Good news - beginning of a 4 day Easter weekend. I'll have a chance to run every day and try to salvage the week the best I can.
I did tempo intervals today, 3x2000m with 2:30-3:00 jog recovery. The first one felt very easy and comfortable and I even had to hold back a little, time was 9:21. I jogged for 2:30 before starting on the second. It felt a lot harder right from the start, but I made it in 9:19. Jogged for 3:00 before the third one. I really struggled and it felt like I was working way too hard for a threshold pace, maybe even went anaerobic in the end, time was 9:22. I was totally out of breath after that, and decided that the 4th repeat I would slide a lot, so I stopped at three, and just jogged home.
I don't really know what to make of this workout. Times were about the same as in November, only I did 4th repeat then and did slide off the pace a lot. But the sharp increase in perceived effort after the first repeat today tells me my stamina and endurance are not where they should be. Overall, I don't feel good about my running right now, and think that I lost some of the endurance in the last few weeks. Mostly because of inconsistent training and lower mileage. I didn't hit more than 37 mi/week for the last 3 weeks, and this week will be the same. My last 21 mile run was 3 weeks ago. I feel that it's too much of a cutback, and I will pay for it on marathon day. I'm thinking about scaling back my expectations and start the marathon no faster than 8:15-8:20 and hold it for at least 20 miles. If I feel good after that, I can pick it up, but I doubt it will happen. I've never been able to run negative splits in a marathon. My best result was running second half about 1 min. slower than the first. | 