Marathon Training – Week 3 – Showers in the morning, rain in the afternoon

19/02	-	Rest/Travel day
20/02	5 miles	Tempo run: 3 miles @ 9:07/8:48/8:39
21/02	XT	60 min pilates class & walk home from school
22/02	6 miles	Easy run: avg 10:52 min/mile
23/02	-	Rest day
24/02	12 miles	Long run: avg 10:47 min/mile
25/02	-	Rest day, 60 min slow recovery walk
Total	23 miles	YTD: 139.5 miles

I woke up at 7am on Saturday and turned on NPR to hear the forecast for the day: “Showers in the morning, rain in the afternoon.” Hmmm, I’m not sure what the difference between “showers” and “rain” is but I’m pretty sure they both mean wet! I had a 12 mile run in front of me so I geared up in my rain jacket and grudgingly headed out the door. Once I got moving and warmed up and accepted that I was going to get wet I discovered that the rain wasn’t actually all that bad. There were lots of other runners out on the roads and seeing them toughing it out in the rain along with the occasional head nod and exhcange of “good morning” made me feel much better.

Saturday’s 12 mile run was not the farthest I’ve ever run (I’ll start setting new personal distance records in 2 weeks) but I thought there was a good chance it would end up being the longest run time-wise. In the end my time was 2:09:24 which is just slightly less time than my first half marathon in 2:10:42. My average pace was 10:47 min/mile. I would have liked to see that average over 11:00 min/mile but I’m pretty sure the slowing down will take care of itself as my long run distances increase!