This isn't news to any bona fide running fans, but...
I happened to find a video of Ryan Hall winning the Houston Half-Marathon three months ago in an incredible 0:59:43. He took the American record at the distance, smashing the 21-year-old mark by over a minute. Hall is a young upstart and had never raced anything longer than 10 miles before. The video quality is horrible, but aside from that it's still cool to see him tick off mile after mile at an average pace of 4:33. At one point, he climbs a hill as if it isn't even there.
I'd be happy to run just one mile a full minute slower than the pace he maintained for 13 straight. This guy is a real talent. He is going for his marathon debut in London this month, racing against the world's best. I can't wait to see what happens!
The weather was not fit for man nor beast today, but I saw both on my run. It was 31 degrees, with a freezing drizzle. For some reason, I had no problem being motivated. After a day off, I feel nicely recovered, and decided to stick to my (shuffled) schedule for the week. Since I ran the 5k time trial on Sunday, I figured that could replace the "unstructured" interval workout I'd scheduled for today. I did my long run two days ago, so the only workout left for the week was a Ti (Threshold Interval) run.
Two weeks ago I did 3x1600 at 6:40 pace. However, that felt a bit hard. With my recent adjustments, my new T-pace is 6:55. I also decided to do only 2x1600 today, since I felt so tired this week, and 3x1600 does actually exceed Daniels' recommendation of no more than 8% of total mileage for threshold runs.
So, I simply went out and ran 3.5 miles at an easy pace, 2x1600 at my T-pace of 6:55, and 1.5 miles cool down. On the 1600s, I felt like I was working fairly hard, but still comfortable. I'd rate this as "high-end aerobic," which is about right. Despite the rain freezing on my glasses, I felt fine in my tights, long-sleeved shirt, fleece vest, and thin hat and gloves.
Today's run stats: 7 miles total, including 2 miles at threshold pace. 53:37 (7:40 average pace).
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