Carlsbad Marathon Week 11

8 comfortable - 12/21/15

And the beat goes on!  Or maybe 'no rest for the wicked'.  Or something.  Anyway after the first typically-creaky mile it was straight up and down hills so I guess that got me going and by the time of the second half of this run, which is pretty flat, I was just cruising along.

Pace was fast but felt strangely comfortable for a little while at least.  Not sure where this run came from.  Hope I have enough left in the tank to basically do this exact same run tomorrow but maybe a touch faster.  We Shall See.

6 strength - 12/22/15

I had been doing these 6 fast total, but on the schedule today was actually 3x2, but I ended up doing 2x3 with a mile warm up and cool down.  Was going too fast so was happy to take a 2:30 RI after the first block - the second block was tough and was happy to have a couple stops at lights to catch my breath.  Did I mention REST DAY tomorrow???

Oh yeah, it was WET and RAINY for fun too.  That made things slightly more interesting.

But what's SUPER CRAZY is the run today and yesterday were the EXACT SAME DURATION (1:02:22) - WOW!!!  That was totally unplanned - crazy!!!

REST - 12/23/15

Sweet, sweet rest.

10 tempo - 12/24/15

First 10 mile tempo - went pretty good!  Fortunately my friend paced us perfectly keeping us ~7:35mm and was able to get in a fast mile for the last one (6:46mm) and it all went surprisingly well.  All on the Carlsbad Marathon course.  Was very happy with this run.

7 comfortable - 12/25/15

Wasn't sure what I was going to have for this one - no one out on the streets due to xmas morning.  Went faster than I thought I would especially with a lot of elevation - was happy with this but tired.

8 comfortable - 12/26/16

Some needed trail running with my buddy - felt faster than the 8:15mm but need to keep it reasonable for my last long run tomorrow.  Cold out.

16 long - 12/27/16

Did not know what I would have for this as it's been a looong week - lots of running plus xmas and family and eating and drinking.  Did this as a marathon practice - thought I try to take a gu before starting and that didn't work out very well.  Stomach felt no bueno for the first 6ish miles.

Took first gu at 6.5 with a swig of water and then felt much better.  Felt very good from mile 6-10.  Took second gu at 12.6 at a drinking fountain that had NO WATER - bummer!

Was able to finish reasonably strong with no water - the only water I had was one gulp with my gu at mile 6.5 which was unfortunate.

At mile 16 I just stopped (was only supposed to be 16 anyway) but had thoughts of maybe going longer - maybe could have but didn't want to push it as my average pace was already much marathon pace for the 16.

In fact after this run I think 7:40mm (my average for this run) sounds about right for my marathon pace.  If I can do 16 at 7:40mm not tapered I should be able to hold that for a well-rested marathon?  Also was happy to see my average heart rate for this run was 149bpm which is right at what it needs to be for the marathon I think - that's about 80-85% of my max HR and hopefully what I can hold for the marathon.

Welp we are going to find out!

Recap and Next Week

Welp this was the final 'big week' - just a hair over 60 miles this week and it all went pretty well overall.  With 3 weeks (!!!!) to go before the marathon I may have finally found my marathon pace so that's nice!

Next week is 4x1.5 fast on Tuesday, 10 mile tempo Thursday, and 10+10 Saturday and Sunday - sounds almost reasonable.  I need to start recovering and tapering so it's more important that ever to get the paces right for ALL of the runs from here on out.

We Shall See!