Fast And Slow

I knocked out another good week of pre-marathon training training this week. It was fairly uneventful for the most part, with three exceptions:

1. On Thursday I did not have as much time to train as usual before work, so I ran four miles instead of my usual 5-6. As a result I cranked the speed up to 7:03, which definitely felt faster, but not terrible. I am getting pretty darn close to the fastest treadmill training pace I usually get down to, which is very encouraging.
2. Yesterday I ran six miles and dialed the pace all the way back to 7:30, which honestly felt like I was walking. As a reminder, to break 3:20 in the marathon I will need to average 7:38 pace, so being able to comfortably run six miles at 7:30 pace in early November is a positive sign.
3. This morning I rode the exercise bike for an hour at a tougher than usual resistance level and rode just under 17.5 miles. Not sure that is terribly significant, but it felt like a solid way to end my training week.

So once again I knocked out four runs this week for a total of 20 miles. Definitely feels a bit monotonous, but given the fact I am still nearly a year out all that matters now is continuing to build a decent base and get faster. Next step, find some Spring races to do to test my fitness...