week of 9 Feb

Endurance/ General Strength Phase 1-2x this week – Core Plank - Begin face down elbows bent, lift entire body off ground in a pushup position except for hand to elbow touching ground. Hold position for up to 2 minutes. Back should not slouch. Suck in your abdominal muscles. If you start slouching immediately stop! Forearm Plank w/Alternating Leg Lifts – Same position as above but lift one leg up off the ground approx. 1 1/2 foot or until it is level with your head. Hold for 30 sec, place foot back down and repeat with opposite leg. Foam Roller Exercises 1-2 x this week 5 Weeks to goal Half Marathon race MPW 66 Monday, Feb 9 - rest Rested. I'm good at this. Tuesday, Feb 10 8-10 mile moderate run including the Rock Circuit 8.8 miles I think. Great run. Woke up early (4:45) and there were less people out there when I ran. Wednesday, Feb 11 AM 12-14 mile moderate run including 10 x 10 sec steep hill sprints w/full recoveries and 10 x 2 hill min @ 5k effort w/2 min jog rests. Full recovery then 10 strides Underestimated my route and ended up with 14.7. 8+ on warmup loop (including the 10x10'' hills). Did the 10 x 2 min @5k hitting 180-181 bpm at the end of the last couple. Did 2 min rest between except after the 5th I did 3+ min rest to get back to the bottom of the hill as I was inching my way up until I ran out of hill. Did 10 "strides" on the way back. The strides were kind of short and half-hearted. PM : 3 mile moderate w/ 5 strides Did 2.75 miles at 10+ min/mile. Forgot to do the strides. Argh. Thursday, Feb 12 6 mile easy run Did 5 miles at lunch. I was quite sore and did maybe 10 min/mi. It was also *incredibly* windy. Airport reported 50 mph gusts. Was literally knocked off my feet once. Friday, Feb 13 9-10 mile moderate run over rolling hills w/ 30 sec @ 5k effort/30 sec jog rests x 15 This went very well except that I tweaked the same place from last Friday on one of the 5k efforts ["sharp twinge in a muscle (or maybe tendon) on the medial side of my left knee between the knee and that big hamstring tendon. I also had some pain at the very, very top of my right calf, below the back of my knee."] It had been slowly getting better and hadn't interfered with running. Anyway, it didn't stop me from completing the intervals. I hit the lap button every 5 min just to keep count and keep the mile auto-lap from triggering. The paces for the 5 min segments (includes 5k and jog) were 7:58, 7:57, and 7:51, but they were all quite uphill (gained 120 feet in the first 5 minute segment). Just for the hell of it, here's the elevation profile for my standard 9+ mile work route. From mile 2 - 5.5 actually looks like a pretty nice Boston simulator. Saturday, Feb 14 6-7 mile moderate run including the Rock Circuit I could feel the tug on the back of my leg at first, but it subsided. I felt kinda tired and I believe we talked about going easier on Fri/Sat to be more recovered for Sunday, so I kept around 140 bpm. Rock circuit was fine, but passers by always come buy when I'm doing lunges or supermans and never when I'm doing push ups or something normal looking. I went to home depot procured a 2x8 for the treadmill. The deck is 60 inches long which makes the math nice since one radian is about 60 degrees. A 2x8 is actually 1.5'' thick, this should be about -1.5 degrees. Sunday, Feb 15 15-16 mile moderate run including 15 min run down a slight grade hill (try to run down the same grade as Boston) @ marathon effort then 45 min run up a hill @ LT effort Finish run w/10 strides I did my old run around the lake I used to do all the time and got back to my house after 8.6 miles. Jogged a few minutes on the treadmill with the board underneath (neg incline) and had a few sharp pains in my runner's knee. It was OK after I got up to speed though. I did

week of 2 February

Monday, Feb 2

Rest. Still sick and happy for a scheduled rest day. Fever was down to 99.6 before I went to bed Monday night and I still didn't feel well, so I didn't set the alarm.

Tuesday, Feb 3

Scheduled. 7-8 mile moderate run including the Rock Circuit. Slept in. Glad I did. I wasn't over the bug yet.

Wednesday, Feb 4

Scheduled AM: 12-13 mile total moderate run including 4 x 2 miles @ 7:40, 7:30, 7:20, and 6:40 w/3-4 min jog rests
PM: 4 mile jog

6:29 AM 9.63 1:22:41 8:35 143 (71%)

On the two mile warmup to the track, I felt like my old self, like I'd finally caught my breath after the HM. I shot for 7:40, 7:30, 7:20, and 6:50 w/600m rest. The first two miles (1600 actually) were 7:39, and 7:39. My heart rate averaged something like 148 on the second mile, which I thought was very good for the pace. I felt a twinge in my hamstring on the 3rd laps, but it quickly went away and I forgot about it. I stepped up the pace for the second two miles and could start to feel my hamstring. After the first mile (7:26), it started to build (tugging sensation) pretty quickly and I could tell I was favoring it, so I decided to shut it down and jogged away from the track. I took the long way home from the track (4+ miles) and ended up at 9+ instead of the scheduled 12-13. Bummer.

5:00 PM 4.00 0:38:00 9:30. Four boring miles on the treadmill. Hamstring was stiff but OK for jogging.

Thursday, Feb 5

Scheduled 6 mile jog.

Did 6.04 0:59:56 9:55 130

Friday, Feb 6

Scheduled 8-10 mile moderate run including 5 uphill then 5 slight downhill strides. Run over rolling hills

Did 9.20 1:19:33 8:39 144

My hamstring was a little stiff, but felt pretty good and then about 0.5 miles in, I had a sharp twinge in a muscle (or maybe tendon) on the medial side of my left knee between the knee and that big hamstring tendon. I also had some pain at the very, very top of my right calf, below the back of my knee. Ugh. Well, it subsided pretty quickly and I did the rest of the run. I had to stop at a light though without about 2 miles left and it stiffened up and I could really feel it as I jogged the rest.

Saturday, Feb 7

8 mile moderate run including the Rock Circuit

Did 7.77 1:19:38 10:15 147

Slow pace is from the rock circuit. Splits were 9:08, 8:24, 8:43, 8:37, 8:32, 8:30 with HRs between 142 and 153. After the rock circuit, HRs/paces were 9:11/150, 8:55/153. My heart rate always goes up after the rock circuit. I could still feel the weird twinge from yesterday but it was muted and didn't get worse. I've been doing these on the upper end of easy recently but was a little more rambunctious with this one. It felt good to run off my frustration after losing to go 0-5 in basketball. (I'm the coach of my son's team.)

Sunday, Feb 8

Scheduled. 19-20 mile total moderate run including 3 x 3 miles (run the first 2 miles @ GMP then run the last mile @ 10k effort). 5 min jog rest between reps

Sunday 19.81 2:53:38 8:46 153 (76%)

The plan was just to pick it up for the 3 x 3 and not press. The good news is that my hamstring was completely fine and my new niggle didn't cause a problem. I was "off" from the start though and my 8 miles before the fast parts were at right around 9:00 pace, but my hr was kinda high for that pace (138-143).

The first segment went 8:22/153, 1:42/158 -- bathroom break :-). After the break I jogged 5 minutes rather than restart immediately and did the other two miles in 8:07/155, 8:11/162. 5 min jog. 8:04/162, 8:06/166, 7:43/172, 5 min jog, 8:15/171, 8:22/172, 8:08/176. On the second intervals, I tried to up it a little in the last mile. Not 10k effort, but harder than MP. I was very tired and it was pretty tough just to jog that last cooldown mile. As you can see, my heart rates were pretty marathon-like even though the paces were snail like. I just didn't have it today. Also, the trail was very slow. The snow melted and the normally firm dirt/crushed gravel was very spongy and there were lots of muddy spot. It started out at a pleasant 47 degreses, but got to 69 degrees by the end of the run!

In summary Mindi totally kicked my ass on long run pace today. I had an accounting error for January mileage though. I was looking at the 216 in December. I actually did 229 in January. Not even close. So, there!

Week - 56.5. Scheduled for 69. Ouch.

Thinking back, I'm kind of hoping my tough run today was for lack of endurance. If it was then I did my half on something else and maybe I have room to improve? There has to be a silver lining :-)

This could be you!

Hey, look, I'm a success story! It was a 3:39 PR, but my last half (that I raced) was Sept 2007. Still, my best age-graded PR before that was 10 miles at 6:53 pace and I did 6:51 for 13.1. Not too shabby.

week of 26 January

Monday - Rest
Tues 8:15 PM 0.00 0:07:04 - 97 (48%)  -- elliptical
     8:25 PM 3.00 0:29:37 9:52 139 (69%) -- treadmill
Wednesday 6.00 0:58:45 9:48 134 (67%) -- treadmill
Thursday 7.00 1:21:13 11:36 134 (67%) -- treadmill/rock circuit
Friday         8.31 1:17:35 9:20 144 (72%) -- easy, skipped workout
Saturday 6.74 1:12:20 10:44 148 (74%) -- rock circuit
Sunday         4.37 0:39:17 8:59 140 (70%) -- bailed because of stomach bug
This Week 35.41 6:05:51 10:08 139 (70%)
Last Month 216.54 32:45:08 8:56 147 (73%)

I can't remember the last time I only ran 35 miles in a week. I did manage to squeak by Mindi for the month though (216 to 215).

Traveling to St Louis and back made it tough (hence the PM run on Tuesday and the treadmilling). I was still sore most of the week. As the general soreness has worn off, the hamstring isn't quite right yet. Finally, I got some sort of stomach bug overnight. I was supposed to do 13-14 w/ 40-45, alternating 4' MP/1' 5k, plus 3x200m cutdowns. I figured I'd do 4 miles to warmup and see how I felt. After 2 bathroom breaks in 4 miles, I felt like going home. Given how I feel at the moment, I'm glad I did.

6:26

I’ve been kicking goals around in my head for a while and was inspired to write this after walking into my hotel room and seeing 6:26 on the clock. 6:26, you see, happens to be the pace required for a 20:00 5k, which I finally did in 2008. 40:00 10k is one of my long-term goals – sub-40 by 40 years old – and is, of course also 6:26 per mile or 4:00 per kilometer pace. I’m thinking about shorter distances lately because I finally got my BQ (3:15) and there aren’t a lot of nice round numbers I can hit in the marathon any time soon. 3:05 at 40 would let me side step the lottery for New York. Sub-3 is one I’ll probably never achieve.

So what is the longest distance for which I’ll ever be able to sustain 4 min/k pace? What does that translate to for other distances? Well, with a little time in the St Louis airport and some help from the McMilllan calculator, here’s what I came up with.

5k	8k	10k	10M	HM	Marathon
20:00	32:58	41:33	1:09:37	1:32:27	3:14:58
	32:00	40:19	1:07:33	1:29:42	3:09:10
		40:00	1:07:01	1:29:00	3:07:43
			1:04:20	1:25:26	3:00:11

The diagonals represent 4 min/k. Where am I now and what row can I make it to? Well, my 1:29:48 gets me pretty close to 8k, which will be a nice goal for the St Patty’s 8k (in addition to the rematch with Fenty). I’ll have to stretch it to 10 miles before I can even think about trying to run a sub-3 marathon though. Funny enough, a 3:00 marathon is only worth about a 3:06 1000m, a pace that elites sustain for an entire marathon.

week of 18 Jan -- Carlsbad half in 1:29:48!

• Monday 5.83 0:55:11 9:28 132. Easy
• Tuesday - 7.88 1:24:27 10:43 138 -- Includes Rock circuit. Running pace was low 9s.
• Wednesday 12.11 1:38:32 8:08 146. Forgot the 10 x 10'' hills. Did the 3 x mile @GHMP (6:54, 6:57, 6:47) and 5x45'' at 3k. Misjudged route and went a little long (supposed to be 9-11 miles total)
• Thursday 5.41 0:49:43 9:11 142
• Friday 8.15 1:08:52 8:27 140
• Saturday. 1 mile w/ my daughter in the kid's race. They didn't have a clock but it felt like about 9 minutes! Was supposed to be 3-4 miles easy
• Sunday
  
• -- 9:59 AM 0.46 0:04:19 9:28. My pitiful warmup. It took 30 minutes to park and I only had time to jog to the porta potty line and then get in the corral for the start.
• -- 10:30 AM 13.18 1:29:56 6:49 179. Woohoo! The time is a little long because I forgot to hit my watch when I crossed.
• -- My hamstring was strained (more below) and it felt like I was doing more harm than good in trying to do a cooldown run. Was supposed to do 4 miles
  

This Week 54 miles -- way under the 64 scheduled. The gap came from the 6.5 less I ran today and the 2-3 yesterday.

The big event was running the Carlsbad half.

Packet pickup

They put me in wave 7 (the slowest wave) when I transferred from the full to the half. Ugh. They told me they couldn't change it, but they didn't police the corral. Um, OK.

Getting to the race

Our hotel was 5 miles away and the race started at 7:30. I left at 6:15 and went 4.9 miles in about 10 minutes. The last 0.1 took 35 minutes. My warmup jog consisted of 0.5 miles to the porta potty line. I got in the corral 10 minutes before the start. Because of my bib situation, I want to make sure I got lined up. I got some stares in my corral (probably imagined) but no problems. I put myself a few feet in front of the 1:35 pacer.

The weather is fantastic. Overcast and low 50s. It stayed overcast and low- to mid-50s the whole race.

The race

I felt good right away at the start. My form felt great. My HRM hadn't quite settled, but I was seeing 6:4x on the garmin and I felt good. The1:35 pace kept catching me. I knew he was going too fast but it motivated me. We hit a big climb at the end of the first mile. My garmin clicked off at 7:00. Where's the mile marker? It came up about 20 seconds later. 7:20? Was it just the hill? Was it long?

1) 7:00 1.00 7:00 172 -- mile marker was at ~7:20

There's a big downhill I think and I'm moving. The mile marker is short and I see 6:18 (from the 7:00 lap), but Garmin pace is still 6:28! Holy cow. I feel good though and the HR is good.

2) 6:18 0.98 6:28 176 -- marker short, but garmin still said 6:28 pace!

I fall in with a group of pretty serious looking female runners and decide to hang with them. I always stick with age group runners and the leading females. Young guys are the worst for pacing off of. We see the ocean shortly after mile 2 and it is spectacular. The view is gorgeous for most of the rest on the race (see picture above).

There's a significant breeze. We decide it's a cross breeze. Maybe slightly in our faces.

3) 6:51 1.00 6:51 179

This feels like it's flat, but it must be a downhill, because I'm flying. It doesn't occur to me that maybe the cross breeze is at our backs.

4) 6:34 1.00 6:34 178 -- 6:34 @ 178? downhill and a tailwind?

There were lots of bands and the music was great. We hit the turnaround at beand I hit the gas a bit before I realize

5) 6:53 1.00 6:52 179
6) 6:46 1.01 6:42 178

There's a considerable climb in here and I feel a knot in my hamstring. Uh oh. As the miles go on, I start to feel a string start to develop in my hamstring like some muscle fiber is strained -- if you've felt this, you know what I mean. The pain grows over the course of the race.

When we turn around, it's very clear that the wind is in our face. I comment to the woman next to me about the oncoming runners, "Think they know it's a tailwind?" She responds, "I didn't."

The course has some climbs in it. It's nothing crazy and they are mostly gradual, but still I find the websites claim that this is one of America's fastest halfs a little dubious.

7) 6:59 1.00 7:01 179 -- big hill in here. 75' in about 0.2 miles
8) 6:53 1.01 6:50 180 -- back into the wind
9) 6:54 1.01 6:50 179

Somewhere a mile or so ago, a woman say "beat the hill, honey" to her husband and I, not really joking say, "what hill?" He laughs. Well, it's at the end of mile 10. It's not really that big (50 feet maybe), but at this point, any bump matters.

10) 6:55 1.00 6:54 179

I never quite get half marathons right. It seems like I can nail the pacing on a 10 miler every time (back a little off LT), but I'm always a little short in the half. I start to fade a bit. I think I have a decent pad, but the math is getting hard. The hamstring is really bothering me and I can tell it's affecting my form. I'm out of gas, too.

11) 7:01 1.01 6:58 181 -- starting to fade
12) 7:02 1.01 7:01 182

I hit 12 at 1:22:12. I think, 0.1 at 7:30 pace is 45 seconds, so I need mile 13 in 7:03 plus or minus. I'm still fading, but there's a great downhill, and the Garmin says I'm doing 6:50. I'm thinking I'm golden but then the Garmin trips over at 6:48, 13 seconds short of the mile 13 mark. Crap! Have I blown it?

13) 7:01 1.03 6:48 180 -- I retrospect, I think this marker was long

I turn the corner and run as fast as I can. I see the clock tick over 1:30:00 and see 1:30:01 when I cross. I forgot to hit my watch as I crossed. Then 2 seconds later I forget that I forgot to hit it. I'm cursing myself at not finding 4 more seconds. My watch say 1:29:56, but I've been off with the chip time before and I'm worried I'll end up at 1:30:00. Like I said, I totally forgot that moments earlier I let the watch run some after the finish.

13.1 + ???) 0:42 0.12 5:49 186 -- forgot to hit at finish, 8 secs after? (watch - chip). 34 secs is too fast for 0.1, so this was probably short the distance that 13 was long.

Post race

I had to run the car back to the hotel, so my wife could get the kids to Legoland at 10 when the park opened. I was going to do my warmdown, but I took a few steps and the hamstring really bothered me. I probably could have gutted out a few miles, but I decided that I'd just be doing damage. I ended up going to Legoland with the family and walking a bazillion miles. After we got back I checked the results and found

Overall: 186 out of 7148
Men: 160 out of 2864
M 35-39: 23 out of 472
Age/Grade: 67.16% Place: 436
Finish: 1:29:48 Pace: 6:51
Tag Time: 1:29:48
Gun Time: 1:30:01

: Pace:
6.6 Mile: 45:12 Pace: 6:51

1:29:48? Oh yeah, I let my watch run after the race for probably 8 seconds. Duh. Yea! This is by a long shot my best PR now. I'm amazed at how much better I do at races compared to workouts. The 3 x 1 mile at goal HMP were hard, short of goal pace, and on a flat course. My heart rates were very good though and from that perspective, it was the best I've done since last October. This seems like a huge jump, but I really believe I had an off day at the marathon and just hit it perfect today.

Still, I believe it was an improvement and I was very surprised to make this goal on relatively low mileage since the marathon. I definitely felt like I was more efficient. My form felt better and running at that pace wasn't as awkward as it usually is for me. The hamstring thing put a dent in that and made me even more aware of how important efficiency is. I'm excited to see what I can do with more mileage.

week of 12 Jan

Scheduled

Monday, Jan 12
5-6 mile jog

Tuesday, Jan 13
7-8 mile easy run including Rock Circuit

Wednesday, Jan 14
10-12 mile total moderate run including 8 x 10 sec steep hill sprints w/full recoveries and 25 min @ LT effort then without rest run 1 mile @ 10k effort then 400m @ 3k effort. Full recovery then 3 x 150m cutdowns

Thursday, Jan 15
5-6 mile easy run

Friday, Jan 16
8 mile easy run including the Rock Circuit

Saturday, Jan 17
9-10 mile moderate run including 10 x 30 sec’s @ 3k effort w/30 sec jog rests. Run over rolling hills

Sunday, Jan 18
15-16 mile moderate run including 5 x 100m ABC’s (~33 m of high knees then 33m of butt kicks then 33m of bounds). 10 sec recovery between sets . Full recovery then 7-8 x 3 min hills @ 10k effort w/2 min jog recoveries. 5 min recovery then 5 x 45 sec on flat ground @ 3k effort w/1 min jog rests. Finish run w/10 strides.

Executed

Monday    5.39   0:52:31   9:44  131
Tuesday    7.10   1:19:59  11:15  137
Wednesday 12.03  1:34:56   7:53   159
Thursday   5.34   0:49:53   9:21  150
Friday    7.89   1:24:27  10:42  139
Saturday   9.11   1:21:16   8:55  145
Sunday   15.81   2:12:16   8:22  146
This Week 62.69   9:35:18   9:11  145

I basically did everything as schedule except I forgot the ABCs on Sunday. I also didn't have any hills, so I did the 10k intervals on flat terrain. The picture shows my route on Sunday and gives a hint as to why I didn't have any hills :-) My splits are below. I guess my 10k was closer to LT pace. The first 4 (of 8) were on somewhat uneven gravel on the island though and it was hard to go very fast.

Split time Split distance Split pace Avg. HR
9:41 1.00 9:41 128
9:08 1.00 9:10 129
8:30 1.00 8:33 136
8:31 1.00 8:31 138
8:28 1.00 8:28 136
6:06 0.73 8:24 138
3:05 0.44 7:00 155
2:00 0.24 8:26 148
3:01 0.45 6:44 161
2:23 0.25 9:38 148
3:03 0.45 6:47 157
2:02 0.22 9:10 152
3:06 0.45 6:51 162
2:00 0.20 9:53 148
3:02 0.43 7:09 159
0:30 0.05 10:14 162
2:01 0.22 9:02 138
3:17 0.48 6:51 163
2:08 0.24 8:54 153
3:00 0.44 6:49 161
2:04 0.25 8:21 149
3:00 0.44 6:49 165
2:13 0.25 8:46 157
3:01 0.46 6:35 170
5:04 0.56 9:02 150
0:47 0.12 6:39 152
0:49 0.09 9:05 162
0:49 0.13 6:19 161
0:47 0.09 9:04 166
0:47 0.13 6:03 165
0:47 0.09 8:47 169
0:48 0.13 6:14 168
0:51 0.10 9:01 170
0:46 0.13 6:01 168
9:18 1.00 9:19 146
6:01 0.64 9:26 141
9:08 0.92 9:57 150

at the track

My prescription for yesterday was

Wednesday, Jan 14

10-12 mile total moderate run including 8 x 10 sec steep hill sprints w/full recoveries and 25 min @ LT effort then without rest run 1 mile @ 10k effort then 400m @ 3k effort. Full recovery then 3 x 150m cutdowns

Did about 4.5 on the way to the track including the hill sprints. The workout went very well. I always have a hard time cranking it up past 10k pace though. Did 2 miles back. Worked out perfectly to a hair over 12 miles. Check out how even my splits were on the LT - 6:49, 6:50, 6:48, and 5:05 (1200m - 6:47 per 1600 pace)

Split dist pace Avg. HR  
8:42 1.00 8:43 138 (69%)
8:46 1.00 8:46 144 (72%)
7:48 1.00 7:50 144 (72%)
7:14 0.75 9:37 154 (77%) - includes 8 x 10'' hills
7:40 0.89 8:38 149 (74%)
6:49 1.02 6:40 168 (84%) - start LT, 1600
6:50 1.02 6:42 175 (87%) - 1600
6:48 1.02 6:42 178 (89%) - 1600
5:05 0.76 6:41 180 (90%) - 1200m, 6k in 25:32
6:40 1.00 6:42 183 (92%) - 1600 @ 10k
1:37 0.25 6:31 185 (92%) - 400 @ 3k, (little slow)
0:27 0.08 6:02 186 (93%) - 3x150 cutdown, 1st
0:33 0.09 6:29 187 (93%) - 2nd
0:41 0.11 6:12 188 (94%) - 3rd, don't know distances
9:20 1.00 9:21 160 (80%)
9:18 1.00 9:19 150 (75%)
0:26 0.05 9:08 142 (71%)

Today was thankfully 5 easy.

week of 5 Jan

• Monday 5.47 easy run. 9:17/136 bpm
• Tue AM 7.25 moderate including rock circuit
• Tue PM. Foam roller
• Wed 10.05 @ 8:06 156 - 20 minutes 5k/5k+60''. 10 x strides. Hit paces. See this post.
• Thursday 6.28 easy. 9:01/136 bpm
• Friday 7.74 moderate w/ 4xABCs and 8 x 15'' hill sprints. 5 x strides. 8:53/147.
• Saturday 5.81 moderate including rock circuit. Had to pause after rock circuit to bring a dog who got loose back home. Sweet, old chocolate lab. Heart rate was kind of odd after that. Very high for the pace. On the plus side, I upped the push-up part from 8 to 10 for each time. I was surpised at how much easier the pushup were on the first circuit.
  
• Sunday 13.91 w/8 mile progression. Barely slept the last two days and felt terrible. This was on a lake trail (not the same one as last week) with varying terrain and the Garmin is a little wonky it spots. Even with the excuses, I was still slow. Not counting on the Garmin pace, I picked up the effort and tried to average a higher heart rate each mile. The splits for the 8 miles were: 7:48/160, 7:54/164, 7:27/169, 7:13/175, 7:15/177, 7:07/179, 7:01/178, 7:24/178. I really went as hard as I could, but I seemed to be leg-limited. I couldn't generate the force to drive my heart rate up -- that or I was courage-limited :-)
• Sunday PM. I realized I hadn't done the 10 push-up/10 ab, 9 p-up/9 ab, etc. thing. I still only got to 7, but I think I was sore from yesterday. Need to remember to do this in the middle of the week.
  
• Week: 56.50

I'm still really not sure how to do strides properly. If I'm fresh, I can run get up to speed and run the all out 3-4'', but after a hard run, I end up just going through the motions for the first 3 or 4. I tend to treat them as just stretching out and I'm not sure that's right.

mid-30s and rain

Yesterday morning was supposed to be sleet and freezing rain, but it was just a tad too warm, so I enjoyed my "rock circuit" in light rain and 33 degrees. The circuit involves a lot of being on the ground doing pushups, abs, supermans, etc. I even stuck my butt in a puddle doing the tricep dips. I was sopping wet.

Today was the same weather but about a degree warmer and the light rain was exchanged for rain/heavy rain. I wore a nylon jacket so the soaked shirts were from sweat. My soaked shoes, socks, and tights were courtesy of the rain though.

Anyway, today was supposed to be 9-10 miles moderate with 20' alternating 5k (on) and 5k+60'' pace (off) like so -- 2 x (90 on/90 off), 4 x (60 on/60 off), 4 x (30 on/30 off), 4 x (15 on /15 off). I was supposed to do about 6:25 on and 7:25 off based on 20:00 for 5k.

I did the first lap in lane 1 (and about an inch of standing water on one of the curves) to get a reading on the first 5k pace, figuring one lap should be 96-97'' to hit 6:24-6:28 pace. Well, I hit it right at 97 seconds, so that was nice. After that I scooted into lanes 3 and 4 (switching to avoid deep puddle) and ran by feel, letting my Garmin get the distance.

Here's what Mr. Garmin read

dist pace Avg. HR   Max. HR
1.00 8:39 132 (66%) 154 (77%)
1.01 8:43 144 (72%) 154 (77%)
1.00 7:48 147 (74%) 156 (78%)
1.00 8:34 152 (76%) 161 (81%)
0.24 8:30 149 (74%) 154 (77%)
0.26 6:12 171 (85%) 178 (89%) - first 90 on
0.21 7:21 172 (86%) 178 (89%)
0.25 6:15 175 (87%) 179 (89%)
0.21 7:24 173 (86%) 177 (88%) - last 90 off
0.17 6:13 175 (87%) 180 (90%) - first 60 on
0.14 7:42 173 (87%) 179 (90%)
0.16 6:27 175 (87%) 179 (90%)
0.15 7:26 176 (88%) 180 (90%)
0.16 6:28 177 (88%) 179 (90%)
0.14 7:17 178 (89%) 180 (90%)
0.15 6:43 177 (88%) 179 (89%)
0.15 7:25 176 (88%) 179 (90%) - last 60 off
0.10 6:48 175 (87%) 176 (88%) - first 30 on
0.07 7:48 176 (88%) 177 (88%)
0.08 6:40 174 (87%) 177 (88%)
0.09 7:03 177 (89%) 179 (89%)
0.09 6:45 177 (89%) 178 (89%)
0.07 7:23 182 (91%) 186 (93%)
0.08 6:18 177 (89%) 179 (90%)
0.08 7:34 176 (88%) 179 (89%) - last 30 off
0.05 6:40 174 (87%) 176 (88%) - first 15 on
0.04 7:38 177 (88%) 177 (88%)
0.04 6:51 176 (88%) 176 (88%)
0.04 7:48 177 (89%) 178 (89%)
0.05 6:46 175 (87%) 177 (89%)
0.04 8:14 178 (89%) 178 (89%)
0.05 7:01 177 (88%) 177 (89%)
0.04 8:01 176 (88%) 177 (88%) - last 15 off
1.00 8:46 157 (79%) 174 (87%)
1.00 8:44 154 (77%) 166 (83%)
0.64 9:32 156 (78%) 165 (82%) - includes 10xstrides

Of course since these intervals are so short that the Garmin isn't going to give an accurate pace for each. I figured I should average about 6:55 = (6:25+7:25)/2 for the whole thing though. I covered 3.14 in 21:46, so that's 6:56 pace. Not bad!

I did the 10 strides, but I haven't quite got the hang of them yet. I tweaked my knee on the third one, backed off a bit, and then finished them out just trying to stretch my legs.

week of 29 December

• Monday 6.50 @ 9:32 jog.
• Tuesday PM 4.14 @ 9:42 jog. Drove all day from Atlanta to home and got in a quick jog before dinner. Sore from car ride.
• Wednesday PM 9.44 w/5k race. 3.7 @9:12 warmup including 5 x strides. 5k in 20:12, 186 bpm avg. 2.5 @ 9:27 cooldown. Extremely windy (25 mph gusting to 40) and pretty tough course.
• Thursday 5.14 @ 9:55 jog.
• Friday AM 7.42 miles including rock circuit (2 circuits). 3+ miles warmup jog (never quite warmed up to the scheduled easy pace). Last 3+ miles were at easy pace (~9:00). Rock circuit went well. I cut the pushups down to 8 pushups rather than 30'' continuous. I just can't hack that yet.
• Friday PM. Foam roller. Went OK. I think I'll get better. The front shin was awkward and I'm not sure I was doing it right.
• Saturday 8.07 @ 8:43 moderate including 3xABCs and 10 x 30'' hills. The ABCs slowed the overall pace. Excluding that it was more like 8:30 over a very hilly route. Definitely moderate.
• Saturday PM. Push-up/ab ladder. 10 push-ups, 10 crunches, 9 push-up, etc. down to one. Started at 10 and made it to 7 before my arms gave out. Did I mention I was weak?
• Sunday 13.23 @8:11 w/20' MP, 5 min recover, and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 at 10k w/1-2min jog rest. 3+ warmup w/ 5 strides. 21' at marathon effort -- 7:36/166, 7:43/171, 5:01(7:41)/170. Definitely marathon effort (at least) but slow splits because of hills. I was about 7:25-7:30 on the one flat part. Next was 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 @10k with 2 min/jog rests. I'm not sure these were at 10k effort. The first were maybe too fast, and the last probably too slow. My legs were pretty heavy and I pushed the second-to-last interval (which was uphill) to try and get my HR up and felt a pull in a hip musle (tensor fasciae latae??). I still finished the last one and did 5 half-hearted strides. Cooldown + strides was only 1.1 miles because I mis-judged the distance I'd cover with the marathon pace and 10k fartlek. I put ice on my hip and took 600mg ibuprofen. I think it should be fine.
• Wk 54 miles

2008 quick review

Three goals for 2008:

- sub-20. Check. 19:49 at Atoms 5k in May.
- BQ. Check. 3:15:22 at NCR trail marathon.
- more than 3000 miles. Check. 3180 for the year at an avg pace of 8:54.

Goals for next year?

- sub-1:30 half marathon. I know it seems crazy for a guy who just ran a 20:12 5k. The 68:49 10 miles I ran is 6:53 pace though. 1:30 is 6:52. I plan to be in much better shape sometime this the year than I was then.
- Requalify at Boston. I'm not that committed to this frankly, but I don't like running a marathon without a goal.
- Finish the JFK 50. I really might rethink this, but there it is. I've never done an ultra and I kind of like the simplicity of running farther than I have before. I have no time goal. I've learned my lesson from my first marathon.

windy 5k, decent time

The graph tells the story. The race started at 4 pm at the "dip" :) It was only 25 mph gusting to 38 mph at that point. Wunderground said the wind was from the northwest although it felt more like the northeast to me (maybe the terrain affected it?) Add the wind to that a pretty tough course and I decided that I would be incredibly thrilled with breaking 20 if I could manage it. Well, I didn't.

They changed the course from last year (and re-certified it). One nice feature is that it is no longer a double loop, which means you don't have to negotiate walkers). I had hoped it meant half the elevation gain, but that wasn't quite the case.

Mile 1 starts on a downhill with a tailwind, but quickly turns to a climb mostly into the wind. My split was 6:33 (180 bpm) average, the next mile was mostly downhill and a net tailwind and I split 6:26 (188 bpm). I felt like I took a bit of a nap there. I usually hit 190-191 bpm on the second mile. Still I was only 7 seconds off 20:00 pace at mile 2. I knew it would take a miracle though since would be turning uphill and into the wind. I picked up the intensity, but the 3rd mile was 6:34 (191 bpm). I ran an even pace and didn't get passed by anyone. Still there were two guys 10-20m ahead I was constantly trying to close the gap on (and draft off of), but never could quite do it. Everybody else went out too fast and I went by them. One guy looked like he was really hurting when I passed him just short of the last right that leads to a downhill finish. I sprinted on the downhill and he sprinted right with me! I put a little extra kick in to hold him off and finished (by my watch) in 20:12.

It's really hard to say what my fitness is based on this race given the conditions. I talked to several of the usual age group faces that I see at races. One guy said he was 40-45 secs slower than his usual time. Another said he was about 30 seconds slower than his last race. A 19-flat runner I know finished over 19:40, so 30+ seconds doesn't seem crazy. I finished in 19:44 (by my watch) at the 5k in May, so I think I'm in decent shape. I'm also about 5 pounds heavier. If I ditch that, I think I'll post some good times soon.

forecast: windy

5k starts at 4pm. Hour-by-hour from weather.com

4pm

38°F
Partly Cloudy / Wind

25°F

0%

41%

From NW
33 mph

Ouch. There's a new course this year. Still a double loop. The high point is 25m higher than the low. Two 75' climbs in a 5k plus >30 mph winds doesn't sound fast to me!

week of 22 December

Mo      6.15    0:55:25    9:00  - easy
Tu am  12.63    1:47:41    8:32  - moderate, w/5 x strides
Tu pm   4.17    0:39:37    9:31  - jog
We     10.07    1:35:21    9:28  - long jog (tired)
Th      0.00                     - Xmas            
Fr     10.07    1:25:09    8:27  - moderate
Sa      6.99    1:02:03    8:53  - easy
Su     14.97    2:13:54    8:57  - easy (tired legs)
Wk     65.03    9:39:10    8:54

Good week. I could have hit near 70 if I had snuck out on Christmas. I actually had a shot when everyone was taking showers after present unwrapping and before guests arrived.

My legs felt beat up by Sunday's run and I tried to warm up to 8:30's but didn't quite feel like it.

My weight is getting to be a problem. I hit 164 after the marathon and it never went away. After a week of Christmas eating, I'm now up to 165.3. I haven't been there since the end of our week at the beach in August. I can't just up my weight by 3% and expect it won't affect me. We'll see how the 5k goes tomorrow. Last year I ran 20:32 at the Atoms 5k in May and 20:33 on New Year's. This year I ran 19:49 in May. I was hoping to scare 19:30, but with my weight and relative lack of miles of late, 19:50 is looking pretty good. Just checked the forecast and yikes! 40 degrees is awesome. But the wind is supposed to be 20 mph at 4pm (down from 27 at 1pm!).

week of 15 December

I'm out of town and can't seem to download the Garmin drivers to install on my laptop. http://www8.garmin.com/software/USBDrivers_221.exe hasn't worked for two days. What is the deal with Garmin? They have great hardware and the rest... not so much. Anyway, I've read the following off the 305 screen.

Mo - 6.45 @8:58 - easy
Tu - 7.00 @~8:40 - moderate including 1 x Rock Circuit
We - 10.26 @8:15 - moderate w/ 20'' alternating 5k/5k+60''
Th - 5.52 @9:08 - easy
Fr - 10.00 @ 8:32 - moderate including 3 x ABCs, 8 x 15'' hill sprints, and 5 x strides
Sa - travel to Atlanta for Christmas, no running
Su - 14.80 @ 7:59 - moderate + 8 @ 7:31, 7:25, 7:04, 6:52, 6:55, 6:46, 6:57, 6:54
Wk - 54 - wow, I need to do something about that

The Sunday run was intended to be 4+ moderate out to the 1-mile loop of leg-forgiving finely crushed gravel and then 7:40 for the first mile, cutting down 10 sec/mile with the 8th as fast as I liked. Then come home via the 2+ mile route.

Well, I hit the first at 7:31, but my garmin said it was 7:41 pace. So far, so good. Next was 7:25. Too slow. Ramp it up, to try and hit 7:10 -- 7:04. OK, I'll shoot for 7:00 and get back on track. 6:52. A little fast. I'll try for 6:50. 6:55 and this is getting hard. Shoot for 6:40. 6:46 and I wasn't sure I could race two more at that pace. Backed off to 6:57 on the next and then ran as hard as I felt like and only manage 6:54.

It's a little worse than this because after running a number of laps there, I believe the loop is about 5 seconds short of a mile based on my garmin. On the other hand, I used gmap-pedometer (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2450759 ) and found it .9978.

I have to make some excuses. Even though the loop has a perfect running surface and is 5 seconds short of a mile, it is not exactly flat. You can see from the link above that the high point is about 35 feet higher than the low. That sounds plausible. You gain than in a couple of tenths, which is a pretty good grade. The other excuse is the wind. The weather said it was 22 gusting to 30 as I walked out the door. Based on the kids kite that was about to be ripped off the string, I'd agree.

Anyway, that was a tough run and I held up pretty well. Even though I don't think I could have raced the last laps faster, the heart rates weren't at all crazy. and my heart rate splits were 162, 162, 170, 173, 176, 179, 177, and 178. I've averaged somewhere around 178-180 for a half marathon and 180-184 for a 10 miler.

The mileage is very week and I've learned by examing my mid-section that my weight is inversely proportional to weekly mileage. Ugh. Off to a good start this week. 6.17 yesterday and 12.65 + 4.17 today. I need another good day tomorrow before I take a zero on Christmas.

10 miles w/20'' alternating 5k/5k+60

I've been sampling from the workouts on my future schedule like a Chinese menu. I want to make sure I know how to execute them. This includes fitting them into the very hilly terrain of my running routes. Today's run was 10 mile moderate 20-minute continuous alternating 5k/5k+60sec pace (roughly 6:25/7:25). I figured I should cover about 3 miles in the 20 minutes, so I'd start when the Garmin hit 5 miles, which would leave me 2 miles to "cooldown" (or at least go back to moderate). Unfortunately, 5 miles in puts me at the lowest elevation point in the routeThe first 90 sec MP/90 sec 5k was on the flat and I hit it pretty well (6:26/7:14). Then I went up a comically steep section (steeper than where I do hill sprints) and my 5k pace was 7:58. The rest of the splits times are barely correlated between fast and slow as I went up and down over hills. The graph above shows the terrain roughly although gps elevation completely stinks. I miss wearing my Suunto with the barometric altitude. If they can fit that in a reasonably sized wristwatch, why didn't they put one in the 305?

I did the rock circuit yesterday, but only did one circuit instead of two and cut down the number of pushups. I'm searching for some sort of equilibrium the lets me get through the week in one piece.

week of 8 December

Mo -  5.99  0:58:03  9:41  140 -- 133 excl miles 1-2
Tu -  9.32  1:25:47  9:12  141 -- 134 excl miles 1-2
We -  9.33  1:27:50  9:25  134
Th -  6.99  1:01:42  8:49  143 -- the new easy?
Fr -  7.88  1:07:06  8:31  154 -- moderate w/ABCs, 8x15'' hills
Sa -  6.43  0:57:47  8:59  155 -- "easy" + rock circuit
Su - 13.53  1:57:02  8:39  149 -- last 9.5 moderate
Wk - 59.48  8:55:17  9:00  145

I tried some new workouts this week and tried easy = 145 bpm and moderate = 155. Friday's runs was hard though and it seemed to carry into yesterday and today. I was given a range for easy (140-150) and moderate (150-160) and after today I really think I need to stick to the low end of that range. I also ate like crap the last few days. Lunch and dinner on Fr and Sa was pizza, fried chicken, PBJ, and pizza. Ouch. On top of that I didn't get much sleep.

No wonder today's run was crap. Compare today to 5 weeks ago

12/14 - 13.53 1:57:02 8:39 149 (75%) -- 3 lake laps
11/09 - 22.54 3:12:58 8:34 148 (74%) -- 5 lake laps

My heart rate rises during long runs and three weeks ago, I averaged low 140s through 3 laps versus 149 and at a faster pace. The highest mile split in those three laps was 146 compared to 155 today. Wow, I have totally jumped the shark.

the rock circuit

This kicked my butt today. (It looks so easy on the video.) The last 30 seconds of elevated pushups turned into just 5 followed by me jogging away with my tail between my legs. The knee was also a problem. The strides were preceded by some limp-jogging to get things in a groove before the strides. I'm not so great at the starting and stopping.

Oh, well. We have to crawl before we run.

The new easy is harder than the old easy

Max HR: 200 bpm

Recovery <140
Easy 140-150
Moderate 150-165
Marathon Effort 166-172
Sub LT 173-175
LT 176-184

Above are my training zones. Marathon and LT look right in the neighborhood based on my races. I'm a big weenie though and "easy" above is harder than how I normally run easy, which is way too easy. Got that?

Anyway, I did 7 this morning, average 142 bpm and 8:42 per mile. After the first couple, the miles were basically 8:30/145. Really not that hard and a bit more fun that my usual 9:15/134 slog. This past go around, I basically only had three types of runs: workout, recovery, and long. The long run was at the 140-150 easy effort above. "Brain Training," which I was loosely following, had lots of base/recovery pace runs, and weenie that I am, I opted for recovery every time.

I feel recovered except my butt/hips are *still* sore. I sill have three weeks before my official training schedule starts. I'm planning to do more easy runs and try out some of the supplementary training (core routines, etc.) that's in my schedule.

My run was very good today (except it was 45, raining, and windy) and I have some hope that I'm not far from where I was pre-marathon. Of course, I'm going to lose some fitness recovering, so we'll see where I am at the New Year's 5k. I'll be happy with anything sub-20. 19:30 would be very, very nice.

I got me a coach

In a semi-impulsive move, I decided to hire me a coach. Today, I got my schedule that starts on 12/31 and I am psyched! I get to do all kinds of crazy stuff besides just running. I'm not talking Adam-running-up-hills-with-a-sandbag crazy, but more like your basic core strength stuff that I neglect. Best of all somebody tells me what to do without me fretting over whether I'm doing the right thing or not. Until 12/31 though, I'm still making it up as I go.

Today I did 9.3. Pace was 9:12 min/mi and heart rate was 135. I've gone from 9:57/133 to 9:40/133 to 9:12/135 in the span of three days. I think I'm getting over the marathon. After the run I did some weights. 2 x [ 10 x (adductor, leg extension, leg curl, lat pull, row pull, bench press)]. I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm kind of hoping I can fix my runner's knee which is still biting my in the... knee. Hip thingy is a distant memory.

The forecast for tomorrow is incredible. 54 degrees at 7am. Are you kidding me? It snowed last Saturday and was about 20 and windy on Sunday. Now it's going to be 54!? I'm planning on another 9.3 very, very easy -- in shorts.

Oh yeah, after freaking out about my weight yesterday, it was 161.6 today, about a pound above my low over the last three months. Perhaps the post-marathon water weight lingered longer this time? I need to watch what I eat anyway, so the day-to-day weight doesn't really matter.

164.5 lbs

Egads! OK, I rationalized the 164.0 on the scale the night before the marathon as water/glycogen put on in the last few days when I cut my mileage. I rationalized the 163.5 a few days later as water retention from muscle damage (inflammation). Now that I weigh in at 164.5 and can see it on my waistline, I have to accept that it's just fat. This might explain some of my "fitness" loss in the last month. Looking at the bright side, this means I have more room to improve.

Today was the 2 times the neighborhood loop. 9:40 min/mi, 133 bpm average. The breathing and heart rate were in sync finally (140 felt hard on the uphills). The pace dropped about 20 seconds/mile from yesterday, so thumbs up there -- only another 20-40 seconds to go. I felt a little more spring in my step. I think a lot of the post-marathon loss in pace must be due to inefficiency resulting from soreness/muscle damage. I like to assume that at least.

week of 1 December

Mo - Rest
Tu - Rest
We - Rest
Th - Elliptical 30:11 134 (67%)
Fr - 4.95 0:46:23 9:23 140
Sa - 5.42 0:50:06 9:14 143
Su - 8.98 1:29:24 9:57 138 -- ~134 if you throw out first lap
Wk - 19.35 3:36:04 9:36 139

Today I reached the acceptance phase in mourning my lost fitness. I finally reached rock bottom and settled in for 90 minutes of shuffling along at 9:57 per mile. That was slow enough to keep me around 133 bpm. It felt hard when I crept up to 140 on some uphills, so it feels like my breathing has finally reconnected with my heart rate.

The prescription now is oxygen. I'm planning to consume as much of it as I can with slow runs that concentrate on time on my feet and minimum impact to my legs. I'll probably even use the elliptical. When my muscles don't ache anymore, I'll throw in some weights, hill sprints, core work, etc. I want to get stronger. Not Adam strong, but I'm hoping to work up to a single pull up by the end of the year :-)

second run back

Went for my second easy run since the marathon last Saturday. My heart rates are still wacky. I can easily shoot over 150 without batting an eye. My breathing doesn't pick up like it normally would and I don't notice until I look at the watch. My last half mile was actually 9:50 pace and 140 bpm average. On the exact same run 4 weeks ago, I ran 9:08 at 125 bpm. Yikes!

Of course, I've been on a long slide since 4 weeks ago and I think I lost a lot even before the marathon. I'm still scratching my head as to why.

5 "easy"

Ooch. Ouch. Like the tin man, I shuffled off this morning, discovering aching muscles I didn't even know I had. Had a weird little knot in my left hamstring. My hip flexors (I think those are my hip flexors) were really tight. After a blazing 9:45 mile, I eventually worked up to a jog and I think my last mile was a little under 9. All in all, it was a good first run back. You have to start somewhere!

Shamrock Half marathon

My spring goal: run sub-1:30 at the Shamrock half marathon on 3/22/2009.

back at it

Did 30 minutes on the old elliptical today. Been a while since I did that. Got my heart rate up to around 145. I'm a bit out of shape (or not recovered). My "gluts" were still a little sore and my left quad was as well. No problem with the hip or knee. I think I'll try 5 easy tomorrow am. No more sleeping in!

a couple of days behind

I guess this one hurt me more than the previous marathons. I'm at least a day behind in how I feel. Combine that with a desire to be more cautious this time and I haven't run a step since the marathon on Saturday. I plan on saddling up the elliptical for about 30 minutes tomorrow.

I've gained some weight. I thought it was post-marathon inflammation, but it hasn't come off yet. I'm at 163.7. I weighed a whopping 164.0 the night before the marathon (9 pounds above my goal!), but rationalized that it was extra glycogen/water from tapering. Maybe it was that Thanksgiving feast :-)

What am I doing?

Make up your own caption.

revenge of the hip

I guess endorphins and ibuprofen kept it down on Saturday. Not moving on Sunday probably kept it away as well. I took two steps off the elevator at work yesterday and, with my weak muscles, extended the joint enough that the pain came back sharply. I still don't know what this is. It feels like it's really down in the joint. Who knows? I'm hoping with some rest that it will just go away. No exercise at all so far. I'm considering 30 minutes on the elliptical tomorrow. Maybe not though. No rush.

Week of 24 November

Mo - 8.71 1:10:21 8:04 155
Tu - 5.00 0:45:21 9:04 129
We - 4.04 0:36:43 9:06 144 - HRM issues
Th - 4.20 0:34:17 8:10 171 - HRM issues
Fr - Rest
Sa - 26.40 3:15:20 7:24 174 - PR, BQ!
Su - Rest
Wk - 48.37 6:22:11 7:54 162

For completeness, above is last week's training. No running today either, by the way. I feel about as sore as I ever have after a marathon. I have no injuries, thankfully and the soft trail also seems to have saved my feet which usually hurt more. It's really just the typical weak quads and trouble walking down stairs (by which I mean holding onto the rail for dear life).

I've been looking for hotels for Boston and it's about as painful as the marathon! Everything near the finish is sold out or over $450. My wife found one by the airport, but this whole thing is sounding like less fun with the logistics. Fly up Sunday, stay by the airport, checkout, shuttle to the T, T to the race, bus to Hopkinton, race, get bag, T to airport station, shuttle to airport, and fly back. I guess I leave my wallet in baggage check at the race? Can I pack everything in a bag I can check. I feel sorry for whoever sits next to me. Frankly, I'm not sure it's worth doing. Everybody says I should, so I will, but I'd really be going just for the marathon and not to see Boston. Is it really worth the hassle?

marathon report -- the very, very long verison

Here's the very, very long version.

On Friday, I crafted this pace plan on a yellow sticky and "laminated" it with strips of scotch tape. The left column gives splits for 3:15:00 pace, which I felt was the minimum I could shoot for, leaving 59 seconds for the wicked hills in the last couple of miles. I referred to the left column as the "oh s***, I'm in trouble" column. The right column was what I thought was a safe plan if I felt good. In some crazy corner of my mind I worried about holding myself back! The reason 14:00 at "2" is 7:26 pace is because the 2nd mile marker is actually 601 ft short of 2 miles per the course certification map. Unfortunately, you have to give that 601 ft back in the last 2.2, but my sticky planned for that. It turns out the 600 feet is about 50 secs at goal pace, so I used that for the math.

I stopped my ibuprofen loading (an attempt to fix my hip) on Friday ~5pm and I think the advil combined with the rich turkey day feast (and probably some nerves) had left my stomach in a bit of a shambles. I slept really well on Wednesday and Thursday, but slept in 1-1.5 hour segments on Friday night. It's been awhile since I had trouble sleeping before a marathon. When I "woke up" I ate my small bowl of cheerios (just skimmed off the cheerios to avoid the milk) and a banana. The drive and shuttle bus to the school were thankfully uneventful, except that I felt like crap and my pulse was 70+ when I checked with the old finger to the neck (nerves I told myself). Although I felt like crap, I didn't feel my hip at all for the first time in weeks.

I saw coolrunner Jesse and it was nice to have someone to talk before the race. He did the JFK 50 last week, so he's clearly insane. He said the course was harder than I remembered (I still don't think it's hard) and that the climb was tougher than I remembered (well, this is true).
Here's a course elevation map from when I ran it two years ago with my Suunto (which has a barometric altimeter and gives much better elevation than the Garmin -- those wiggles actually mean something). I kind of wish I had actually looked at this when making my sticky instead of going by memory, but my memory was pretty close.

OK, so we start and it's the usual jockeying for position and me cursing to myself as I try to get around folks. I shot out a little quick though and backed off after ~400 meters. I had used bah-bump electrode cream to get good readings from the get go and the first one I saw was 168. Holy crap!!!! I convinced myself it wasn't real and when I started sweating it would settle down. It didn't. I average 173 on the second mile. WTF! Surely the HRM must be messed up.

I hit the "2" mile at 13:40. I was quick but the downhill was much more downhill than I remembered. OK, settle down and just run goal pace, I told myself. Mile 3 was 7:32/171. I should be at ~167 at this point. I'm 4 beats high and six seconds slow. I caught up with Jesse and talked to him a bit. I hoped to be able to run with him a while, but we weren't going the pace I needed. That mile was 7:39/172. I'm 4 beats above normal and 13 secs/mile slow! I'm am beside myself. What was all this training for? What the hell happened. My only choice now is to get on pace and wait for the inevitable blow up. I said something to Jesse like "well, I'll just have to average a higher number I guess." The next mile was 7:27/174. Back on pace but I'm paying dearly for the effort. I was also kind of yoyo-ing in my pace and seeing HRs as high as 177. I was distraught. How can this be happening? I was running 7:30s in the 150s on the track. I consult my stick at 5 and at 36:20, I'm right on the even pace scheme, but I used up the 20 second cushion on the opening downhill in just the last 3 miles.

I scouted around for someone to pace off of, hoping just to think about running. In these situations I usually look for two kinds of runners -- women and age group runners. Young guys are the worst. I found a woman and followed her for about a mile. We must have had a little wind in our face (just a little) because I remember wishing she were taller. 7:25/173 for that mile. A little better, but 173 is still not good at all. (Looking at the elevation profile, it turns out this was just a flatter mile.) Unfortunately, I could tell the woman I was following was losing pace.

At this point, the miracle in a green shirt passes me -- a guy in his 50s running like a swiss clock. This was my ticket. I settled in behind him and it was even better than I thought. He was just a little shorter than me and running almost exactly the same cadence. The next mile (also flat) was 7:23/172. It's early to be at 172, but that was going to be my number. I just followed the guy in the green shirt for the next couple of miles. 7:31/172, 7:28/172. I'm a little slow of the 7:27s, but I'm in the ball park and just hope to make it up on the downhill.

You can start to feel and see the climb starting at mile 9 at it continues until the turnaround. Green shirt leaves me a little, but I stick to my 172 heart rate. 7:37/172, 7:34/173. The race director warned us the parks service had moved mile 12 south 300 feet and it was 7:09/172, which I figured was 7:34 based on 50 secs/600 feet. Mile 13 was long -- 7:51/173 (7:26 by my logic) -- but I didn't even look at this split. I was looking at my sticky. I was at 1:36:22 and my sticky said 1:35:50 was an even pace 3:15:00. I'm 32 seconds behind. I figured ~ 5 secs/mile below pace on the downhill would have me even at 20. It didn't quite work that way.

I turned the corner at the turnaround and wwwhhhheeeeee a downhill! I chatted to green shirt briefly as I passed. I didn't even take the next two splits. 13-16 was 21:42/173 (7:14 pace). I figured I chopped off my 30 seconds right there. These miles were great. I was flying past everyone. The people at the water stops were telling me I looked great and I believed them! 7:17/174, 7:23/173, 7:21/175. A few relay runners fly by but no marathoners. One of the relayer slows a little and chats with me at around 19. He says I look great. My muscles are really starting to ache now from the pounding. I feel like I have something in the tank. I feel about like Frederick and mile 19 or a little better even. Mile 20 was 7:24/176. I consult my sticky. 2:57:55 is what I need for 3:15 flat. I'm at 2:27:31. 24 big seconds in the bank! I vow not to give it up by my next sticky check at mile 24. I'm going to need those 24 and the 59 the BAA gives me to deal with the finishing hills.

The fun of the downhill ends at 20. 20 is basically flat although I thought it was a little uphill at the time. We also get a little bit of a headwind. Like they cliche goes, this is where the real work begins. Mile 21 was 7:25/177. Almost all the people I'm passing are jogging or walking now. The few who are faster are harder to deal with because I just want to fall in behind them. My mantra is "just run the number" meaning keep the Garmin at 7:2X. (The mantra quickly turns to "run the f***ing number!")

My legs are aching and I feel like I'm overstriding and my hamstrings are taking the beating. Another little miracle occured when I passed a pack of three. I think they were pacing a buddy because they were saying "just moves your arms and your legs will follow." Hey, great advice! "Move your arms and run the f***ing number!" 7:31/177, 7:25/177.

5k to go. I thought of coolrunner JimmyB's advice that the last 5k should feel like a 5k. 7:25/178. I'm at 24. My sticky says 2:57:40. I'm at 2:57:18. 22 seconds. I only gave up 2 seconds of my bank. I'm very proud of this.

At this point a guy is passing me, but it's not a relayer. It's a marathoner! Are you kidding me? Another miracle. He's going faster than me, but I sorta latch on and at least keep in my sight. I swear having him save me 10 seconds in the next mile. I'm waiting for my fate when we turn off the trail, but we stay on longer than I remember. Every downhill step on the trail is a gift.

Finally the turn off. It's almost a disaster as my new friend and I are barreling past a volunteer who belatedly says turn right at the bridge. I plant my foot and turn 90 degrees on a dime to just make the far side of the bridge. If I had to backtrack even a step at that point it would been a huge blow. I look across the bridge and think, "I wish I coulda run that tangent."

We're on the road now and no hills yet. When do these come. Just short of the 25-mile marker you see this wall in front you. Looking at the elevation from last year, it's about 60-70 feet in 0.2 miles That's like a 6% grade. Some friendly bikers are passing and say, "Gee what point in the marathon are you guys at." One of the marathoners who's slowed to a jog wryly points at the 25-mile marker. "Sorry," the bikers say. The split was 8:01/180. (Turns out this was 7:29 pace.) I wasn't watching the number during this mile I guess (probably watching my new friend) and I'm not sure whether this is the long mile or not. If it's not the long mile then I just pissed away 35 seconds and I'm in deep s***. I enter desperation mode.

Now to this hill. I charge up this thing. I'm not letting this slip away. No chance. My heart rate spikes well into the 180s. (Looking at the data, I hit 186 at the top.) Still this sucker is so steep that my lap pace (which I just reset at the bottom) slides to over 9 min/mi! Down the other side we go. I run as fast and with the best form I can. Another wall. I charge up again. My hands suddenly get cold and start to tingle as a I run up. I'm in full on freight train breathing now (about one breath per step) and my hands (still in gloves) are freezing! We flatten a little and then up another climb (longer but not as steep).

Where the hell is the school? My brain isn't quite working. The Garmin says 7:4X. I can piss away 20 seconds but is it right? I'm 7+ minutes into mile 25 and I don't see the marker. My brain isn't working and I think I should see that finish. I think that somehow I've blow it and I'm minutes away. I don't realize there's another .2 in a marathon I guess. It does dawn on me after I hit the mile marker that there's another .2, but where's the school? My split was 8:18/183. [Turns out this mile was long, too. 7:45 pace]

At this point I have no idea whether I've made it, but I'm going to "sprint" (as best I can) to the finish because I am absolutely not going to miss it by a second or two. Finally the school! I turn left in the driveway and -- is that a 15? It is, 3:15:13 and ticking. I'm going to make it. I run through and see 3:15:20 on the clock. A woman with my medal says "Congratulations!" All I can muster is (in a distant monotone), "My hands are so cold." Looking concerned she says, "You ought to get a blanket." 10 steps later and I'm fine.

I hung around forever afterwards. Talked to Jesse and all the friends who saved me -- green shirt, the relayers, etc. They asked me if I got my 3:15 and I said "Yes!" I met someone on runningahead who ran 2:58 and got his sub-3! The soup was great. The coke was great. My age group was a juggernaut. I finished 6th -- a mere 11 minutes behind 5th. The hip didn't hurt at all! And the runner's knee that had been puffy after every substantial run for the last two months wasn't the least bit swollen.

When I got home, I watched the Ga - Ga Tech game I Tivo'd. My son had a great poker face while we watched together and didn't give away the ending. I was convinced my Yellow Jackets would lose until the very last second, but they didn't! 45-42, Tech. They beat the hated Dogs in an incredible comeback (down 28-12 at halftime). Coach Paul Johnson for President!

3:15:25

I did it! (with 34 secs to spare even)

I had an off day just like the last two long runs, but I sucked it up and made it happen. Even pace. Smart race.

I'll post more when the kiddies aren't breathing down my neck.

I'm thankful for...

NSAIDS. I tried some "Vitamin I" yesterday and I could feel some small improvement in my hip (feel more like hip flexors than piriformis today). I should have been taking ibuprofen for weeks! At this point it's not going to make a dent, but I thought I'd give it a try.

I've never been this fit, the weather should be perfect (upper-30s, lower 40s, no wind), and it's a fast course. Course/conditions alone should buy me 2-3 minutes over Frederick's 3:21. On the other hand, I've never gone into a marathon with this much of an injury, so I'm apprehensive to say the least. I guess I have to have something to worry about!

last run

My schedule called for 4 miles with 1 @ MP and 1 @ HMP.

I did the whole run at the high school track. My heart rate monitor was way, way off during the warmup (before I broke a sweat) and I threw an extra warmup lap in hoping that the HRM would settle down, but it didn't. I took several splits thinking it had settled down, but I don't think it was tracking until the 4th lap.

 Time Distance  Pace     HR
11:04  2000m    8:57    195
 3:42   800m    7:27    181  -- 3:15:09 pace; HRM obviously messed up
 1:52   400m    7:31    165  -- HRM still messed up
 1:50   400m    7:23    157  -- tracking
 3:32   800m    7:06    163
 3:31   800m    7:05    169
 8:42   1600m   8:45    145

The MP was very easy. It felt considerably easier than my usual opening mile of a marathon, so that was heartening. The HR on the last 800 of the HM pace was disturbing though. The last 1600 of my 2 x 2 miles on Monday was 6:52/168 which is way, way better than that. Some of this might just be my HR ranges coming back to normal.

I think my pace versus hr gets a little skewed when I include more intensity. I'm not necessarily faster when my pace/hr improves because I can't necessarily sustain a high heart rate for as long. For instance, the first time I did Pfitz (and was in over my head), I averaged 177 bpm during a tune-up 10k and then averaged 182 bpm in a 10 miler later that spring. My marathons have been remarkably consistent at 172 or 173 bpm, but there's always been a taper before them.

On the knee front, I didn't notice it today. It's not completely better, but it's not a concern.

The hip thing is a concern. Today I felt it mainly in my lower back at the base of my spine and at the top of my butt. Then I felt it in my groin on the cooldown. Very strange. It must be some kind of muscle imbalance. My toe didn't know which way it wanted to point on each stride as the various muscles battled it out when my foot came off the ground. I came home and tried a few stretches before I got tired of them. Hopefully endorphins will get me through. I seriously considered dropping out of the Frederick marathon when my right hip got very tight and increasingly painful from 8 to about 15 (and felt better when I hit the real hills). My guess is I'll have some kind of rough patch like that but make it through. There's also a fair chance I laugh because I don't feel it at all on race day.

My schedule calls for 2 miles tomorrow, but I don't really see the point of going to the trouble.

itchy

Forecast looks great, but my butt hurts. Forecast is now for the low 40s and 8 mph winds. Woohoo!

My injury thingy, which I'm calling piriformis, is rather disturbing though. The "discomfort" has shifted around and I'm going to take that as a positive sign since there isn't a point in doing otherwise. The way the course is laid out, I think I'll be OK if I can just make it to the turnaround (and start of the downhill) in decent shape hip-wise. The gradual grind of the 1% uphill is what worries me. Uphills are noticeably more troublesome and with the constant grade, hitting the same muscle in the same way could be bad.

My 4 miles easy this morning was kind of odd. My HR was ridiculously high even after discarding the first goofed up HRM split. 139? That should be more like 133.

Time Distance Split time Split distance Split pace Avg. HR
09:18 1.00 9:18 1.00 9:18 166 (83%)
18:17 2.00 8:58 1.00 8:58 134 (67%)
27:18 3.00 9:01 1.00 9:03 139 (69%)
36:21 4.00 9:02 1.00 9:04 136 (68%)
36:43 4.04 0:22 0.04 8:55 140 (70%)

Glancing at my HRM though the average didn't seem to really match the instantaneous values. Looking at the graph with elevation and HR, it doesn't really make sense. I've thought my battery was going for the last couple of weeks when I've had some weirdness, so I went ahead and bought new batteries today.

I hate tapering. It's a constant battle to balance healing your legs and maintaining your fitness. I feel like a total slug by race day. I sometimes wonder if the guys who just run lots of marathons don't have the right idea.

piriformis?

I'm beginning to think that's what my butt, hip, back, thigh (and now groin) pain is. I can feel this ache deep in my "gluts" (don't snicker!) that feels like it's where my femur meets my hip. I know I'm under the effects of taper madness, but this is getting kind of disturbing. It seems to be causing all sorts of other problems and while it certainly won't result in a DNS, I'm worried about it holding up for 26.2. Of course, I say there's a 50-50 chance I don't feel it at all Saturday.

week of 17 November

Mo -  Rest
Tu - 10.30    1:26:56    8:27    144 (72%)
We - 10.72    1:26:11    8:02    148 (74%)
Th -  5.00    0:45:53    9:11    133 (67%)
Fr -  5.90    0:52:46    8:56    137 (68%)
Sa - 13.43    1:54:11    8:30    152 (76%)  -- HRM messed up 1st two miles
Su -  Rest             
Wk - 45.35    6:25:57    8:31    145 (72%)

I moved the long run up to Sat to put it a week before the marathon and then didn't know what to do with Friday's workout. Thinking that less was more, I didn't an easy six and avoided the back-to-back hard days. Yesterday, I said I'd run 5 today, but I decided that was just some strange need to get over 50 miles and I'd stick with the off day following a "long" run. This leaves me with 45 for the week. Yikes!

Besides over analysis, what are the other symptoms of taper madness?

• New aches and pains. Check! When you cut back the miles, it's like you've removed the all-over, general dull ache from your body and suddenly every little joint and muscle wants to complain about what you've been doing to them for the last 6 months.
• Germ phobia. Check! I ran on a hotel treadmill and Thursday and after rubbing my eyes realized I'd probably rubbed the sweat of a thousand guests in there. I have a tickle in my throat today, but I'm pretty sure that's from raking leaves yesterday.
• Checking the long-range forecast. Check! According to NOAA, it should be 36 at 9am and 42 at noon (start is 9:30). I'll take it! 10 mph wind from the NW. It's basically a north-south out and back (with 7 miles NW), so that could suck, but it's in the woods and somewhat sheltered. Plus, I'd much rather have the wind at my back in the second half. Notice how I pretend like a 7-day forecast means anything? A sure sign of taper madness!

Here is the official plan. It's a semi-steep downhill first two miles, 1% uphill grade for 11 miles, 1% down for 11, then semi-steep uphill last two. I'll hit the turnaround at 3:14 pace and then bank a minute (5 secs/mile) on the downhill to give myself a couple of minutes before getting to the uphill.

One race-day plan I can't quite figure is eating. While I usually don't eat anything on marathon morning, I'm not sure it's a good idea with the race starting at 9:30.

On the outside looking in again?

Another sub-par run has me wondering if I've peaked too early and am now on the outside of 3:15 looking in. How can I be the guy who easily did 17 w/ 13 @ 7:14 pace a few weeks ago?

Today, according to my Garmin, I did 13.4 and the last 2.5 in which I attempted to run at marathon pace were 7:32/165, 7:26/169, and 3:47 (7:34)/170. What the hell? When I did my MP pace run three weeks ago, my last three miles (after running 10 at MP!) were 7:10/169, 7:04/167, and 7:06/168.

Arrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh. My excuses -- which do not app up 20 to 30 secs/mile -- are that

• my Garmin doesn't seem to be completely accurate on the trail. The conventional wisdom is that it's 4.6 miles around, but my Garmin reads 4.5 per last lap. [A friend road a calibrated bike around and got 4.57. Another guy claims a cross country team wheeled it at 4.60.] That's a 1.5-2 % difference, which doesn't seem like much, but that's 7-9 secs at 7:30 pace.
• it was pretty windy. Sustained 15-20 and gusting to 25-30 mph. It wasn't really in my face the whole time, but since it was from the WNW and since my half lap at MP took me from the east to the west side of the like, I guess it was net in my face.
• it was 27 degrees. Cold is better than hot, but I recognize that at some point, you do lose something when it's cold. I was wearing two shirts, tights, and a water bottle holder. It was in the 50s and very low humidity on the previous MP run.

After going through the excuses, I feel a *little* better, but still not happy. Blech. I'll have another track workout between now and the marathon. Hopefully that will lift my spirits.

I think I'll do 5 miles easy tomorrow, which will just get me to 50 for the week. It's been a long time since I've seen a number that low.

The hip definitely took a hit from the 13 miles today, but on average it seems to be improving. Balancing the miles to keep fit while getting healthy is definitely tough.

Take it easy

Tues - 10.3 @ 8:27
- skipped the Tues night double

Wed - 10.7 w/ 2x3 mile - 7:27/148, 7:13/157, 7:10/159; 7:16/156, 7:16/160, 7:18/160
- normally these would be faster, but I felt like the Tin Man without his oil

Ok, now cue the Eagles music...

This morning I ran 5 on a treadmill in a St Louis hotel. I got up to 6.6 mph (9:05) after a couple of minutes and left it there. HR settled at 130 plus or minus for the run. I haven't run on a treadmill in a long time and it was weird to run that easily at that pace. Things are qualitatively different than they were 6 months ago.

I'm back and after endless debating in my head, I'll do another easy 6 or so with some strides tomorrow. My schedule calls for 2 x 2.5 at HM, but I want to move my long run to Saturday since my marathon is on a Saturday and that seemed like too much back-to-back. At this point I'm guessing less is more.

On the knee/hip front, the hip was much better this morning. The knee still sucks, but I don't expect that to get better until after the marathon. I picked up a pain on the top of my left foot a couple of days ago. I think that side is just so screwed up now that the three joints (hip, knee, ankle) just aren't working well together.

the knee says he's #1

After I gave the nod to the hip as the #1 injury, the knee fought back this morning. It wasn't too bad though. I'm kind of use to it, although I will be happy when it no longer has that constant slight puffiness and is more like his taut friend on the right.

The hip thing has now spread to my lower back but it seems to be a duller ache. (I believe it's my gluteus medius that's bothering me.) From what I've read on hips, they often stem from weak back muscles and people like me not doing their core exercises. I'm pretty confident I'll shake this.

Today was a little less than 11 at base pace on my usual course that I haven't done in about 3 weeks (veteran's day, out of town, etc.). The pace was 8:27 and hr 143, so I think I'm back to normal in that regard. I have a new explanation for the poor weekend runs. I think I was under the weather. Yesterday I was just in a total fog.

I'm tapering, so no Tuesday double today.

week of 10 November

Mo    - Rest
Tu AM - 10.95    1:32:43    8:28    148 (74%)
Tu PM -  4.95    0:46:33    9:25    134 (67%)
We    -  9.28    1:13:40    7:56    156 (78%)
Th    -  5.85    0:55:47    9:32    133 (66%)
Fr    - 10.81    1:23:59    7:46    153 (77%)
Sa    -  5.31    0:49:28    9:19    135 (68%)
Su    - 17.99    2:36:13    8:41    149 (74%)
Week  - 65.14    9:18:23    8:34    146 (73%)
Last  - 71.14    10:01:47   8:28    142 (71%)

The taper started today with a shorter long run -- 4 laps around the lake instead of 5. It was blech. I'm not sure what to blame it on, but I'm hoping I haven't passed my peak. I stayed up to late Fr and Saturday, ate crap last night, and maybe the oddly warm weather yesterday threw me off. Today was 45 and pretty windy. The only decent excuse is the wind. I was out there from roughly 9 to 12 and the hourly report of winds/gusts from wunderground was 15 mph/29, 23/32, 16/28, and 16/27. Still it's hard to explain. My fourth lap last week was 8:19 pace @ 151 versus 8:44 @ 152 today. That's 25 seconds per mile!

This was really an annoying run. My hip bothered me the whole time and I felt like I wasn't running efficiently. The hip, the wind, and the trail made me feel like I never got a groove. While I thought I definitely could have qualified if I'd run a marathon last week, I'm sure I couldn't have today. The marathon gods are fickle.

The hip thing is my #1 injury concern now. The pain is where my hip meets my thigh and I feel it from all sides (front, side, back) at various times. Hopefully the increased taper this week will help. I'm planning to do roughly the same thing except drop the mid-week double and shorter the Sunday run to two laps. That should be about 55 miles, which is frankly so low that it scares me a little bit. We'll see if I can stick with it.

an "easy" 5

Hot and humid today.

My hr/pace splits last Saturday and today (same route):

08 November - 9:51/123, 8:56/125, 9:07/127, 9:26/ 131, 9:08/128, 9:08/125
15 November - 9:48/142, 8:57/127, 9:08/135, 9:23/136, 9:17/134, 9:28/140

The first split today is probably a screwing HRM, but the rest should be accurate since I was sweating like a pig! Checked the temps and it was 64 deg and dew pt of 62.6. Hey, isn't it mid-November?

I've developed a mild pain in my left hip/butt. I really felt it in the turns on the track yesterday. I should probably be careful tomorrow, so I doubt I'll do a full 13 at MP. Either half that or none of that.

Friday musing

The Friday tradition of 2 x 3 miles at "HM" pace continued today. Below are the last two times I've done this:

• 10/24/2008: 19' warmup; 4800 in 7:00/156, 6:58/162, 6:55/165; 800m rest; 4800 in 6:46/165, 6:47/170, 6:49/170; 19' cooldown
• 11/14/2008: 19' warmup; 4800 in 6:55/157, 6:48/166, 6:46/169; 800m rest; 4800 in 6:51/165, 6:49/169, 6:51/171; 19' cooldown

The first one looks better to my eye. In what probably really matters for the marathon though, my second (11/9) burke lake 5-lapper (23 miles) was signficantly better than my first (10/19) -- 8:45/152 versus 8:34/148.

Ah, taper madness. I still can't decide what to do on Sunday for my long run. Probably 17 or 18 miles (depending on the course I choose), but I can't decide how much at MP. There's also a 10K I could run. Hey, Bob Glover has a 10k two weeks out in his schedule!

Glad I didn't run Richmond

Forecast is 67 degrees at 7am on Saturday. How's that for 15 November? My odds of warm weather go way down with the extra two weeks between Richmond and my marathon. Of course the odds of having temps in the teens go up too!

hangin' on

The knee is, well, not too good. It ain't that bad though. I've got this week muscle strain in the bottom of my right foot (don't think it's PF). My weight is headed in the wrong direction, too. I counted calories and got to 160, stopped counting, and got to 163 in a heartbeat. I said you could ridicule me if I weren't 155 and didn't qualify for Boston. The offer still stands, but I think I just might have it this time.

I ran 11 at ~8:30 on Tuesday AM, and 5 really easy Tues PM. I was really unmotivated to go out last night. I just felt like I'd rather be doing something else with the 45 minutes. Once I got out there, my mind wandered, and I wondered why it was so hard to get out the door.

Then this morning, I modified my mixed intervals, substituting the 1k @ 5k pace and 800m @ 3k pace with another 2k @ 10k pace. This is sort of a compromise. I think the point of the fast stuff is to keep in touch with your speed, but I never developed any to keep in touch with. HM pace is really good for marathon training per Hudson and damn it if I don't agree :-) I've also decided that 10k pace is just plain good for me and I'm not letting it go just yet.

I felt tired going in and wore way too much clothing. It was supposed to be 36 (when I paced) but I think it was more like 45. I was wearing sweaty gloves by the time I reached the track. During the intervals my heart rate seemed higher than before, but now looking at the "data" it's pretty close.

Today: 3200m in 6:56/159, 6:50/167, 2000m in 8:10/173, 2000m in 8:10/175.
Last Tues: 3200m in 6:56/159, 6:44/167, 2000m in 8:07/172, 1000m in 3:54 (6:17)/176, 800m in 3:00 (6:02)/178

It was worse today, but not that much different. I was a little afraid I might be slipping based on how I felt this morning, but looking at the above, I can't jump to that conclusion.

My taper is really going to start with my long run this weekend (two weeks out). I did 23 last Sunday. I can't decide what to do this week. Here's a tour of book wisdom.

• "Brain training" calls for 17 w/ 13 at MP again and I just might do that.
• Hudson says 17 easy.
• Pfitz 12wk/70mpw says 8-10k race Sat, 17 easy Sunday. Ouch. (The race sounds fun though.)
• DRF Marathon Training plan A says 2 x (35-40' E pace + 15-20' T pace) + 2 mi E pace. My head hurts. I'm just going to read this as 17 with a couple of fast sections, OK?

I sure own a lot of books. I might do a repeat of my Mt Vernon time trial, but slower. I also thought of driving to the course, but it's a long drive. I could also do my standard 18 mile route and either make it easy or throw in some fast parts depending on how I feel. I'm tempted to do more than 18 because 3 weeks just seems like a long time to have 18 miles be your longest run.

week of 3 November

Mo - Rest
Tu - 9.54 1:14:44 7:50 152 (76%)
We AM - 10.80 1:30:12 8:21 140 (70%)
We PM - 5.31 0:46:47 8:48 132 (66%)
Th - 6.57 0:59:14 9:01 131 (65%)
Fr - 10.78 1:25:52 7:58 145 (73%)
Sa - 5.59 0:52:00 9:18 127 (63%)
Su - 22.54 3:12:58 8:34 148 (74%)
This Week 71.14 10:01:47 8:28 142 (71%)

Sleep, sleep, sleep. I was a bit burned out before Friday's run and scaled back the intensity. Even then I was a little afraid that I wouldn't recover before Sunday and my long run would be miserable. I got 8 or 9 hours of sleep on Friday and took Saturday's recovery run *really* easy (check out the 127 bpm average). Then on Saturday afternoon (after my son's flag football team was victorious to finish the season 5-1!), I took an absurdly long nap and followed it up with another 8 or 9 hours of sleep on Saturday night.

All of the sleep must have helped because after I got going this morning, I felt great. I cranked out 5 steady laps at Burke Lake (23 miles) in relatively easy fashion. The only hiccup was my shoes. I ran the first lap in the Free 5.0v1 that I just bought four cheap pairs of and it felt like running on a golf ball. Doh! Luckily I brought the trusty Mizunos and switched back to them.

I'm hoping that 3:12:58 time for my long run today is a sign.

worse than hitting the wall

I saw this on the Baltimore Road Runners Club web site

"Bowhunting season has begun in Maryland and continues until January 31, 2009. This year the Loch Raven Watershed is open to hunters, so BRRC reminds trail runners as well as users of the NCR Trail to wear bright colors. Trail runners may also want to consider alternate venues that are not open to hunting."

The NCR trail is where I'm running the marathon. Something worse than hitting the wall to worry about.

Today's run was bizarre. Feeling beat up, I decide to do the usual Friday 2 x 3 miles, but not run < 7 min/mi like I had. The 1600m splits for the fast sections were 7:11/152, 7:14/156, 7:13/157 and 7:18/156, 7:21/158, 7:30/158. Unreal. My body must be in a weird state. If not, 7:26 is going to feel like jogging. Right not my plan is to run BQ pace (or maybe a minute faster) for the first half and then negative split. I definitely need to bank a couple of minutes for the last two steep uphill miles.

just beat up

I think the MP on Sunday along with switching my track workout from Wed to Tue (to accomodate work travel) put me over the edge. Combine that with a lack of sleep from the time change and I am just beat up. Saturday is 3 weeks to go. I wish I believed in long tapers, because I could use one.

I manage to squeeze in 3 runs total 22 miles during my 3 days of meetings. The hotel was next to a golf community and there was a very nice 3.3 asphalt loop that was pretty flat and essentially uninterrupted. HRs paces were nice on the flats. 90' @ 8:21/140, 46' @ 8:48/132, and 59' @ 9:01/131.

I'm planning to cut out the stuff faster than HM pace and I think that will help me. Hudson's sharpening phases doesn't have it anyway. Fitzgerald maintains the mixed intervals (3200 @ HM, 2000 @ 10k, 1000 @ 5k, and 800 @ 3k), but I swear the 3k and 5k pace kills me more than anything.

week of 27 October

Today I did a "marathon pace" run. The Brain Training schedule called for a half marathon tune-up today or time trial. Well, there wasn't a half marathon and I wasn't going to time trial one. Plus, I think a half would be too much of a disruption for me.

My plan was to head to the Mt. Vernon bike trail and run the potomac river run marathon course. It's a double out and back marathon and there's a permanent marker at the turnaround (10.5 k from the start). What pace should I do the 21k? Well, I'm a wimp and planned to run 7:20 pace even if that were below marathon hr as I expected it would be from the track. Still, this is a pretty hilly course. The race web page says, "Many flat stretches, some rolling terrain, two notable hills. This is not a flat course." That's about right. In some places the "rolling terrain" is pretty short and steep, which makes it hard to get in a groove.

Anyway, the first 7:20 went nice on the flat and even up the first hill. I kept even pace up the first hill and then kept up the effort, zooming down the other side in 6:59. I ended up running closer to marathon pace then I planned. Here are the splits. (You can see that it's pretty hilly from the lack of correlation between heart rate and pace in some sections.)

warmup - 9:24/154, 9:07/131 -- wonky HRM first mile
7:18/155, 7:18 /162, 7:14/164, 6:59/164, 7:09/166,
7:02/168, 7:15/168, 7:09/167, 7:31/168,7:18/167,
7:10/169, 7:04/167, 7:06/168, 0:45/171 (0.10)
cooldown - 8:47/153, 8:28/150

Splits from Frederick for marathon heart rate reference:
7:35/157, 7:21/168, 7:31/170, 7:34/169, 7:26/170,
7:26/171, 7:23/171, 7:28/171, 7:34/171, 7:32/171,
7:26/172, 7:38/172, 7:43/172, 7:40/173, 7:31/173,
7:29/173, 8:04/173, 7:35/173, 8:14/174, 7:53/174,
7:42/173, 7:56/173, 7:57/174, 7:40/176, 8:10/176,
7:58/175, 2:24/180.

So I did 21k in 1:34:25 or 7:14 per mile. (My half PR pace is 7:08!) The heart rates correspond to a very conservatively paced marathon. By mile 13, I would normally be solidly in the 170s (172 or so), but I'm not sure I could have turned around and done it again. My breathing was 2-2 from the beginning. This is something I probably need to get used to. I used to associate 2-2 breathing with 10 mile pace, but clearly I ran 13 without a problem. I'm now unsure whether to go with my normal marathon heart rate pacing or not. I'd hate to reach for too much and fail to BQ, but I don't want to leave too much on the table either

Here's the week.

Mo - Rest
Tu AM - 10.31 1:27:05 8:27 147 (74%)
Tu PM - 5.01 0:45:21 9:03 135 (67%)
We - 9.46 1:15:25 7:59 157 (78%)
Th - 6.02 0:57:56 9:38 133 (66%)
Fr AM - 1.11 0:10:26 9:23 153 (76%)
Fr AM 9.51 1:14:08 7:48 153 (77%) -- same run, had to reset Garmin
Fr PM 4.95 0:44:38 9:01 142 (71%)
Sa - 5.44 0:50:34 9:18 130 (65%)
Su - 17.10 2:10:13 7:37 160 (80%)
This Week 68.91 9:35:46 8:21 148 (74%)

Mileage was below 70 again. Gotta watch that! Getting in my running this week is going to be challenging, but I'll get it done.