Thursday, February 08, 2007

Pickin' Up the Pace

I’m going to try to keep this short. It seems like my last few posts have gotten much longer than intended.

Monday: Rest day (2 in a row, woohoo! After juggling last week a little to make room for Twin Peaks.)

Tuesday: Track day. I actually went there willingly and looking forward to it. My first 400 was 1:40, my best time since starting these 4 weeks ago. I followed that with 2x800 and then 2x400. My longest track session to date, but it pales in comparison to David’s 8x800.

Wednesday: I put in an easy 6 miler, 57:29, 9:35 pace. I felt very relaxed until I calculated my final pace. I worried that I was getting too used to this slower pace. I’ve been spending quite a bit of time lately in the 9:00 plus time frame. If I’m going to hit my goal of a sub 3:30 marathon I need to spend some more time at 8:00 pace.

That brings us to today, Thursday. I had 6 on the schedule again and decided that I was going to kick it in gear and see if I could get reasonably close to 8:00 miles. I chose a straight out and back route down a long street with a wide bicycle lane. I took off considerably faster than the pace of late and was able to keep it up, even picking up speed as I continued. I would slow a little at the lights to catch my breath and then ramp it right back up again. I finished the 6 miles in 45:32, a smoking 7:35 pace. I’m not sure how much longer I could keep that up, but it sure felt good while it lasted. It felt really good to know that I’m not “stuck” at 9:00 plus. Does this count as a tempo run?

310 words, short enough?

11 comments:

Backofpack said...

Wow, you were flying! Looks like a good training week for you.

I like longer posts...

Neese said...

the longer posts i tend to "file" until I have more time to read them....I know what you mean about looking forward to the track workouts, I've got it on schedule for tomorrow and i'm already excited about it! 7:35 pace is impressive!

Sarah said...

Yes, that counts! : ) Nice.

Anonymous said...

That's probably even faster than tempo!

Wes said...

Yes! 350 is fine :-) for me at least. Ahhhh. The dream of a sub-8 mile.... much less 6 of them.

Anonymous said...

Great job!

Bob - BlogMYruns.com said...

Darrell said:I finished the 6 miles in 45:32, a smoking 7:35 pace.

Awesome Darrell... that will give u some good memory recall for future runs...

really is crazy huh, How those TOP marathoner's can run at like a 5:20 & below pace for 26 miles---NUTZZZZZ :-)

Great job and I like the shorter posts....slow reader here--lol

Ciao,

Bob

David said...

Tempo Plus.
I just read the latest Runner's World article on prepping the brain for a race with pace. It was a good read. Made me think about how to train my head to be faster.
Nice work on the latest 6-miler.

Joe said...

Pithy.

Super job changing up the pace...great job pushing thru the hard six miles. Good for your legs and your brain.

Great write up on the Twin Peaks 50 mile support work. I enjoyed it all and could visualize it from our ramble on the Tecumseh Trail...though I bet the folks didn't have the mud there we did!!

Mike said...

Darrell,
Great job pushing the pace. I'd say you definitely have a strong aerobic base already after doing so many marathons so increasing the pace work will definitely pay off at this point!

Unknown said...

Nice job on the 6 miler Darrell. I know what you mean about feeling like you get stuck at a certain pace. I have been trying to push a little bit lately since I do not have many opportunities to run. Of course pushing these days is an 8 minute pace.