Today was the first day of the week that I managed to wake up early for a run. Otherwise I ran on Tuesday at lunch and Wednesday night. Monday and Thursday off.
It was cooold today. I rugged up in long tights, T-shirt and my sexy little red Saucony long-sleeve number that I won at the Inagi Ekiden earlier this year. I also decided to wear gloves. And a cap. And...
I ran to the park at a reasonable clip, sub 5:00/km. Then had to make a short loo stop. I ran two laps of the park and gradually eased up towards marathon pace, but you know, I couldn't really hold it there and kept dropping back into the 4:20s/km, even though my heart rate was OK. I continued the run home at similar kind of upper aeobic pace, again trying to hit on marathon pace where I could. It led to my fatsest run between park and home for a while.
The knee was a bit uncomfortable at first, but sort of disappeared into the background as the run went on. So I think injury worries are behind me. I'm a little more concerned about the ever so slight malaise that I feel, and which might have been taking the edge off this morning. I think I have to really watch my diet and hydration from here on.
Thanks folks for thoughts on the pace strategy. I'm leaning towards an ever so slightly fast first half. Perhaps aim to go through 30k in 2:06, which would give me a pretty nice buffer to be able to come in under 3:00:00 without going overly fast. If by some miracle I were able to hold that pace through tho the end, it would yield a around about a 2:57:00. So that's the theory! Clairie's suggestion of breaking it down into minin-races or "milestones" is probably a good one, except that when i worked asa research scientist, I was always lousy at meeting project milestones :-/ (but I still always finished and wrote up my work! Eventually.)
I have another little quiz to occupy your minds: should I wear my pedometer and heart rate monitor? I wasn't going to, then I decided I would, and now I am not sure again. I think the pedometer would probably be a help, but the heart rate monitor has the potential to play with your head, give excuses to slow down...oh no...look at how high it is! I better slow down...but on the other hand, depending on the stage of the race and how I actually react to that data, that might be a good thing. But it is a race and really, the object is to put the body on the line. So there are few conflicting thoughts there.
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3 comments:
Hi Stephen
As for the heart rate monitor I reckon you should give it a miss. Look at my blog I'll show you one reason why it could mess with your head/heart.
All the best mate
I don't know what a pedometer is.
I'm not so sure about the HRM. It could be useful to control the early pace, but maybe get rid of it after 10k.
On the other hand, when you are fully tapered and rested, you might actually have to run at a lower HR than usual for a given pace, which could muck up your pacing (you could go out 'too fast').
I haven't worn my foot pod in marathons but have worn my HR monitor. As I don't wear my glasses I can't read the pace readings anyway. As for the HR, I don't pay too much attention to it in the race. Mainly in the first 5 - 10k to make sure I don't go too fast. Once I'm in a groove it doesn't serve much purpose. The main reason I wear it is so I can analyse things after the race which I find helpful. Especially when you can compare it with previous trainings and races. So if you are worried that it will play with your mind then just don't look at the readings. IMHO.
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