Peak Mileage and long workouts

This should be my highest mileage week leading up to the marathon since school starts next week and we're less than six weeks away. After an easy 9 miles on Monday, I woke up early Tuesday and jogged a slow 6 miles, making sure to keep the pace above 7 minutes per mile (although it was tough). It ended up getting really hot yesterday so I had to delay my road tempo until later in the day.

At around 6:30 pm I headed south on Lakeshore Drive for 3 x 2 miles, with 5 minutes recovery. The goal was to keep a controlled rhythm, slightly faster than race pace, and negative split each rep. I warmed up 2 miles then stretched out a bit before rolling into leg 1. The clocked the first two miles in 10:59 (5:33, 5:26) and went into my five minute jog. By this point it was getting dark and the tempo had cooled to the mid 80's which made the workout a little easier. I hit the 2nd rep in 10:50 (5:25, 5:25). Fortunately this one ended near a bathroom because I wasn't feeling too good. After another five minutes rest I rolled into the last one and tried to lift a little. I finished the workout with a 10:30 (5:18, 5:12). All in all, this workout felt great and I was happy to get through it without too much difficulty. I followed it with a couple more exceptionally good performances at a karaoke bar. 9 miles in the evening, 16 miles for the day.

This morning I went for a ho-hum 10 miles in 68 minutes. Left the Garmin at home as I finally know the markers in my head for each direction. It also rained overnight so the weather was cool in the 70s. So far 35 miles this week in 3 days. I'm looking forward to a 10-mile up-tempo run tomorrow or Friday and then a 20-22 miler this weekend.