Put 10 more miles on the new shoes. I tried to get in under 90 minutes, but it took me over 100--which put me slightly over 10mm on the average. But I was running hard, so I'm logging these as fast miles. Shoes felt better today, but this was a difficult run.
This was not a fast course. Usually, I run my pace runs on a route that has steep, short uphills with long gradual downhill sections. It's cheating, but it sort of matches the St. George Marathon profile, so I don't think it is necessarily wrong. This course is kind of backwards from my usual route with more elevation change. I drop down early, climb higher for longer, and then finish coming down. I believe this is better for my legs while being not so great for my ego. Another problem was that I gave blood two nights ago. I did double reds which meant they took a good chunk of my VO2 max. (Now that I think about it, maybe I should have kept my donation so I could infuse it just before the marathon. Wouldn't that be a scandal? Get busted for blood doping just so I could finish in the top half of my age group. At any rate, somebody is going to be receiving some high quality o+ some time soon.) I was breathing a lot harder than usual for a medium run at that pace and my chest has been feeling all day like I had been mountain biking at high altitude instead of jogging around the neighborhood. I can't help but think that that had to slow me down. Incidentally, when I was being checked before donating blood, the guy reading my pulse said, "Are you a runner or a biker? I don't get readings this low unless you are dead, or a runner." I think I might be getting in pretty good shape. Also, saw Lysa on her way up Newcastle while I was heading home--trying to survive my last mile. Tomorrow should be interesting. 20 miles at about half the speed of smell. Then an ice bath.
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