Long run today with the middle third at MP effort. As soon as I got out of bed today, I knew this run was going to be a struggle. I was coming off 4 straight nights of about 6 hours of sleep and my legs felt dead during the whole run. The weather was in the low to mid 70s and cloudy with a good breeze along the Kelly drive/west river drive loop. I ran the first 7 miles around 8:30 avg pace. The next 6 miles were at MP effort, the first 3 being into a stiff headwind. This took a lot out of me trying to stay near marathon pace. The next two were with a tailwind which made the miles feel ok but the last was into another headwind. MP splits were 7:05, 7:15, 7:31, 7:08, 7:06, 7:26. I had planned to run 10 miles at MP effort today but was totally discouraged by the way my body was dealing with the faster pace so I shut it down and jogged the final 5 miles home. Total time was 2:28:00. I feel like I have only had one successful long run so far during my current marathon training. I know I need to get more sleep and eat better. I am struggling with the fact that my 5 mile tempo run earlier this week was at 6:18 pace, yet I couldn't get a single mile under 7 min pace today. If I look on the positive side of things, the marathon is still about three months away and I feel my overall fitness level is higher than it was last year 3 months before the Philly marathon. My ankle held up ok today, but I was starting to feel some discomfort during the last MP mile and the final 5 easy miles. It's almost time for a new pair of trainers. | 