So much easier...

Today I started my Baystate marathon training. I had a speed workout which I had planned to turn into an 8 miler (3 speed, 5 warm up/cool down), since I am planning on going for higher mileage this marathon cycle. I have the week off as my son has one week of vacation. I woke up to gray skies and rain - New England's 25th day in a row of rain (but who is counting). It was pouring when I finished my breakfast and I was contemplating crosstraining instead. But we are going camping over the weekend, and I knew I had do get some running in today in order to keep up with the schedule. I got dressed thinking I am going to do my tempo. By the time I was ready to go, the rain had stopped, and I headed over to the track. I listened to NPR's "This American Life" to help me keep the pace easy for the 3 warm up miles (8:45 pace). When I got to the track, the rain was back on. It was warm out, so the rain felt nice actually. I switched my I-pod to shuffle, and off I went. Three mile repeats at 6:40, 6:40 and 6:38 went by so quickly and painlessly. Since I am training for a faster marathon, my track workouts are about 15 seconds per mile faster. I am happy to report that I did not feel this workout. My legs felt fresh, my stomach was happy, my lungs and heart were working, but not overworking. I also managed to keep the pace fairly constant. What a big difference compared to last marathon cycle, where I would go "all out" during these intervals, and feel exhausted thereafter. The cool down miles were probably the hardest part of the workout, since I had to run on a slight uphill with 2 large and steep hills. I got a bit stubborn and did not want to let my pace drop too much (8:45), something I have to change for future runs.


I am so excited to be training again, and to be loggin more mileage than during my previous marathon cycle!