magic 8 miler. Last call on holiday blog giveaway!

My legs felt GOOD this morning. I ran 8 miles in 1:09:48 for an 8:44 pace.

Basically I have hit that point where I have been putting in volume upon volume upon volume at a slow pace (9+ min/miles). The last thing I want to do is to go into the next half marathon having ran nothing BUT 9+ min/miles, especially if I want to do better than 2 hours. I'm not saying its time to do official "speed work," since its not that period of the season, but I am saying that its time to start adding "some" conservative speed, so as to not wreck my body come Jan 24th.

So this morning I did 2, 1 mile pickups that were integrated into the 8 miles. My legs felt great. Here are today's mile splits:
9:11
9:01
8:52
8:49
8:16
8:43
8:04
8:48

The pickups were controlled and smooth and are possible half marathon paces. It think this is a safe and very conservative way to start adding some speed. Based upon my last 10K, and according to McMillan, my half marathon pace should be an 8:03. I'd prefer to go for an 8:30 pace to limit recovery time. There is PLENTY of season beyond Jan 24th :) As long as I go faster than 2 hours, it will be a successful day!

Last chance! Remember to enter into my Holiday Blog Giveaway! Win a free copy of Monique Ryan's "Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes." And If you mention the giveaway in one of your blog posts, you get entered TWICE! Drawing will be TONIGHT!!!