Revisionist's History

Forget everything I said about lactate threshold pace and10k pace in the e-mail about this week's workout. But remember the terms progression run and mararthon pace.

The rules for tonight's workout are simple:
1. It will be one of the hardest workouts we do all season, so come to the run tonight with your time card, ready to punch in and go to work.

That being said, even when you are done with the workout, you should still fell like you had some juice left in the tank. We're not training for a 5k, where you are expected to leave everything you have on the track when you are done with the workout. as Marty says, in marathon training, you don't run yourself to complete exhaustion in the Tuesday night runs. So run hard. But run disciplined.

2. We will warm-up for one mile.

3. We will run four miles at marathon pace (miles 1-4).

4. You will pick up the speed and effort for the next two miles (miles 5-6). I reccommend going on feel. Go hard, but stay in control and in your comfort zone. You still enough in your tank to handle miles 7-8.

5. We will run miles 7 and 8 even harder. You won't be all out sprinting. This is not all out running. You shouldn't be in severe oxygen debt. But you should be running outside of your comfort zone.

6. Cool down for a mile or two and your done.

7. For all you number hounds, miles 1-4 should be easy for you to figure out if you're going the right speed. Either you are going your goal marathon pace or you are not. The next two stages will be a bit more challenging for you since we'll go on feel. That being said, as a rule of thumb you wouldn't want to increase your pace much more than 10 or 15 seconds per mile.

8. Mentally this workout will teach you discipline. Stay at marathon pace at the start. Do not speed up more than 10 or 15 seconds per mile for miles 4 and 5. You have to stay in control all the way through.

9. If you can do this, you will learn a lot about your marathon pace. If you are dead by mile 6, and you controlled your surges through miles 5 and 6, maybe your marathon pace is a bit too fast.

10. Have fun!