How long will your longest MCM practice run be then?

When I got home yesterday and checked the forum, I was overwhelmed to read about Rick's expectations-exceeding, reward-reaping sub-20:00 PR 5k in Towson; Perry's purportedly sub-19:00 Pet Day 5k (let's hear some more details!); Adubb's mighty long and hard long run; and Joe's ... Anyways, I felt fervently compelled to accomplish something worthy --- so that I not feel ashamed to be amongst such extraordinary company. Thus, despite being poorly nourished and weary from much traveling, I sallied forth with the intention of running long and hard. I eventually (meaning several miles into the run) decided upon running eight miles fast, pushing for a pace close to my intended 10-mile race rate. Although I ran the first mile moderately (approx. 8:45), I increased my speed enough afterwards to finish the run in 1:00:16, indicating an average pace of 7:32/mi. However, if we eschew the first mile --- which was really just a warm up --- then we have seven miles in approximately 51:30, revealing an average pace of 7:22/mi. So, if I can just maintain that for another three miles (which hopefully I will thanks to race day competition), I'll be poised to break 1:15:00 if not 1:14:00 on October 12th.

My remaining two goals are actually easy -- to PR in the marathon, which should be easy, as I walked all the water stations in my first one, and to PR in the 10-miler, which only requires finishing it (as I've never done one). I must say, I really like having races where it will be easy to PR -- less stress.

I'm also curious how Alden is preparing himself for the marathon. Is there a time limit to the course? The LPRM "sweeps" away people who aren't maintaining pace for a finish time under 5:45:00, but what about Baltimore? Yesterday I endeavored to accomplish the most ambitious interval set I've ever attempted in my neighborhood: Rick's patented 1 X 2 mi @ 10k pace + 2 X 1 mile @ 5k pace + 2 X 800 @ faster pace routine. Well, I didn't quite complete it as written, but I still got a worthy workout out of it. First, however, I had to deal with an irritating delay/false start. Following my untimed 1.5-mile warm up around the 'hood, I thunderously began the two-mile interval, heading towards the front of my street --- only to look down two tenths of a mile in and see that, though the clock was ticking, the Forerunner was not recording distance run or pace! Grudgingly I aborted the interval and then jogged back to the start, where I had to wait a few more minutes for the GPS to begin cooperating. Finally online, I raced back towards the front of the street, turned left onto Golden Beach Rd, and continued thence until I hit one mile --- in 6:43. I'd basically been on an incline the whole way there, so coming back was much speedier, allowing me to finish in 13:15 (more akin to Perry's most recent 10k pace than mine). After a very brief break I progressed to the first mile, running a half mile down my neighborhood and back in 6:15 (do you know what time it was when I started that interval? It was 6:15 p.m.!). Well, the time was getting close to 6:30 p.m., so I decided upon a personal compromise: I'd eschew the 800s and make the second 1-mile interval a hard one. Following the same course, I hit the half-mile mark in 3:00 flat and then charged back, pushing to break 6:00. One advantage to running on a track is that you can simply sprint to the finish, hitting the stop button the moment you cross the line. But when running off-track and relying on a GPS tracker, you have to hold the watch right under your face until the very end so that you know exactly where to stop. And when I did reach "1.00 mi," my sweaty thumb slipped on the stop button. So although I stopped my watch at 5:57, I'll say that I really did 5:56. And after a one-mile cool down, I had 6.85 to 6.9 miles for the day.

Joe, from the figures you posted on Facebook, I estimate that you consumed 84 crabs between last Monday and Wednesday (or Thursday). Have you been running mileage to match those numbers? Ah, I still recall that time a year ago when we went on a Tall Timbers/Piney Point long run immediately after feasting upon crabs on Ed's porch. It was a gas!

I really wish a master schedule for the field/track was available to the average person. They have an event there most afternoons this time of year it seems. Phil and I arrived as the field hockey game's regulation time was ending. They were going into overtime. They played one overtime. It was still tied. The played another scoreless overtime. They had a shootout. St. Mary's College lost on the final shot of the shootout. Phil and I had pretty ambitious plans for yesterday and now today, but both are faced with difficulty. Field hockey hurt us yesterday and the weather is threatening us today. We just did a few loops around St. Mary's yesterday waiting for the track to open and finally called it a day during the shootout.

Yeah, I'd imagine that any time you take it really good in the rear would be devasting...