Marathon pace session on the canal

It was the spog man at work today (monster pick 'n' mix in the restaurant) so after 2 quids worth of sugary over-indulgence I was more than ready to take my punishment.  Marathon pace session tonight, but with the diary free after 4pm Rich and I decided to go in daylight (well, wintry gloom, really) and run on the canal.

We ran up past Tesco and jogged to the half mile point then started our effort.  Along to 5 Rise, then we turned and ran all way to where the decent surface runs out just past Keighley Golf Club.  This gives you just under 5.5m of effort, so there's then another 2.5m back to get to the 8m we were doing.  As by this time it was after 5:15pm the light was going, so we dropped back onto the road at Riddlesden Hall.  Rich, who'd been doing really well to keep going, decided he was a bit pooped by this time, so he dropped the pace whilst I did another half a mile to get the full 8 in.

I was surprised today how much easier it felt than a week ago, although I'm much more over my cold than I was then, when I think it was just starting.  The canal bank is of course completely flat as well, whereas the Riddlesden old road is undulating, although not hilly as such.

My splits today were pretty consistent, and I felt good all the way:

I did start to feel today like I could feasibly keep that pace up for 26 miles, which is the first time it's happened, and my HR tells a story too - it was averaging below 150 for the full 8m of effort, which is (against my new max HR that I've decided is definitely 170!) below 90% max or using WHR below 85%.

Got some thoughts from Terry L on my proposed programme of long run, MP session and track with a couple of steady/recoveries thrown in.  He's pretty comfortable with what I have proposed, but has made some useful suggestions about trying to split the hard sessions up - for example this week I'll be at the track Thursday night then running 22m on Friday afternoon.  This can't really be helped as I'm off to Edinburgh on Sunday and Monday for the rugby, but I've been through the diary with Linz today to try and work out what fits best where.  Terry also wonders whether I should try and do a very steady (ie 8min mile) 26 miler - that'd have me out for 3 1/2 hours, which is very tempting as it'd be a great confidence booster.  My only wonder is whether I can build up to that with Blackpool, Trimpell and Coniston already booked in.

I'm feeling a lot more confident generally about this marathon, especially as I now have A Plan, rather than a vague intention to do certain sessions each week.  But - it's a long way to go yet...