Wait, first, I did not blog yesterday. Yesterday I did my Sweet Sixteen form drills with my Hillview Students. Personally, I believe this is a great workout for them and for me! It is a set of 16 form drills. To see what form drills are check the link to the right. the entire workout was only 4 miles, but it has you pretty exhausted by the time you are done!
This morning though was long run day. I have my next major race – the Ojai to Ocean marathon in 4 weeks so I am going full tilt on the training. My goal was an easy paced 22 miles. Easy paced long runs for me should be 8:15 to 9:00 per mile. Typically I end up around 8:30 a mile. The normal pattern is that I start off slower and speed up in the middle miles. If it is a good day I maintain pace till the end. Sometimes I struggle a bit at the end. Last week, for example, I ran the 20 miler in Phoenix and had to really dig deep for a 7:55 20th mile in order to get the average pace under 8:30.
Today, just seemed to be faster.
I met Jeff Smith at the diamonds (P-12 by Highland) and we ran up to the aqueduct. This first mile is quite a climb, so it is always a bit slow. We continued on the aqueduct for 7 miles and then turned and ran back. At first it was a bit windy out there on the aqueduct and it took some effort to battle the wind. A few miles in, however, the wind seemed to die down. The water in the aqueduct was calm. As we ran along I rarely looked at my watch. When I did I sometimes I noticed that we were a bit ahead of optimum speed and I would back off. At 12 miles I released Jeff and he headed off for a fast finish to his 14 miler. I could not afford to go with him, however, as 14 miles was only about 2/3rds of my run.
When I got back to the diamonds I grabbed another water bottle out of my car and then proceeded in a general north direction for 8 more miles ending at the corner of K and 10th St West. My wife met me there to take me back to my car. Again, I occasionally looked at the watch and I noticed that the splits looked pretty fast, but I felt relaxed and comfortable so I just kept cruising. The end result was 22 miles in 2:59:47 for an average pace of 8:10 per mile! Hmmm, if I just maintained that pace another 4.2 I would have run a 3:34:07 marathon.
Here is my split data:
| Split | Mile | Time | Distance | Avg Pace | Calories | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4:51 | 0.5 | 9:42 | 63 | ||
| 2 | 1 | 4:52 | 9:43 | 0.5 | 9:44 | 63 |
| 3 | 4:18 | 0.5 | 8:36 | 64 | ||
| 4 | 2 | 4:17 | 8:35 | 0.5 | 8:34 | 66 |
| 5 | 4:09 | 0.5 | 8:18 | 65 | ||
| 6 | 3 | 4:07 | 8:16 | 0.5 | 8:14 | 66 |
| 7 | 4:00 | 0.5 | 8:00 | 66 | ||
| 8 | 4 | 4:03 | 8:03 | 0.5 | 8:06 | 66 |
| 9 | 4:06 | 0.5 | 8:12 | 66 | ||
| 10 | 5 | 4:09 | 8:15 | 0.5 | 8:18 | 64 |
| 11 | 4:01 | 0.5 | 8:02 | 66 | ||
| 12 | 6 | 3:59 | 8:00 | 0.5 | 7:58 | 66 |
| 13 | 3:54 | 0.5 | 7:48 | 67 | ||
| 14 | 7 | 4:00 | 7:54 | 0.5 | 8:00 | 66 |
| 15 | 4:06 | 0.5 | 8:12 | 66 | ||
| 16 | 8 | 4:05 | 8:11 | 0.5 | 8:10 | 67 |
| 17 | 3:51 | 0.5 | 7:42 | 66 | ||
| 18 | 9 | 4:08 | 7:59 | 0.5 | 8:16 | 66 |
| 19 | 4:22 | 0.5 | 8:44 | 65 | ||
| 20 | 10 | 3:50 | 8:12 | 0.5 | 7:40 | 66 |
| 21 | 4:03 | 0.5 | 8:06 | 66 | ||
| 22 | 11 | 4:10 | 8:13 | 0.5 | 8:20 | 66 |
| 23 | 3:59 | 0.5 | 7:58 | 66 | ||
| 24 | 12 | 4:05 | 8:04 | 0.5 | 8:10 | 65 |
| 25 | 4:03 | 0.5 | 8:06 | 66 | ||
| 26 | 13 | 3:59 | 8:02 | 0.5 | 7:58 | 66 |
| 27 | 4:04 | 0.5 | 8:08 | 66 | ||
| 28 | 14 | 3:59 | 8:03 | 0.5 | 7:58 | 66 |
| 29 | 3:57 | 0.5 | 7:54 | 64 | ||
| 30 | 15 | 4:11 | 8:08 | 0.5 | 8:22 | 67 |
| 31 | 4:12 | 0.5 | 8:24 | 65 | ||
| 32 | 16 | 4:02 | 8:14 | 0.5 | 8:04 | 65 |
| 33 | 4:01 | 0.5 | 8:02 | 65 | ||
| 34 | 17 | 3:52 | 7:53 | 0.5 | 7:44 | 67 |
| 35 | 3:58 | 0.5 | 7:56 | 66 | ||
| 36 | 18 | 4:01 | 7:59 | 0.5 | 8:02 | 66 |
| 37 | 4:03 | 0.5 | 8:06 | 66 | ||
| 38 | 19 | 4:01 | 8:04 | 0.5 | 8:02 | 66 |
| 39 | 3:59 | 0.5 | 7:58 | 66 | ||
| 40 | 20 | 4:04 | 8:03 | 0.5 | 8:08 | 66 |
| 41 | 3:50 | 0.5 | 7:40 | 65 | ||
| 42 | 21 | 4:02 | 7:52 | 0.5 | 8:04 | 66 |
| 43 | 3:59 | 0.5 | 7:58 | 67 | ||
| 44 | 22 | 4:05 | 8:04 | 0.5 | 8:11 | 65 |
| Summary | 2:59:47.0 | 22 | 8:10 | 2,889 |
GO! 
Great job! I am really looking forward to seeing how fast you can run in your upcoming marathon.