Week -7 went much better than expected. After the appalling start of the training cycle, it seems like my hopes of a sub-3 marathon are restored. (Not saying likely, though, but there is a positive probability!)

Here is the roundup: After the rest and recovery runs, I had a rather miserable 15-miler in heavy rain on Wednesday. But the most dreaded run came on Friday: 7 miles of lactate threshold. I went to the track to do it, and I wasn't sure at all if I could. I was aiming for between 6:25-6:30 for the first few miles (1600 to be exact), but it went better than expected, and I was bale to run my perceived threshold at a bit faster pace. I ended up running my 1600's in 6:19, 6:23, 6:21, 6:23, 6:21, 6:23, 6:22. The last mile got a bit hard (not surprisingly), but for about 10 kms I felt fairly comfortable.

It did trash my legs a bit, and I still felt it on Sunday, when I had a 22-mile run on the plan. This epic distance is the longest in the whole plan, and this week is arguably one of the hardest with the brutal threshold workout and 70 miles total. Nevertheless I chose to run the 22 in the southern end of The Parklands, so I could get some good elevation training (over 1000 ft). In windy weather I managed to run 22 miles. I was very tired by the end: it felt like the last miles of a marathon. But it was like the last miles of a good marathon: tired, but still in control, and able to run some fast last miles. I managed 7:31 average with a 7:04 last mile.

Now, on Monday, I feel quite beat up, but happy with the monster week. Phase 3 (race preparation) starts next week with tune-up races. Unfortunately there is no appropriate race for me within 2 hours of driving this weekend, so I'll just train: probably doing 10K of lactate threshold.