Trust The Process

Perfect race conditions today.  Cool with a little breeze.  I got a late start out of my house this morning so I didn't get in the warm up that I wanted.  I jogged to my corral just in time for the national anthem.

I wanted to break 1:30 today.  I started out the first few miles a little bit faster than goal pace, but it felt good so I just went with it.  I was able to keep a pretty consistant pace throughout the whole race which felt really good.  I ran in my flats and my foot held up well with only slight discomfort during the last 4 miles.  My final time was 1:28:23, over 90 seconds faster than my goal pace and over 9 minutes faster than last years time of 1:37:44.

My Garmin read the course at 13.2 miles (6:42 avg pace).  Splits were as follows:

6:39, 6:34, 6:43 (20:41 5k), 6:40, 6:47, 6:35 (41:51 10k), 6:46, 6:44, 6:58, 6:50 (1:07:39 10 miles), 6:41, 6:39, 6:40, 6:05 pace (final .2 per Garmin)

13 miles this morning in the rain along the banks.  with 15 miles scheduled for tomorrow and since my legs felt dead today, i took it easy.  avg pace was 8:38.

I was out the door at 430am this morning to run 15 miles before dropping my son off at day care and going to work.  i ran along the banks out to manayunk and back.  my legs responded better than yesterday but i still didn't feel 100 percent.  i went a little bit faster than yesterday but didnt push it.  avg pace was 8:13 per mile.

Recovery day.  5.1 easy miles outside after work.  It was really nice out and it felt great to get out there on an easy jog to take my mind off of the awful week I have had at work this week.  Avg pace was 8:58.

Tempo run tomorrow.

Tempo run during my lunch break on the treadmill.  two warm up miles followed by 5 miles @ 6:30 pace (1.5 incline) and one cool down mile.  total time was 58 minutes.  i dont want to say the tempo pace felt easy, but it definately felt very comfortable.

5 easy miles this morning.  russ woke us up around 6am to eat but went back to sleep so lauren and i were able to sleep in until 10am.  i had to rush out the door to squeeze the run in since we had brunch plans.  i forgot to eat a banana before i left so i was starving during the run.  

Instead of running along the banks, i ran up 23rd st and went out west on chestnut through university city and north on 34th through drexel's campus to get familiar with that section of the philly marathon course.  i was expecting incline but it was a little more than i expected. shortly after going through campus on 34th st, it immediately turned "hoodish" so i was happy to turn around shortly after to head back home.  i still want to get familiar with the rest of the west philly section of the course but will probably do so in the car.

Avg pace was 8:36.  it feels good to get in 60+ miles this week.  18 miles tomorrow.