Lesson learned

Last week I mentioned that Mr. Joanna and I were working on a new display area for my race medals. Well, I am very pleased to say that it's finished and I love it! It's in what I would describe as a hallway off of our bedroom. The framed medal up top is my very first medal, from the Chicago Distance Classic in 2007. It's nothing fancy, but I love that I finally have a real place to display my hard-earned hardware!

On the training front, today I learned a lesson the hard way. It sounds so ridiculous in hindsight.

I've always wondered why we do long runs slower than race pace. It seems logical that you should train to run the distance you want to run at the pace you want to run it. And I've been feeling really good recently about my tempo work, and maybe got a little over-confident after my 27-minute PR in marathon #2. So, you guessed it, I decided to do my 10-miler today at race pace.

Mile 1: 9:15

Mile 2: 8:59

Mile 3: 9:07

Mile 4: 8:54

Mile 5: 9:13

Mile 6: 9:16

And now I know why it's a bad idea.

I haven't been tapering. I'm not that rested. It's my first attempt at 10 miles at anything faster than about a 10 minute pace. It was too much. Now I get it. This is why I shouldn't be left to my own devices, people.

All this brings me something kind of exciting.

I'm slowly converting to someone who swears by running by the numbers.

A while ago I posted about wanting to follow the Runners World 2:00 half-marathon training guide in the spring. Then last week Morgan over at Caution: Redhead Running posted a link to the McMillan calculator, which I'd never seen. I know my tempo work and longer mid-week runs were a big part of my success this training cycle, but I have a lot of room still to improve. Historically, I haven't paid as much attention to the type of mid-week run I've been doing or the pace I did it at; I just went for a run. I think I'm ready to change that. And in a hugely running geek way, I am so excited about it!

577.8 + 4.0 + 10.2 = 592

set to break 600 next week!