So it's only two more sleeps till marathon day. Since then, I ran the Scotiabank half as the 1:45 pacer and I did a short run with 2.5 miles at marathon pace. I was hoping to get a sense from Scotiabank where my fitness was at by doing 8 min/miles but due to some HR strap issues, I didn't get any HR data from that.
The 7 miles this past Wednesday left me a bit more confident about my goal. I generally run this last MP run around a track to get accurate and precise feedback. I was able to hold 7:21min/mile pace at a HR that maxed out at 166 over 4000m which I think is around where my MP heart rate should be. I used to use 170 as the number but that was several years ago and the basic rule is your drop a beat with every additional year. I actually only want to hold about 7:24 min/mile pace so that's kinda good. This would put me at a 3:14 marathon which is what I'm going to aim for. Technically 3:14:00 probably wouldn't get me into Boston, but I figure I can probably find 15 seconds or so somewhere over the course of 42 km.
Though that is my goal, there are a couple things working against me. Firstly, there's the wind. Temperatures are looking great, and with a predicted overcast day, I won't have to worry about the sun beating down on me. The wind is currently predicted to be from the west at 30 km/hr. That's not good as it's a pretty much a strong head wind over the last half of the course. If only the wind would swing a bit south and approach from the S, or even the SW I could handle. The second thing is I have a trigger point in my right calf. I noticed it on Wednesday while sticking my calves and while I've tried to work through it, it's been very painful. Not sure, I'll get rid of it in time for race day, but hey, not much else I can do at this point.
A part of me still thinks that maybe I should hold back and do Hamilton next weekend, but the other part of me says I probably will pig out on halloween candy next week so better to take what fitness I have now then risk my weak willpower to potentially running next week. I will admit that I have been looking at back up plan marathon in the US in the month of December, but I'm not sure I want to do that just yet. Live in the here and now, I suppose.
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2 comments:
Tough call with those predicted winds. If I were you, and the winds do show up, I'd use it as a training run.
One week later though? Not sure about that.
Best!
Good luck today...I'm looking out the window in Bradford and seeing some really strong winds...hope that's not the case in Niagara!
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