Getting Started Again

Team Rogue training officially starts in one week. I will be going for a sub 3 hour time at Boston. This morning I decided to try out the paces I will need to run at Boston. Historically, I find the marathon goal pace to feel very uncomfortable at the beginning of a training session. I elected to run my usual 10 mile route, warm up for 2 miles then start dropping to a 6:45-6:50 range. I got out the dor a bit late but the weather was great with sunshine and 54 degrees.

I passed mile 1 in 7:20, 2 in 7:15 then began pushing the pace a bit. By mile 4 I was running 6:52 and feeling good. When I turned around I kept the effort level the same but because my route is slightly downhill coming back I averaged 6:39 for the 5 mile return portion. The 6:45 pace felt the best of all of the paces I ran this morning. 6:45 = 2:58 marathon and I think that will be my official TRAINING target. I will look up the paces that McMillan predicts for a 3:58 marathon and also what Glenda's RaceCalc app for the iPhone suggests. I like that RaceCalc lets you make adjustments based on your natural ability for either speed or distance. Using RaceCalc and my settings for slightly faster a longer distances, my recent 10K time predicts a 2:58 marathon. McMillan predicts a 3:02 marathon. Both are close to the goal.