In the zone

I had my long run on Sunday - yesterday - and I'm still feeling great from it. It was one of those times when the effort was less.

I won't say it was effortless because I did work, especially during the 20 minutes of hard effort near the end.

As you may have seen looking back in my blog, I'm nothing if not consistent with my 1/2 marathon times. I have found a pace that ironguides has put into words: uncomfortably comfortable. It's a pace that I can maintain for a long time.

What I've not been able to do is to find an extra gear at say 15km or so - exactly when I need just that extra bit of pace to fend off fatigue.

I think though I'm in the process of discovering it, even at this early stage into my program. The key, in my opinion, is the treadmill.

I am running twice a week on a treadmill, no more than 50 minutes - though Kristian would have me on it for 90 minutes every second Sunday. (Until I determine how to put a treadmill into our garage, I can't monopolize the one treadmill to which I have access for that length of time.)

That said, running during the week on the treadmill has given me a sense of how to alter my pace, my leg speed and to better understand my ability to increase/decrease my forward motion.

I'm not trying to over think it. I'm enjoying it.