The Accelerator II

Today was a nastier version of the "Accelerator" run that I last did here in the build up to the Dublin Marathon in 2010.

As mentioned earlier, the brief was 30-40 minutes relaxed, then 35-40 minutes at marathon pace, then 20-40 minutes at half marathon pace. I decided to take the relaxed section really easy, then target 3:30/km pace for the marathon pace section, then try and lift the pace in any shape or form for the last effort.

The conditions weren't too bad. A bit of wind about but nice and cool. I'd plotted the route locally as best I could to make the last part easy - at least that was the intention. I was using my local 11km loop for the majority of the run, with a bit of flat running at the end. Here is how it went (distances courtesy of MapMyRun so could be slightly out):

9.69km - 42:36 - 4:24/km pace (relaxed)
11.04km - 38:29 - 3:29/km pace (marathon pace)
8.58km - 29:32 - 3:27/km pace (half marathon pace)
3.49km - 16:09 - 4:38/km pace (warm-down)

Total - 32.8km - 2:06:46 - 3:52/km pace (2:43 marathon pace)

Pleased enough with that. It was very difficult to lift the pace for the last effort at HMP but I managed a slight improvement (this should have been at sub 3:25/km pace but the legs disagreed with that). I was pretty spent come the end and had a very slow jog back home. Another 20 miler in the legs and almost 20km of that at marathon pace or better (note I took no breaks for the entire run).

This is why it will be a lot easier come London:

- fresh legs after the taper
- fitter (still 7 weeks to go)
- better nutrition (today I took no water or gels for the entire run)
- better conditions (you can but hope)
- people to race with (get in a group)

Now I'm sitting down ready for the Spurs match against the unmentionables. There is beer in the fridge which won't be there for long...

Oh yeah, 112.3kms for the week. That's 3 ton plus weeks on the spin now and pleased to report the hammie was no problem today.