Photo courtesy of Andrew King - D4 Productions

Monday, March 17, 2008

18 myles - 2.07:42

Chatfield loop - 11:00 a.m.
overcast, low 30's, 2" of snow
mind/body - good
easy effort

Actually 18.5 myles but who's counting right? I've done my far share of rounding UP so it's about time to round DOWN. I had a few hours between appointments today so I did the quick change in the car and bolted.

Chatfield is not a new route but the way I did it today was new. Since AR 50 is mostly pavement pounding I thought I'd stay on the road around Chatfield and simulate a bit. This loop is relatively flat with only two very easy climbs. Initially, I wanted to hit 7:30's which would bring me around a loop in 1.08 (and change) for 9.1 myles. First loop was 1.03:59, which comes out to be 7:01/mile. A little faster than I wanted but felt fine. The hard part is maintaining that pace for the second loop: 1.03:37 for loop dos (6:59/mile). The reason I wanted to hit 7:30's today is because that is the pace I need to maintain for 50 myles to get 6.15 at AR 50. The body really starts to deteriorate after 40 myles so in reality I need to give myself a 15 minute buffer to get my target time of 6.30.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Chatfield is a great loop. 3 precautions though:

1) Watch out for trains. If you are wearing an iPod, they can sneak up on you and you'll be history.

2) Always, Always, Always look over your shoulder during the Blair Witch portion of the run. You never know who might pop out of the woods!

3) Eat lots of tortillas.