She's Gettin' After It

Palm Springs Lifestyle

Time: 104:55/92:02

Distance: 15.38/13.86 miles
Pace: ~6:48/6:38

Meagan and I got out for her marathon simulation this morning around 7:30 am. She was instructed to run a mile warmup, start the simulation at 6:50 and start clipping off 6:40s for the remaining ~12 miles. We were looking to get in about 15 miles total. I looked back to the last time I was in town to find a course that was roughly 10-11 miles which would serve as our first loop and then I had another 4 miles mapped out across the street. This is the loop I glanced at before heading out the door for one of Meagan's more important workouts during this training cycle.

I'll give myself a pat on the back for being able to remember the exact loop and or guiding Meagan through the intersections without a hitch. Our warmup mile was an 8:29 which put us along a street that was perfect to begin the workout. Our first two splits were 7:02 (1) and 6:59 (2) which were run north on a slightly uphill section of Palm Springs. When we started heading west towards the mountain and Ruth Hardy Park the pace dropped significantly to 6:35 (3) and 6:40 (4). I agreed with Jeff that it would be smart for her to run at the pace she felt comfortable so after the first two miles she was on her own to run the correct pace.

Ruth Hardy Park

The fifth mile was definitely the most uphill section and she split 6:49 (5) followed by a 6:30 (6) that was definitely net downhill. We wound our way back through the Old Las Palmas neighborhood, passed the Desert Museum while clicking off 6:26 (7), 6:45 (8) and 6:36 (9). When we got near the condo Meagan had to stopped and make a pitstop which took a little longer than what would be ideal. I believe we were around 9.36 miles of tempo work and my watch messed up during this 5 minute break. The .36 mile portion was run in 2:26 or 6:52 pace.

We resumed just outside of Koffi with a 6:45 (10.36 miles) and the first Clif shot with water was taken. We got things rolling shortly thereafter with a 6:29 (11.36), 6:24 (12.36) and 6:25 (13.36). Meagan wanted to pick up the pace the last half mile which she ran in 3:08 to bring us to our total of 13.86 miles. We did a short cool down of just over a half mile that brought us back to the condo. It was then time to get changed for the wedding brunch and off to the pool.