Hey, big CONGRATULATIONS to all 9 Agnoties who kicked butt on a rainy, humid Staten Island Half! As usual, the Maharaja showed his dominance by unleashing his super powers. It looks like Louise PR’ed and clenched Competitive Team Start. GRATS GIRL!! I wish I was there!
And guys, guys, I had an interesting conversation with Capt Chris this morning.
Capt Chris: What’s your bib number for Toronto?
Me: I won’t have it until packet pick up. They ghetto like dat.
Capt Chris: Make sure you send it to me. And what you wearing?
Me: Sure. I plan to wear team singlet or T unless it’s long sleeve weather up there. Right now it’s 60% Rain, 47F. (sad face)
Capt Chris: In that case wear a singlet. I wore my singlet yesterday and it kept me dry except my arms and inside of my panties.
@##%?! Why the hell is inside of Capt Chris’ panties NOT dry? Hey fellow Agonites who ran the Staten Island Half with him…did you see what happened to him?
Any ways for me, all the hot, humid, hard, annoying training has come down to coming Sunday - a drizzly, wet, humid weekend in Toronto. The Toronto Waterfront Marathon is on its way and I’m freaking out.
My coach has ordered an impossible race:
Through the 5k mark: let's keep things around 8:15/mile (or 5:08/km) and no faster! There's plenty of time to catch up later in the race, but taking the first 5k at around :30 slower than goal pace is ESSENTIAL.
If you do the math, you'll be 1:30 in the hole, but over the next 23 miles, that's just an average increase of 4 seconds per mile (ie. you have to run 7:41s in stead of 7:45s...pretty negligible difference). This race is totally flat, so it's going to come down to a lot of restraint and smart pacing at the start to set you up for the remainder of the race. From 5k-35k, you should be cruising. Try to relax and focus as much as possible, and keep your pace as consistent as possible.
From 35k to the finish, this is the race. If you've been smart this far into the race, you'll be able to dig and grind out the last part of the race. When things get difficult, keep your cadence up and spin your legs.
Slight problem. This training season, other than a few races, I haven’t been able to hit 7:45min/mile. 7:41 for 18 miles is…Kinda Hard! But then my Marathon Goal Pace is 7:47 so I guess I can go as slow as 7:43, if I kick up the first 5K to about 8:11, :12. Wait, but the 8:15 is ESSENTIAL. …and so I redraw and redraw my pace calculator. YIKES.
