Log for August 16 – Training for Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 9th. Goal for the fall and winter marathon season is to break 3:15 for the first time.
Tuesday
- 7.25-Mile Tempo Run – Paxton and I decided on a highly modified version of our “Steeplechase” route this morning, where we actually combined our “Nature Center” route with our normal “Steeplechase” route. The schedule called for an 8-mile tempo run with an average pace between 7:35 and 7:45. A couple of things were working against me on reaching this pace today: (1) We had very cool temps at 6am (mid 60s), but unfortunately the humidity was very high. (2) I did a 5.25-mile trail run last night along with P90X: Legs & Back.
With all of this going on, today’s run became more of a progression run than a tempo run. It took a little while for us to get warmed up, and my legs could really feel the hard effort from last night. Our first mile was just over 9:00 min pace and the second mile was around 8:05 pace. After that, our last 5-miles were all under 7:50 pace, with a final mile of 7:19. Even though our overall average pace was around 7:50, I’m very pleased with the pace of the last 5.25-miles. We decided to cut it a little short of the planned distance for two reasons (1) It was obvious that neither of us were feeling our best (2) We got in a significant number of tempo miles last Saturday, so there was no need to push it too far.
One thing I know is that I’m gonna have to change my night for doing P90X: Legs & Back. Doing it the night before my tempo runs is just not working.
- Cross Training – Tonight I did P90X: Ab-Ripper X with my wife.