Pretty big workout today, and felt absolutely great, despite this workout putting me at 60 miles over Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues. 2.5 mile warmup up to the gym at about 7:30 pace (uphill), then hopped on a treadmill for 14 miles (marathon effort between treadmill at altitude here and flat at sea level is pretty similar). Miles 1-5: 6:00 pace, mile 6: 5:52 pace, mile 7-8: 6:00 pace, mile 9: 5:56 pace, miles 10-12: 6:00 pace, mile 13: 5:52 pace, first .75 of mile 14: 6:00 pace, last .25 of mile 14: 4:55-ish pace (5:00 for most, kicked it down to 4:30 over the last .05). 2.5 mile cool down, SO SLOW. 9:15 pace downhill. Workout was comfortably hard, but I've done quite a bit harder. To put this on par with my hardest workouts last year, effort wise, I'd have had to tack on another 4 miles. I felt like i could've gone ~20 if racing all out. I love the mentality of doing hard workouts on a treadmill: either run the pace or fly off the belt. There's no question of whether or not I'll keep up the pace. I simply have to. Based on how I felt today, I couldn't currently hold 6:00 pace for a full marathon, but I bet I could hold 6:07s and hit a 2:40. Once I drop all the way to race weight, I might just have to take Phoenix out at 6:00 flat pace.
One other note to self for future reference: pace felt kind of "fast" already by mile 3, but didn't really feel any harder even by the end, so that's something to keep in mind when a race pace feels "fast" too early. If I'm strong enough, it's not a big deal.
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