by Last track workout! Well, half was on the track, half on the roads. I did more track work for this marathon than my previous five marathons combined.
It felt weird to have pretty empty pockets.. just ONE gel.
The workout was 6 x 1 mile with 2-minute easy recoveries. The goal of each mile was for the first 1400m to be between a 6:20-6:30 pace and then to speed up for the last 200m.
The splits were–> 6:24, 6:14, 6:14, 6:17, 6:11, and 6:05. They were all done in the dark, and I feel like I woke up during the last one. A few of my friends are doing Mesa this weekend, so their workout was shorter, but luckily, I had some friends running all 6 with me, too—12 miles total @ 7:29 average.
The friend in the front is a trainer at BYU and just returned from Orlando. Hearing about the weekend from his perspective was so entertaining.
I have been trying to find every race review on Seville to read through (oh, the butterflies kick in while reading) and saw it was in Runner’s World: 10 of the Fastest Marathons in the World. This helps me feel a bit more at ease about this whole situation…
According to this heat index, the average temps fall close to the perfect spot for performance… although I do run a bit hot usually, I’m sure it will be perfect.
Here are a few more great things I’ve read about this race so far:
*It’s an 8:30 am start! Not too early, not too late. Plenty of time to get a good breakfast before the gun goes off.
*There is a green line I can follow for the shortest route (good thing because I stink at running the tangents).
*From what I have read, many runners are shooting for a sub-3 or faster. I NEED HUMANS TO RUN WITH.
*Seville is 23 ft above sea level, and we are at 4,600 ft here, so I am praying I don’t even have to breathe and my body absorbs the oxygen through my pores.
*I read that the last 10k is through the city, and the crowds are fantastic, which is right when I need them most. Andrew won’t be able to get to 17 different places to spectate like he typically attempts ha, but I’m sure I will see them often!
I think Andrew is a little nervous that I’ll just want to do international marathons after this one;)
And, of course, there are a few random things I need to tell you:
*My friends explained why some people didn’t predict Clayton Young to be in the top 3. At Chicago 2022, he collapsed for a few minutes with 800m to go, so some thought his Chicago 2023 (2:08:00) was more of a fluke or a one-time race.
*These beauties sure gave me a good marathon training cycle. I have three more miles of speed in them before they officially retire (they feel very flat). I’ll wear my new pair for a few speed miles next Tuesday/Wednesday and then the race.
*Beck asked to go to the mall for pretzel bites, and our schedules were clear, so we went only to come across his biggest nightmare. They are gone forever…
So, I made these no boil pretzel bites instead, and they were really good:
*I added some things to my backpack and saw that Skye HAD ALREADY PUT A BIRTHDAY CARD in there for me. I can’t.
*They have started on the built-ins in our main living area and they should be done when we get home:)
*Random marriage information. I stress about every little thing in our lives except for traveling with kids. The most stressful thing on the planet for Andrew is traveling with kids. I wonder if it is because I was flying back and forth with Brooke all the time when she was little, and so it feels normal to me, or because I realize he will stress out enough for the both of us that I can stay calm. Either way, wish us luck this weekend;)
What is your ideal race start time?
You and your partner… anything that you flip flop majorly on when it comes to stress?
Would you rather do speed work on flat or hilly areas?
How many miles do you put on your shoes and how do you track it?
