Day 2,748: Week 3: Training is easy

The good thing about having to run at a 7:43/mile pace two days before is that when you have to run an 8:46/mile pace, it feels pretty easy.

Even without a watch, I know that a sub-8 pace for me is when I lead the run with my knees on the stride. I get a minute slower pace with just a nudge of the knees.

This morning's 8-mile run involved my first tempo run in preparation for the Marine Corps Marathon. The hard part was -- at what pace?

For a while now, the 9:09/mile pace has been the gold standard, since that is the pace that's required to break 4 hours in a marathon.

The only problem is that it's clearly apparent that I run much faster than that in training. My 7:43/mile pace in the speed workouts conforms to an 8:46/mile marathon pace.

So that's what I set to do for my 6-mile tempo run (includes a mile each warmup and cooldown). It felt really easy doing that after hard running during the speed session in Piedmont Park.

I knew there were spots, though, during the run in which I was running faster than that. I tried various methods to slow down but nothing really was too successful. Even my cooldown I wasn't able to really run any slower than a 9-minute-mile.

When I got home I saw that my pace stuck in the 8:37/mile range. It was an easy pace and one that I can consistently hit in a half-marathon. The question now is whether I tailor my training to try to go for that pace in the marathon or work a little slower with the thought of having a lot more energy at the end.

It's hard to tell how things will work out - what has worked out well through 13.1 miles may not work at all in the full 26.2. I'll have to just trust the training program, that the increased weekly mileage and workouts will bring the desired result at the end of the marathon.

Time: 6:49 a.m.
Temp: 70 degrees
Gear: Technical T-shirt, short (Cherry Blossom Ten-Miler), shorts, Nike Air Pegasus+ 31.