M-pace: 10 miles in Golden Gate Park

Most of the physiological preparations have been cemented for the marathon in 4 weeks. There's not much more I can do to improve my shape before the race. However, psychologically, I need to get used to running at my goal pace, which I haven't been doing. My runs have been either considerably faster (tempo and VO2max runs) or slower (easy and moderate runs).

The first mile or two at marathon pace (M-pace) felt rough. I wasn't sure I'd even be able to do 5 miles at that pace. However, my body settled in around mile 3 and the pace felt great. I was actually a bit faster than I wanted, but it's hard to get the exact pace when running without mile markers and hitting red lights.

Mileage Summary

This Week

30.5 miles

This Month (September)

91 miles

This Year (2008)

1,229 miles

Shoe: Asics 2130 bought on 8/27/2008

127.5 miles

Today's Run

Workout

M-pace for about 7 miles (after 2 mile warm up and with 0.5 mile warm down)

Start Time

9:00 am

Total Distance

10 miles

Total Time

1:15:08

Route

Flat. Out and back to Golden Gate Park, with 1 mile on Kezar track.

Pre-run

Tiger's Milk

Post-run

Glass Ovaltine with 1% milk, a banana w/ peanut butter