Wha? Running slower helps you run faster?

A lot of the reading I've done on running promotes easy running on the majority of your runs (Kara Goucher, John Bingham, Hal Higdon). The marathon plan I'm following only has one hard run a week. The other three runs are supposed to be done at a nice easy pace. So far I've been following it. Yesterday was my long run of 6 miles. It was tough and horrible and slow due in part to 3 hours of sleep and eating popcorn for dinner the night before. But I did it.

Today was supposed to be a rest day, but I just felt like running. There is no hill training in my training plan, and my masochistic ass actually misses it. So I woke up this morning and headed out.

I just felt really good. Nikki Manaj's "Superbass" came on my iPod, and it's just such a fun song that my feet picked up on their own. I would check my Garmin periodically and saw sub 9 mile paces from time to time while the song was playing during the first mile. And I wasn't even trying to go fast. I was just having fun. True, the first mile is mostly all downhill, but still.

Anyway, it turned out to be a great run!

I think that's my fastest mile to date outside on the road.

And check out the crazy elevation on this route.

 

It makes me wonder what I can do on level ground when conditions are ideal.

***Marathon training
06/10/11, Friday
Plan: 30 minutes cross-train

Well, I did jack on this day. I was going to do pilates later that night, but Martin suggested we take the kids to the drive-in since it was such a nice night.

06/11/11, Saturday
Plan: 6 miles

I did it. All but the last mile felt hard and sluggish. I ran wondering how I was ever going to find enough energy to run up the last hill, when I already wanted to stop and walk during the first mile. Somehow though, I started feeling good during the last mile and made it up the hill with no problems.

Mile 1   11:02
Mile 2   11:50
Mile 3   11:03
Mile 4   11:38
Mile 5   11:29
Mile 6   11:17
Last .03 9:58

6.02 miles
1:08:35
11:23 average pace

This actually surprised me, since I was expecting to see 12:00+ miles/minute paces.