Ever hopeful me, this morning was dark and rainy with clouds forcasted for most of the day and I was so involved in this project I’m finishing up that I waited until noon to go out. Of course, a few steps into my run the sun came out so I was wishing for my sunglasses from there on in. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Today’s run called for 11 miles, what Pfitzinger calls a mid-long run, which means treat it like a long run as far as starting 20% slower than MP, getting to 10% by the end.

Now, in case you’ve just tuned in, I’m doing Steamtown in October which has a net downhill of 955′, so next week was the week I was going to start working on long downhills. My local forum pal, Joe, suggested this one-mile hill about 4.25 miles from my house, Midvale Ave.

Since today I was given a “speed allowance” of sorts thanks to the mid-long parameters (an ok to be on the slow end) I figured today’s 11-miler would be a great backdrop for experimenting with Midvale for the first time. It turned out to be absolutely perfect.

Seriously, the only thing missing was one of those motorized stair chairs to take you to the top (Nancy Marchand in Sopranos…that vision still makes me laugh). It goes up (or down) 200′ in that mile which is steeper than Steamtown, plus it’s mostly residential, so pretty quiet, though there are a few restaurants with huge windows so I can watch the reflection of me dying on the way up – what a bonus.

My splits were pretty good today, even in the noonday sun the slowest I went was one mile at 9:45 and that was the long uphill, as for that downhill…well! What a wonderful taste of MP, because that’s what I did. The great Arthur Lydiard suggested downhills for working on legspeed and boy, does it work! I was to be able to feel Marathon Pace without the agony of hoisting myself anywhere, just letting the downhill take me. I can totally see how pacing myself will be a challenge, the urge to speed will definitely be there, so how fantastic to have this hill for rehearsal.

Also interesting was I was really hot and draggy getting to the hill and doubted my ability to pull out 9:13s on the way home (10% above MP) but once I finished the fast downhill, it was as if I’d found a new gear, so the last 4 miles averaged 9:05. Not bad for 82 degrees against 13mph gusts.

So a big thanks to Joe for finding me a hill I don’t have to drive to and one that fits all the requirements for Steamtown prep. All systems are looking good at this point.

Now back to my project which I’ll soon be blogging about, maybe tomorrow even. It’s no biggie but I’m excited about it. And with that bit of mystery, I bid you adieu for the day. Happy runs, folks!

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