TEMPO 10 miles - PR Saratoga Loop 1:10:42, then PM 8 miles

AM: Tempo 10 miles at MP+ pace

I had off from work today and was thus actually looking forward to this tempo run. The schedule has me moved up to 9 mile tempo runs at MP, but I figured that since I skipped the Tuesday speedwork session and am now recovered from both a energy-sucking cold and a right hip muscle strain I got on Sunday, it was due time for me to throw down and max out my 10-mile Saratoga loop, which constitutes my main training route.

I was planning to run it at a hard steady LT-type pace, but not all-out. I also waited until 9AM to do this run (as opposed to 3AM) so I would be more awake, as I definitely run faster in daylight when I'm more awake. Also, I've ditched the heavy Camelbak for anything under 12 miles, to stay as light and fast as possible. 

Conditions were favorable - it was actualy raining lightly and 47F, which was pretty good for a PR effort. I upped my game and felt I could shoot for averaging 7:00 min/mile for the whole 10 miler.

The run turned out almost exactly as I'd planned. After the typical less-fast first mile, I settled into a 7:00 min/mile pace, which corresponded almost exactly with a 150HR for myself. Running mile 2 at 150HR is a pretty hard effort for me, given that I've run half marathons at 150-170HR, but I do think that I can handle the higher HR efforts now since my legs have so much training volume such that I can sustain the effort. Sure enough, my HR was rock-steady at 150 for the whole run - no upward cardiac drift whatsoever. Felt equally hard the whole way - pretty much my upper limit of a true aerobic pace, with dipping into LT-type efforts on the hardest climbs.

My time was as good as it's probably ever going to get on this look - 1:10:42, with an overall average of 7:01/mile. I'm getting pretty darn good at pacing these miles, given the rolling hills that you have to still account for while running. 

In a best case scenario, I'd be able to run this pace for the Napa Valley marathon. It's a stretch, but not unimaginable given that my 5k predictor from Nov 5k gave a 3:05-8 marathon, and I'm faster now. Still, I'll likely play it very safe on race day, and run at 3:13 BQ pace until late in the race, assuming everything goes well.

I also figured out by perusing the Napa Valley Marathon results on Strava.com from the past year, that the entire 26.2 mile race has about 550 feet of climbing, total. My 10 mile run done above has 480 feet of climbing, so it looks like I'm training on a course that's about 2x more rolling hills than I'll encounter on race day! A good sign for sure, as I was getting a little anxious about the rolling hills.

Strava Garmin

PM: 8 miles TM recovery 10:00/mile

Stayed motivated on my day off and put up another 8 miles at slow recovery 10:00/mile on my treadmill while watching Sneaky Pete on Amazon Prime - good show so far! Legs felt decent, but I think I underate at lunch and had to refuel mid-run with a GU and a CLIF Bar before I started feeling better again.