For over a month now I have been doing consistent workouts, incorporating speed work and distance training with the hope that I'll be fast enough to run steady seven minute miles.
This morning again, I did a tempo run, one of the last before the half marathon that will determine whether or not I am improving with this training program. I (perhaps unrealistically) expected these tempo runs to get easier and faster. But I'm not feeling it. I managed to average 7:08 min/miles for five miles and a 6:45 min/mile for the last mile...but felt like I was going close to all out effort for most of the run.
That is somewhat deceptive because if indeed I was going "all out" I could only hold the pace for a very short distance (like one, maybe two miles). In fact, I got faster as I progressed:
Mile 2...7:10
Mile 3...7:13
Mile 4...7:02
Mile 5...6:56
Mile 6...6:45
So I held the pace fairly well...but I want it to be EASY! I want to COMFORTABLY run a Boston qualifier. Is that human nature or just my lazy side? Is it possible to work and train hard enough that carrying the seven minute pace is comfortable? Or (more likely) do I simply need to come to terms with the misery of the marathon. As Bruce Denton told Quenton Cassidey (see Return to Carthage by John Parker), "It can be done...but it will hurt like hell" (paraphrased).
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