Race Simulation

Today's long run was different than most of my long runs. Last year when I was training for the Seattle Half Marathon I found a great half marathon training program by Ryan Hall. Some of the long runs on the training program included these race simulation runs. Basically, you run 3/4 of the run at a good medium pace and then run the last 1/4 of the run at 20-30 seconds slower than your half marathon race pace. Today's run was 12 miles---9 miles at 8:20 pace and 3 miles at 7:20 pace. I felt really good during the 9 miles. I was able to pick it up to 7:17 and 7:14 for miles 10 and 11. By the last mile I realized I would be going uphill for the last mile and my legs were feeling really tired so I decided to slow it back down to a slower pace. I was so glad that I listened to my body. Overall it was a great run. Now on to another week of intense training before I taper for the 20 K.