So I determined that if I want to PR in my next race I would need to run 12 miles in 1.5 hours. That would be a 45 min 6 miler. I was going to run a 10k just to see if I could hit the 45 but then I thought about it. In the race I would be running 13.1 miles. Testing myself at 6 miles with fresh legs will tell me nothing about what I can do after 8-10 miles. So I decided on a 12 mile test run. And I had to run it in such a way that I felt that I could run the next 1.1 miles at at least the average pace of the 12 miles. After all, if I burnt myself out and had to walk the last mile, the effort of the previous 12 miles would be undone.
Mother nature blessed me with a day in the mid 50s, light breeze (my planned race will likely be breezy so this was a good thing) and plenty of sunshine.
Time?
1:28:40
Pace 7:21/mile
9 seconds per mile faster than planned. Included stopping to kick a ball back to some volleyball players and a relatively slow start due to fumbling with my phone.
And unlike last March, my heart rate never approached max. Which means there was plenty in the tank for the last mile and to drop some seconds in the second half.
With the upcoming winter training, these numbers should improve by March.
The one disappointment is my cadence. It's way too low for what I want to do. There is definitely some efficiency work that I need to do.
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