An Awesome 11 Miler and 100 Mile Month Milestone!

Since my original long-run plans changed, this morning I was on my own with my iPod. Instead of the Rockville Millennium Trail, I ran a a loop from my house into Olde Town Gaithersburg which was 11.5 miles.

The weather this morning was lovely - high 60s and low humidity. I'm going to LOVE running in the fall!

My pace and heart rate are improving - I'm not sure if it is due to the better weather or if my conditioning is improving - or both. I ran the 11.4 miles in 2:02:57 - a 10:49/mile pace with an average heart rate of 153.

Actually, only two of my mile splits had an an average HR of over 160 - miles 9 and 10, and for mile 11 I slowed down a bit to a 156 bpm average. Also, only one of my miles was slower than an 11:00/mile pace - a hilly mile 2.

With how well this run went, I started to think about pacing for the marathon, and that I may use the Parks Half Marathon in two weeks as a practice for how to run the first half of the NY marathon. I will be running 18 miles that day - parking my car about 5 miles away from the starting line, running to the start and then running the 13.1 mile race. I'm hoping that I can finish the half marathon in a consistent 2:20 with energy left in the tank. I think this will be a good test on whether I'll be able to pace well for a 4:40 marathon. We'll see...

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Looking at my running log, I see that with my long run today, I have crossed the 100 mile milestone for the month of August! This is my first 100 mile month this year (although the next two months will surely go over 100 miles as well!)

I have run 618 miles for the year so far, which puts me about 44 miles off pace for a 1,000 mile year. I'm not sure I'll be able to catch up to that milestone. I'll see how I feel after the marathon and make the decision then.