Running with a Purpose

Time: 79:02
Distance: 13.02
Pace: 6:04
W/u Splits: 6:55, 6:43, 6:42, 5:57 (for. 91 miles at 6:34 pace)
Workout Splits: 5:40, 5:31, 5:41, 5:41, 5:41, 5:57, 6:12, 5:56, 5:46
Map & Data

This morning was Part I of a pretty legit workout I'm doing today. Scotty D did something similar in his lead up to Boston this past spring. It's also a workout that Scotty says Renato Canova prescribes and one that James Carney would do in preparation for the NYC Marathon. Specifically the workout consists of running about 12 miles in the morning with 6-8 miles at race pace. In the afternoon/evening, the goal is to come back and run the same workout again. The purpose is to get body to use some of its energy reserves, practice taking fluids and run at goal pace.

I didn't feel great out there this morning, but it was a decent effort. I got out the door a little late and ran nearly 4 miles as a warmup. I started running hard at 24th Ave. and Lindsey St heading out east of town. The hills were going to add another element to the run and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to hit 5:30s. The focus was mainly on getting the legs a bit tired and relaxing on the terrain. I unfortunately had to stop a couple times to avoid an "Ian Marcus Experience" which broke up the hard portion of the run. The late night snack after hanging out with Spencer and Scotty probably wasn't the best idea.

The course was two miles east on Lindsey, two miles north on 48th and two miles back into town on Robinson. The wind wasn't really a factor when I started but it had picked up by the time I reached Robinson. Running directly into it was frustrating on the hills when I was trying to go fast but I was still able to accomplish the task at hand. When I saw that the pace had dropped off to 5:56 I decided just to run back to the apartment at an uptempo pace. I was running late and had to head to the store to take inventory of all our products. The goal for the afternoon is to meet up with Scotty and drive up to Lake Hefner for another effort similar to this morning's.