Tuesdays are my normal tempo run days during the week, and my schedule usually calls for adding one mile to these runs each week leading up to the marathon taper. For pace, I try to shoot for something in the vicinity of marathon pace (7:26 for my 3:15 goal).
However, for the last two Tuesday mornings my tempo runs have not had nearly the “Tempo” I would like. Just running below 8:00 minute pace feels very hard. It is interesting because two Saturday’s ago, I ran for approximately an hour just under 7:00 minute pace and felt fairly comfortable. What happened between that Saturday and the following Tuesday? Am I training too hard? Am I not training hard enough?
Anyway, I guess this is all part of the learning process. I have to keep reminding myself that even though I’ve done 10 marathons, it has only been 3 years. I’ve obviously still got a LOT to learn.