 x 200 meters with 200 jog as a rcovery. Them it was time to jog home.

Did I mentioned the 3 mile bikeride at the start, and then another 3 at the end?

It was about 65 degrees, and 80% humidity when I left the house this morning.  I knew the conditions were far from ideal, but I had to get 20 miles in, and try to get some in at MGP (which I'm considering 7:15 pace or 3 hr 10 min as a realistic goal for SA).  I didn't quite achieve my goal, but I kept plugging away and managed 7:38 average pace for the 20 miles.  Here are the splits: 

 8:35

8:06

7:51

7:36

7:48

7:37

7:28

7:55 (pit stop)

7:27

7:22

7:29

7:12

7:17

7:10

7:20

7:25

7:32

7:56 (legs fading, and big hills)

7:46

7:53 

Easy evening run.  3 laps of Hancock Gold course then a roundabout way home.

Shorter workout today, but the legs were feeling it by the end.  1 ½ mile warm up, then 6 sets of 1,000 meters with 400 meter jog as recovery, i.e. no stopping for the entire 6 sets.  The first 2 were at MGP (4:20), the next two were at about 4:05, and the final two were 3:50 & 3:40.  Nothing electric about the pace, but it was tough speeding up then slowing down, then speeding up again, but I guess that was the point ;o).  I finished it off with a 1 mile cool down.    

Easy run.  Mileage for this week has been poor, but that is because I missed a workout, and didn't want to beat myself up about it 2 weeks before the SA marathon, and b) I'll be doing 13-16 miles tomorrow so all things being equal I'm still in good shape.

2.6 mile warm up with David, and Kevin, and then to the start line.  I'd planned to do do 4 miles at 7:30 pace, and then 6 miles at MGP (7:15 or thereabouts).  I stuck to the plan for the first 4 miles, but then couldn't contain it after that.  Oh well...I felt in control, and only turned on the afterburners in the last couple of miles.  Here are the splits: 7:39, 7:41, 7:27, 7:24, 6:40, 6:39, 6:40, 6:34, 6:22, 6:16.  Average pace was 6:57.