315 seconds

315 seconds, that's all I need to shave off my last marathon PR effort. That race was a huge PR, but also a big jump in training as well. This cycle the long runs don't seem to be coming as easily and the training is about identical to the previous cycle. Maybe that's due to only doing one gel. Or starting out a little to quickly. Or I'm 2 years older and damn near 50. This mornings long run went ok. Easy slog of 5 miles and then 13 miles on the Cedars of Lebanon Frostbite 1/2 marathon course, plus a couple more miles to get my 20 miles. Nice to have the fellas pull me through 13 miles.

I know the 2 points where I gave up all of my time in the last marathon. The first spot is the hill at mile six. That's easily 150 seconds worth of effort that won't have to be expended on the mostly flat Snickers course. It's not Chicago flat, but appears to be a little less rolling than the Huntsville Rocket City marathon, where I got my Boston Qualifying time. The rest of my lost time was the slow down in the final 3 miles and backing off the pace after the half way point. Should be able to avoid the slow down, by being a little more conservative in the early miles. Plus, this time, no slow down in pace on the back half. All or nothing.

Target race is 5 weeks out from yesterday. One more trip out to Percy Warner Park to double the 11.2. Looks like we won't have to deal with snow this time. A couple more fast finish long runs and one half marathon just to have a race under my belt before the big race. Sub 3:00 marathon or blow up trying.