This past weekend was to be a taper week, but that also assumes I did 20 miles the week before. My birthday and my legs not feeling 100% translated into me only doing 9 miles 2 weeks ago. So, to get back on it, my 13ish mile run on Sunday took a different route.
I didn't change too much from what I normally do - not exactly the best idea a month or so away from race day. But what I did do was push myself a bit. I typically run 5:1 (run/walk) intervals, and this week I kicked it up to 7:1's. I knew I could do it as I did essentially 15:1's in Chicago a few weeks ago with little trouble. It was time to push myself a bit. To my surprise, it was no trouble at all and I improved my time by a fair margin while still not going all out. The real gauge of how you're doing is if you can run the 2nd half of your run faster than the first half - which is exactly what I did. I went from a 10:30/mile pace up to a 10:00/mile pace with some ease.
I'm feeling pretty good heading into this weekend's last true "long run" of 20 miles. Just hoping to keep a steady pace and finish strong.
Drive slow
