Notes:
I think it is time for some "Spin Control". This run was Hard, This run was painful, and it really should not have been. I am not quite sure if I am over training, or not training enough, but something was not right today. I did not hurt myself, or anything dramatic, the run was just hard, and my muscles are not happy with me tonight, and they have convinced me that It might be time to look freshly at my goals for the marathon, and see if they are realistic.
I have spent a good deal of the day telling myself that there are good reasons why this run was so hard. First, It was 16 miles, allot of it on muddy roads. Second, This was my first long run at my new pace of 9:06. I guess when I look at it rationally, this was the fastest I have ever run a long distance, anything over 13.1, which I did at 8:23. Third, This is my first of three 16 mile runs over the length of this program, and I am only on week 5, if I could run at 8:00 now I would not really need to do all this training would I.
The thing that eats at me is doubt, I have openly proclaimed that I was going to do the Marathon in 3:30. This was based on trimming 30 second form my Half marathon pace. But I don't know if I gave the extra 13.1 miles in the marathon enough clout in my calculations. I'm sure that there are some veteran runners out there who are shaking there head and say "Da..". The good news is that This is only the end of week 5, I have 11 weeks left to go, and I'm sure it will make a difference, how big of a difference, we shall see.
Oh well, I'm not going to make any snap decisions now, but we shall see. I have to do this again next Sunday, but ad two miles. If it is as difficult as today I will officially start rethinking my goal time, for the next week at least I'm still shooting for 3:30.
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