Out of Sync

The week started of well enough.

Tuesday was a 10 mile session. 1 mile warmup, then into 9 at a snappy pace. Not quite tempo, but all around he 6:40 mark.

Wednesday was 8 miles easy.
Thursday again, no speed session, but another tempo session of sorts but only 8 miles, a bit faster this time at 6:35 average.

Friday I ran at work. This was unusual for me, as I was doing my office day from our HQ building, which is fully equipped with some really swanky shower facilities.
I started off at an easy enough 7:30 pace, but found myself settling in at around 7:05. I pushed the last two under 7:00, and did exactly 10 miles, with a 7:13 average.

Saturday was 8 miles again, fairly easy, in between the heavy rain showers.
That gave me 44 miles for the 5 days. I was 'on call' on Sunday, which required me to be available to take phone calls at short notice throughout the day to trouble shoot any company problems which might arise. This meant a long run was not feasible, so I decided to defer it until Monday, and just took a rest day.

It was a long time where I had gone for a long run without having done a run the day before, and the legs felt really fresh heading out. The plan was for 20 miles, and the pace should have been 7:20, with the last 10 at 7:15. I have been considering the pace calculator prediction times, based on recent run times. They consistently put me well under 3 hours for a marathon distance, although I have learned to be sceptical of such predictions.
However, if I was to train towards a sub 3 or better, I decided to test the waters a bit with regards to pace. I set out at 7:10 pace, and to see how it would develope.

The first 10 were very comfortable, as they might be, on a long run, the first 10 are just travelling and that's where the real work starts. I was using just water and some gels for the later stage.
By 13, the pace was still flowing really well, and I felt I could go much faster, conciously holding back. At 15 miles, a natural flow produced a 6:51 mile. However, that's where I suffered a bit of a set back.

I had placed my water bottle by a gate, and as I was running a four mile loop, I would get some on each lap. At mile 16, the water was gone. So from just after 12 miles, I had no drink.
Whether it was real, or perceived, I began to really fixate on being very thirsty.
There was no big drop in performance however, although I was gasping. It started to rain and I was thankful for it for a change!

Finishing back at the house on 19:78 miles, I was so thirsty I couldn't be bothered rounding off the mile, and I drank water and a sports drink by the plenty when I got n the door. This brought me around quite quickly, and I was sure if I had some fluids along the way as planned, it would have felt easy over the last few miles. In the end, it was 7:07 average for the distance, and I was pleased with that. Even in training for Dublin last year, I would never have hit that pace over that distance. It actually felt easier to run faster. I think it might have something to do with stride length , and how long the foot is in contact with the road.

I was toying with an easy 8 miles today, but my quads were a bit sore, so I thought a rest and recovery day after the hard workout would be more appropriate , and so I did a light strength session instead. This does kind of put me out of sync though when considering weekly mileage, and I would consider tomorrow my start day, and Sunday my finish day, so not too sure whether to count the miles as for last week which would give me 64, or into this week.
It's not really important I suppose, the session is what's important, and how I recovery and progress from it.