The Marius plan was to run 40 mins at 7.33 pace increase to 6.48 pace for another 40 min then hammer the final 40 mins at faster than 6.18 pace, total time 2 hours.
Well this is how it panned out, I headed out at 8 mph onto my 7 mile loop which goes out to Ainsdale and returns along the coast road. On my way back along the coast rd i hit a blustery head to side wind which made for hard going, so after I completed my first 40 mins at 7.25 pace [ 8 sec per mile up on target] i moved onto my Trafalgar rd-Hillside 5 k loop to get some shelter from the wind. my next 40 mins went by at 6.51 pace [3 sec per mile off target] this did not feel good, my legs did not like the damp cold wind, self doubts started to cross my mind, would i be able to up my pace for the final section?
I had now been running for one hour and 20 mins, I kicked hard and accelerated up to 10 mph.
the first couple of minutes were hard going but then my legs came around and i got into a good rhythm. Two laps of my 5k loop went by at 6.17 pace [just on target] and i finished feeling better than when I started!
Marius said this session will help me over the final 10k of the Marathon, one thing is for sure this was a lot harder than a normal sort of tempo run!
I now have a well earned easy week before the Liverpool 1/2 marathon, hopefully that will give my legs plenty of time to recover!
