July 22, 2009

Getting Faster



After a 60 mile bike ride with race efforts and a 3 mile brick I loaded up on some blueberry, dark chocolate, cinnamon pancakes yum.

So the Marine Corps Marathon is in 14 weeks and I would like to run that in under 3 hours. Over the last 6 weeks I've really stepped up my weekly running efforts and I am starting to see results. I'm putting in a little over 40 miles a week. Generally the pace has been between 6:40 min/mile and 7:30 min/mile. I've really tried to move away from the 7:30-8:00 min/mile range, which is (depending on the hills and heat) a coasting pace for me these days. I ran the Shamrock Marathon in 3:07 when I paced my long distance training runs between 7:40 and 8:00 min/mile. I would always do the last few miles at around a 7min pace. This time around I am doing the bulk of the long distance at about a 7:30 pace and taking the last few miles in at about a 6:45 pace. My 10k goal pace is 5:50min/miles to finish around 36mins off the bike. Right now I am around 6:05 min/miles. The heat has definately been a major factor in the pacing. It's something I am still battling with, but getting better. BTW my long runs are in the First Landing State Park on trails. Just a little advice: If anyone wants to get faster in their races do a good portion of your long runs on trails.


WooHoo I finally got a new pair of kicks today. Brooks is a sponsor, but thats not why I got these shoes. I had the Brooks Ghost 1 before and have been happy with their speed and had been a huge Asics Cumulus follower, but have found the Brooks Ghost to be less bulky and faster. Ohh and its biodegradable. BOOM. I will be using these for the bulk of my training as well as in my Marathon. I will continue to use my Zoot TT's for any race under a half marathon. Look the superfan is pushing it to the limits: http://www.brooksrunning.com/Videos/


Be sure to watch the rerunning of the Ironman Championships Saturday on NBC at 1:30. Also the NYC Triathlon will be broadcasted live on http://www.slowtwitch.com/online_coverage/nyc_09.html at 6 AM Sunday.

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