Sunday 21st December:  Thoughts on Paces …. 

13.1 miles 
5 m @ 8.24 p/m followed by 8.1m @ 7.39 p/m 
1 hr 44 mins (ave 7.57 p/m) 

The longest run of this particular training programme on the shortest day of the year; unsurprisingly began in darkness once Delilah had been made a fuss of and fed!
I'm not sure that I've ever conscientiously done a split run before but this was what the schedule asked for, so this is what I gave. Took it very easy along the Harborne Walk Way and down to the canals and after the initial five miles decided to abandon the canal up and back policy in view of the muck on the tow paths. I'm not usually fussy but it was really wet and muddy!
This meant coming off at Smethwick and looking to run at 'marathon pace'. Here's the conundrum, for this race I'm not sure what marathon pace is supposed to be? My half marathon pace is 6.50 per mile, and having done three halves this year between 1.28 and 1.31, it's fair to say that I should be aiming for around 3.10 - the old 'double it and add 10 minutes' adage. This would give me an expectation of 7.15 miles all the way. However, experience tells me otherwise, and I do want to actually enjoy this experience, rather than expect it to finish me off. So what's my marathon pace?

My 6 marathon's to date have ranged from 3.28 to 3.50, ranging from 7.58 per mile to 8.45 per mile. I've largely under performed relative to my other times on all but my first couple of marathons. I'll disect these later in the blog, but most of these have been in the 7.45 to 8 min mile range for the majority of the races, before having calamatous last few miles. So I suppose I need to adopt a sensible strategy this time around, especially in the race itself. My 'run around feel good' pace is around 7.45 per mile, so this would probably be the best to aim for with view of training to maintain it for the whole race.

As a guide 3.20 would be 7.37 min p/m,  3.25 would be 7.49 p/m and 3.30 would be 8 p/m

The Plan tells me that if I'm to run for the 3.25 plan, my lactate threshold runs would be at 6.45-6.51 pace, my aerobic at 8.54-9.18 and my long runs at 8.54 - 9.18 per mile. The recovery runs would be at 9.40 pace. These paces for long runs seem almost too slow, but the marathon pace seems about right.

Anyhow, I came off at Smethwick and ran up through Cape Hill and Winson Green on a windy but unseasonably warm winters morning, maintaining a 7.45 pace with not too much trouble. The power of Marathon talk to take the edge off the miles, although I'm still catching up on November's shows! No injury problems either; a faintly stiff left quad after about 9 miles, but this has been around for a while. So, the first of the split long runs completed and back in time for a Carvery lunch and a chilled out afternoon in Warley Woods, dog walking, and watching the footie!

Will have to rebalance the running schedule next week, front load it to compensate for Xmas and going to Wales

Weekly update: Week 2 - 27.3 miles 

Good weekend split long(ish) run and with Xmas festivities pleased to have done some mileage. Will need to up it though in the weeks to come …