After Friday’s tempo, Saturday had to be well executed as it served as the bridge to the next big effort, Sunday’s long run. I could not ask for better weather … in fact I could have used lightweight gloves! If memory serves the temperature was a crispy 59* with a slight breeze when I clicked the watch. Before I left the apartment, I searched for the beanie … not cool enough for that yet, but it’s getting there. 
To sufficiently shakeout the hard effort, I went a bit longer than usual for a recovery run (7.2 miles) primarily on the dirt. With 4-5 weeks left of hard training before the taper, it’s time to increase mileage and intensity. With that brief introduction, on to the main event:
I planned to run the NYRR Marathon Tune-Up: 18 miles (3 loops) around Central Park … even registered and even bibbed up for the “race”. I’d overhead a few teammates discussing it, but was uncertain how to approach it (e.g., pace). When in doubt, go to the coach. He frowned when I mentioned the Tune-Up and said, “Why would you do that?” Hmmm. Okay, I paid the money, so what do I do? I asked myself this same question as I clicked the watch at the start. Actually, I was on the bridle path when the “race” started. I was easily the last person to cross the starting line (20 min late) as the crew was breaking down the corrals. At this point, Coach’s voice came over me and said, “soft service” as in “if possible, always run on soft surface, especially when going long.” Therefore, I called an audible and compromised. How?
I did the vast majority of the work on the bridle path north (BPN – 2.49mi loop) but also extended it to include Harlem Hills. As I mentioned above, time to turn it up … bridle path slows you down by about 10-15 seconds per mile vs the roads and tossing in serious hill work “makes legs strong like bull”. The combination is a perfect stimulus to this last cycle of marathon training. Toss in the fact that our prescribed distance for the long run was 20-22 with the final 5 at MP and you have the potential for a baller workout. The results:
I’ve heard (but never paid attention to) the argument that BPN slows you down. I just ran it. However, it’s true … with basically the same effort, I scooted along the 3.4mi loop (BPN+Hills) quicker than the 2.4 mile loop (BPN) ~10 seconds per mile quicker with the only difference being the 1 mile of roads on Harlem Hill.
After mile 14, I left the comforts of the BPN to rejoin the Tune-Up folks (~4,500) on the roads to bang out the final 5 miles at MP. I let MP (7:30) come to me gradually. It’s been awhile since I did any dedicated hill work, so I wanted to be careful about switching gears. Once I got rolling, it felt pretty good. I wore the Nike Zoom Elites (which are 4 oz heavier than what I’ll wear for NYCM). I kept thinking back to the recent HMP workouts and how the body must be adapting to the training because, at least on this day, those 5 miles felt comfortable. Now I just need to replicate it 5x+. Before I get ahead of myself, I do have an actual tune-up race in two weeks, Grete’s Gallop HM, for which I will go all out.
Last thing, I bagged the idea of racing the 5th Avenue Mile on Sunday, September 26th. Why? (1) Race occurs on long run day, (2) I will not taper for it (3) Going 100% beats me up for the next week which interferes with training and anything less than 100% is a no no. (4) 2010 is solely about the marathon, a 1-mile race brings too much risk and little reward.
For now, another 20+ mile effort in the bank (#3 and counting).