Planned just an easy single loop Bay Run. After 7km CW, I summoned the courage for a pick-up round at marathon pace. Lungs felt reasonable but my legs struggled to respond, not to mention the ridiculous humidity.

Felt much harder than MP should! To be fair, I'm at 140k for the last 7 days. All in the name of mental toughness.

Tempo splits for lap two (8-14km): 3:42, 3:37, 3:36, 3:32, 3:31, 3:29, 3:20

With my hands on knees, lo and behold Neil Pearson jogs by near Le Montage. Joined NP for a cool-down lap (CCW direction), adding 7km at 5 min/km. This guy's coming off a remarkable 2:26 Berlin Marathon effort, followed by a tidy 72 min Melbourne Half Marathon on Sunday. Then he's off to run California in December.

Apparently the secret is 200km weeks mostly at 6 min pace. Not for me.

22km in 100 min at 4:30s. 

Off to meeting Lewis and James E for brunch at Shenkin.