MDay -22 -- Sat. Aug. 29

Massive thanks to the guys from SRRC -- Bill arranged the run today, and Andy came along, and Jay showed up for support mid-way (he was on a bike, but came by). It was rainy, but no downpours, and while it was cool it wasn't cold. Bill picked me up at 9, and we drove to the Station Rd parking spot. Andy appeared and we set out. I wore a rain shell, but didn't put the hood up; we were all in shorts, too. Plan was 8 warmup + 8 pace + 4 whatever. Warm up was StationRd, Shays, 116 up to Amherst, down Main to SE, then back along to SoAmherst and Station Rd again back to cars. Bill called laps, and we started a bit quick, then backed off. There were some hilly bits, but nothing serious. Bill reports the overall thus:

Warmup 8 miles @ 1:00'42" = 7'35"/M

So a bit quick, but it felt very controlled, no strain. Next, off on the pace training: 4 miles out on the rail trail towards the mall, then back again. Bill kept laps, but didn't tell me times, just whether we were fast (quicker than 7:40) or slow. He let me lead so I was trying to gauge the pace: it was very difficult, but the results were progressively better. Tripped over a fallen tree at midpoint, saved from sprawling by Andy's outreached hand, but otherwise no incidents. Bill led for the latter half of this, and we got a really good rhythm going. Here's his data report on the 8 mile pace workout:

M1 - 7'30"
M2 - 7'57"
M3 - 7'48"
M4 - 7'40"
M5 - 7'53"
M6 - 7'38"
M7 - 7'43"
M8 - 7'40"
total - 8 miles @ 1:01'47" = 7'43"/M

Felt really good at the end of it, so for our last loop we attacked the hill on StationRd, then back down WWright past the rail trail to Wilson, then back and do the rail trail section to NoSt again. Felt so good that I picked up the pace and then went for it at the end, outsprinted by Andy but managing a decent spurt. Bill had figured this would be a cool down...

4 miles cool-down @ 27'48" = 6'57"/M

OVERALL
Time: 2:30:17
Distance: 20 miles (I got 19.85 by mapmyrun, but I'll take Bill's data)
Pace: 7:31s

Comment: amazing! I had instant hunger queasiness with the sprint at the end, but otherwise I felt incredibly good. Totally wiped out later in the day, but very encouraging overall. Three weeks to go. よ〜し！！ This is also a double PB: distance in one run, and weekly distance (62 miles). Maybe also duration, but I'm not sure on that.