One key to my success today was that I rested this week. I learned from my Wildflower race a few weeks ago just how important it is to not overexert in the days before the race.
My friend Ray, an ultramarathoner, who was doing the marathon as a "training run", agreed to pace me to a 4:20 finish. That was my goal for the day. We started at a 10 minute mile pace. I stayed consistent at that pace for several miles. I felt great.
Around mile 19, I still felt good. I gradually picked up the pace. For miles 22-24, I was hitting a 9:30-9:40 pace. I was passing just about everyone; it felt great!!! At mile 25, Ray turns to me and says, "Here's where you're going to give it everything you've got." I picked up the pace to 8:30/mile, and for the last two tenths of a mile, I hauled it in to the finish line.
My finishing time: 4:18:32. A minute and a half faster than my goal. And, I did it in negative splits, meaning that the second half of the race was faster than the first. Overall, a great day!
3 comments:
YAY! Congratulations! I'm so happy you had a great race and exceeded your goal. I'm a big believer in running SLOWLY (although for me a 10:00 mile is brisk, lol.) -victoria
Hi, I generally visit your blog about once every few months. I am transitioning towards a vegan diet and although I am not vegan or even vegetarian I have reduced my meat consumption by 70% and my cheese, dairy, eggs by another 50%. I am looking to add exercise to the mix and was wondering which heart rate monitor you would recommend. Seems you are taking an excellent care of yourself. I am totally new and have never owned a heart rate monitor and always felt it was unnecessary, but it doesn't seem so.
Great job in making changes to your diet, Anonymous. Thank you for the idea; I'm going to post about heart rate monitors later today.
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