Beautiful day, sunny, no wind. Was 54 degrees when I got out of the car. Plan was 21 miles, with last 10 miles at marathon pace (6:58). Started off and quickly settled down to 7:30 pace, so I deciced I'd just run the whole thing at 7:30 (which is just under 3:17 marathon pace). Saw nobody for the first 5 miles, then a couple mountain bikers and some birdwatchers.First lap was pretty steady, all between 7:25 and 7:35 pace. After 9ish, stopped to get water ( I was getting a little thirsty!) at the car, dumped the shirt (it was getting hot) and ran the second lap with a water bottle. Kept on 7:30 pace all the way round. By mile 18 I suddenly got really hungry, and took a gu but it was too little, too late. By 18.5 I was flagging and bag the rest (I'd gone a mile or so past the parking lot). Jogged a half mile at 8ish pace, recovered, and then decided to see if I could still run sub 7. Did the last 1/2 mile at 6:43 pace and it wasn't too bad, even though the temperature was now almost 70 degrees and there is zero shade on the run.
Overall did 19.5 miles at 7:30 pace. With smarter nutrition, some water in the first hour, and a good reason to do so, I am pretty sure I could have run another 6.7 miles at 7:30 pace. Which would have given me a 3:17 marathon. Shaving 17 minutes (or 38 seconds per mile) off that in Edinburgh will be a stretch, and I'm starting to think that a solid sub 3:20 is what I should be aiming for.
Weekly total was 74 miles. Next week it steps up a little to 82.
2 comments:
nice writeup. Have been wanting to check this out. Did you start the run near the golf driving range?
there's a parking lot right by the edge of the bay, once you get into alviso, follow the sign posts to the marina and then you'll get there.
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