Yesterday was the first long of the Richter plan. I decided to go to Thompson Park -- where some of the half-marathon was a couple of weeks ago -- and invited Jackie to join me for the first few miles. I've been wanting to spend more time together doing our thing, and I also figured it would help me keep my pace down a little bit early on -- conserving energy for late in the run. Then we decided to bring the dog along for Jackie's portion of the run, which we figured would be about 4 miles. I hadn't settled on a final mileage, other than "long."
It didn't turn out as perfectly as I wanted to, but there was a valuable lesson to be learned. My heart rate was in a really manageable zone for those 4 miles, leaving plenty in the tank for the rest of the run. My early marathon pace will be a bit faster than what we were doing, but -- kind of like with the half -- a slow go in the first few miles will surely pay big dividends later on in the race. What I need to figure out now is how much time I can give away in the first quarter of the race and make up later on. For example, if I average 9:39 for the first quarter of the race, can I realistically go 8:59s the rest of the way?
After Jackie headed home with the dog, I was able to get into closer to my normal pace. As usual, I improvised some of my route, crossing into Cross Farm Park in Colts Neck a couple of times, and adding some distance on the roads near the park. I also followed the Thompson Park trail along Newman Springs Road across Brookdale and the Middletown portion of the park, all the way to Lincroft School and back. As I've mentioned before, I like to find different spots when I'm able to -- running is traveling, and nothing is more boring than taking the same route every day.
Not everything worked out as perfectly as I wanted it to. Those early miles weren't quite where I was hoping, pace-wise -- and I wound up holding the leash for most of that distance. And, as usual, it was hella windy. Everything heading west was laborious, and even crosswinds were somewhat uncomfortable. But the temperature was good, so I didn't have to wear extra layers. And I had a couple of GU packets, which I used around miles 8 and 13 -- and yes, they helped a bunch. Takes about a mile for it to kick in, but then you feel three or four miles fresher, for sure. And overall, I was just in better shape. Unlike last week, by the half-marathon point, I still felt good. And though I started tiring as the miles got up there -- particularly the miles into the wind -- I really had a lot in the tank.
And then, somewhere between miles 17 and 18, my phone died.
I know my splits from mile 5 through the end were all in the 9:00 range, and I estimate my distance to be 18.4 in an overall 3 hours. That puts the week at 45.65 overall -- by far my longest week.
I actually have an evening in New York planned tonight, so I'm hoping I'm good to go for 5-6 miles tomorrow. Not sure on temps, so it might be on the belt. Tuesday will be a pace run, or at least a "maximize distance in the amount of time I have until I have to head out to get the train" run. Wednesday is a kinda long -- looking at the snow forecast, that's going to be on the belt. Ugh. Enough already. I'm practically at the taper and still griping about bad outdoor conditions! Thursday is junk miles, and then Saturday will go long -- let's push for 20! Well, let's hope I can do it outside.
I've been looking forward to the taper, since I'll be able to ease off the life throttle more so than the workout throttle. But one thing that's been put on the back burner lately has been strength training, and I think the taper will be a good time to work on that without overloading the system in general. It felt so good during the half to be strong in my core and hips, and I want to have that feeling again during the marathon. Obviously, I have to be sure I'm resting and recuperating. And giving Jackie some relief from the grind of this training schedule.
Total miles since starting the blog: 482.4
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