Notes
This was suppose to be a Saturday run but an overnight downpour gave me pause since I was heading to the XC course.
Sunday morning was very nice though. While I missed not going out west, I will say I am very used to the humidity compared to last August. 95% hardly feels like much anymore.
So, 3 weeks out from marathon. 3 weeks after my 1st marathon, I "raced" a 10k. I won easily but felt terrible considering I was not going easy and my 10k was slower than the last 10k of the marathon. Today the plan is 4 mile tempo (or maybe 3mile tempo with whatever last mile I need to break 23min).
2miles warm-up to the course (what a perfect distance away). I started a bit fast, maybe mimicking a XC race, maybe just forcing the pace instead of easing into it. The 1st mile was hard to find pace with the ups and downs but ended up with a 5:44. I started to settle into a pace while focusing on a good cadence. The next few miles came joyfully, 5:41, 5:37, 5:37. And while maybe I was breathing harder than expected, I know I could have slammed the accelerator for that last mile and done well. Perhaps I would have been better off shooting for a 5mile/8k tempo, but I stuck with my plan.
22:39 for 4miles with my GPS and course maps agreeing. Great conditions compared to a typical All-American, but I'm quite happy with it even if it was harder than tempo pace.