I've been reading up on ways to predict your marathon time, which I think is helpful in determining how I want to pace myself through the race. I know already that I want to be conservative at the beginning (especially during the one big uphill section of the race) and then speed up as my body allows. I figure I can make up time on the nearly two mile downhill at the end of the half and then will hopefully be able to cruise through the flat second half. That being said, I'm still trying to nail down what pace I should aim for.
One thing I read was about Yasso 800s. The theory goes that you run an 800 in the same pace that you want to run your marathon (so 3:30 minutes for an 800 = 3:30 marathon time). By the end of training, you should be able to do 10. According to Bart Yasso, this is a great predictor. McMillan agrees, but likes to add 5 minutes to the time. I decided Wednesday that I was going to try this particular workout, especially now that I'm running on a treadmill I can run even, measured splits. I figured I would do 7, as that would get me close to my mileage for the day and would be a good gauge of how I stood fitness wise.
I felt phenomenal during, at a pace slightly less than where I hope to finish. I ended up doing 9 and decided to save that last one for my last spring work out. I realized upon returning home I was actually doing them with a shorter rest period than I should have. All in all, I know I will be able to do 10 (especially if I do the right amount of rest in between) and could probably even pick up my pace a little.
Tomorrow is my second to last long run. I've put in 22 miles already this week, so this will be my first of 2 40+ mile weeks. So crazy! And to think a year ago I was ecstatic about running 23 in one week. Even six months ago, 28 (my peak for half training) seemed like a ton.
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