Monday I finally returned to the Big River Monday night run---I had missed the past few weeks for various reasons. It was good to be back in the swing of things and there was a young lady named Carrie who was looking for someone to run the 7 mile loop with, so I volunteered as we were getting underway. She looked pretty fit and fast and said she was looking to run around 7:40 pace....yikes! I think I normally run between 7:30 and about 8:00 minute mile pace when I am feeling great and the path is free of obstructions.
On this particular day the River Des Peres trail was still covered in snow. I managed to keep up with her for about 2 miles before she took off shortly thereafter to run with a couple of guys ahead of us. Yeah, nothing like a fast woman dropping me in the snow to bring into focus the fact that I have my work cut out for me training for the Go! St. Louis Marathon. I ended up running solo for the last 5 miles and Matt Gibbs and company finished right behind me by about a minute or so. It was a good effort since I usually run that course between about 54 to 56 minutes and this time I completed it in about 61 minutes which I thought was great considering all the snow and ice we had to trudge through and I was running somewhat conservatively on the path to avoid slipping and falling.
Wednesday evening I also made my debut with the Big River Running training team for the Go! Marathon speed work sessions. The workout was set up to run loops around Francis Park which is 1.2 miles from point to point around and we were going a maximum of eight miles. Ben and Tim were gracious enough to set out cones and read us splits at each mile which was great. I started out running with Kevin Jackson who was planning on running 4 miles while I had in mind trying to complete 6 miles, if possible. Ben advised us all to pick a distance between three and eight miles for this workout and only a handful were going the full eight, including Gibbs.
I was trying to run between eight to nine minute per mile pace since my previous best marathon had me averaging 8:45 per mile and the goal of this workout was to focus on running near your goal pace. However, I was somewhat out of practice focusing on running marathon pace, and in any event I usually run faster than my ultimate average race pace for the first 20 miles or so during a marathon only to slow down dramatically over the final 10k. For example, during the San Antonio Marathon in 2009 I was averaging 8:28 per mile pace at mile 20 and then fell apart running the final 10k averaging a less than world beating 13:14 per mile.
In other words, I can run a decent pace for 10, 15 or even 20 miles.....but I tend to fall apart over the final 10k. Although that is a dramatic time discrepancy, my other races bear out a similar pattern, albeit in less dramatic time differences. Experience has taught me that training to run race pace at something as short as 6 to 8 miles isn't that helpful for me. I really need to focus on doing long runs up to the marathon distance and in particular focus on either maintaining the same pace throughout or even picking it up slightly near the end of the run. I don't say that to slight the workout itself, which has merit, just less so for me than perhaps others who don't know what their race pace feels like.
Thus, I found myself early in the workout running almost even eight minute per mile splits which is probably faster than my ultimate race pace will end up being. The first mile was right on at 8:00 minutes, second one was at 8:02, third at 8:08, fourth at 7:45, fifth at 7:54 and finally I finished the sixth mile in 7:43 to conclude the workout in 47:32 or 7:55 per mile average pace. Kevin was a little amazed/surprised I could run such even splits without a Garmin but I am pretty good at maintaining pace early in a race or training effort like this, provided I don't go out too fast. The final two miles I considered skipping since running with Kevin wasn't particularly easy but as he was peeling off another runner, Heidi pulled up behind us and we ended up running the final 2 miles together. It was interesting because I was sucking down all the oxygen I could get breathing heavily and working hard and she seemed to just be coasting along which I was trying really hard not to find slightly annoying. I don't think I heard her take one deep breath during those last few miles....so she is clearly ready to run a pretty quick time.
The weather in St. Louis on Thursday and Friday was pretty nice hitting the 40 degree mark so I ended up getting out on my own and running over 6 miles on Thursday and 5 miles on Friday before my scheduled 12 mile trail race on Saturday morning at the Frozen Feet event sponsored by the City of Wildwood and timed by Big River. It should be fun since at least a few of my friends are scheduled to be racing there too.
In looking back over the week I managed to run over thirty miles on at least five days worth of running which is the most consistent I have been so far this winter. I feel like I am finally starting to feel some motivation to get out the door and run on my own.
On this particular day the River Des Peres trail was still covered in snow. I managed to keep up with her for about 2 miles before she took off shortly thereafter to run with a couple of guys ahead of us. Yeah, nothing like a fast woman dropping me in the snow to bring into focus the fact that I have my work cut out for me training for the Go! St. Louis Marathon. I ended up running solo for the last 5 miles and Matt Gibbs and company finished right behind me by about a minute or so. It was a good effort since I usually run that course between about 54 to 56 minutes and this time I completed it in about 61 minutes which I thought was great considering all the snow and ice we had to trudge through and I was running somewhat conservatively on the path to avoid slipping and falling.
Wednesday evening I also made my debut with the Big River Running training team for the Go! Marathon speed work sessions. The workout was set up to run loops around Francis Park which is 1.2 miles from point to point around and we were going a maximum of eight miles. Ben and Tim were gracious enough to set out cones and read us splits at each mile which was great. I started out running with Kevin Jackson who was planning on running 4 miles while I had in mind trying to complete 6 miles, if possible. Ben advised us all to pick a distance between three and eight miles for this workout and only a handful were going the full eight, including Gibbs.
I was trying to run between eight to nine minute per mile pace since my previous best marathon had me averaging 8:45 per mile and the goal of this workout was to focus on running near your goal pace. However, I was somewhat out of practice focusing on running marathon pace, and in any event I usually run faster than my ultimate average race pace for the first 20 miles or so during a marathon only to slow down dramatically over the final 10k. For example, during the San Antonio Marathon in 2009 I was averaging 8:28 per mile pace at mile 20 and then fell apart running the final 10k averaging a less than world beating 13:14 per mile.
In other words, I can run a decent pace for 10, 15 or even 20 miles.....but I tend to fall apart over the final 10k. Although that is a dramatic time discrepancy, my other races bear out a similar pattern, albeit in less dramatic time differences. Experience has taught me that training to run race pace at something as short as 6 to 8 miles isn't that helpful for me. I really need to focus on doing long runs up to the marathon distance and in particular focus on either maintaining the same pace throughout or even picking it up slightly near the end of the run. I don't say that to slight the workout itself, which has merit, just less so for me than perhaps others who don't know what their race pace feels like.
Thus, I found myself early in the workout running almost even eight minute per mile splits which is probably faster than my ultimate race pace will end up being. The first mile was right on at 8:00 minutes, second one was at 8:02, third at 8:08, fourth at 7:45, fifth at 7:54 and finally I finished the sixth mile in 7:43 to conclude the workout in 47:32 or 7:55 per mile average pace. Kevin was a little amazed/surprised I could run such even splits without a Garmin but I am pretty good at maintaining pace early in a race or training effort like this, provided I don't go out too fast. The final two miles I considered skipping since running with Kevin wasn't particularly easy but as he was peeling off another runner, Heidi pulled up behind us and we ended up running the final 2 miles together. It was interesting because I was sucking down all the oxygen I could get breathing heavily and working hard and she seemed to just be coasting along which I was trying really hard not to find slightly annoying. I don't think I heard her take one deep breath during those last few miles....so she is clearly ready to run a pretty quick time.
The weather in St. Louis on Thursday and Friday was pretty nice hitting the 40 degree mark so I ended up getting out on my own and running over 6 miles on Thursday and 5 miles on Friday before my scheduled 12 mile trail race on Saturday morning at the Frozen Feet event sponsored by the City of Wildwood and timed by Big River. It should be fun since at least a few of my friends are scheduled to be racing there too.
In looking back over the week I managed to run over thirty miles on at least five days worth of running which is the most consistent I have been so far this winter. I feel like I am finally starting to feel some motivation to get out the door and run on my own.
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