AM - 13 miles. 8 mile AT Tempo in 41:59 (5:15/mile avg). Splits - 5:23, 5:19, 5:22, 5:14, 5:12, 5:19, 5:10, 5:00. 3 up, 2 down. AZ Tempo loop (which is 3 miles around!). Felt a little flat/tired at the beginning but got into a rhythm after 2-3 miles. The faster last mile was all due to letting myself open it up in the last quarter-mile.
After thinking about it quite a bit, looking over my training objectively, and talking with some smart people, I'm sticking w/ Sub-2:20 as the "A" goal next Sunday in Sacramento. I want to get a fast marathon under my belt and this is a great opportunity to make that happen. Since I'm seeded 28th and definitely not in contention for the win, there's no harm in sharing my specific race strategy for this one beforehand. Ideally - robotic 5:20 pace and then finish strong.
Tomorrow will be an off day, and then I'll do one more short tempo on Wednesday. I'm actually looking forward to the cut-back week for once as I'm very confident in my fitness at this point.
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