10k PR and 10 miles at 30 seconds faster than marathon pace

Swimming and rest has been helping my ankle pain slowly disappear. So on Saturday I ran 10.3 miles at a faster than marathon pace. I sandwiched this between half mile warm-up and cool-down walks.

A week earlier, I raced in the Madison, GA Fireman's 10K. I came within 19 seconds of breaking my goal of running 10k in less than an hour! Then I ran an additional 10 miles later that afternoon. My ankle felt fine, too. However, my quads and other leg muscles felt fatigued from the speed work done during my 10k PR. The next morning, all was well thanks to a good night's rest.

Because of the potential of more ankle pain, I ran this workout on the track, instead of on the road. I found that this was not a problem. However, my most difficult problem was the inevitable slowing of the pace from miles 8 to 10.

It was a good workout, but it felt unnecessarily difficult. Probably because I have had to reduce the amount of running to help my ankle.

I suppose that this could hurt my marathon time on October 30, but at least I will be running on a good ankle. It appears to be healing steadily, so if I finish at a slower pace, I will be able to finish more marathons later at a faster pace.