Second Wind

Rest

Higdon's plan calls for a 35 minute tempo run today, my translation of that is one warm-up, five fast miles, and one cool-off for a total of seven miles.  On my tempo runs I try to keep the pace at around 7:00/mile which is about 30 seconds faster than my anticipated marathon pace, hopefully this pace is fast enough to reap the desired benefits.  The splits were as follows:  7:01, 6:59, 6:55, 6:56, 6:59.  I felt pretty good about this effort and how the run felt.  Luckily today I ran pain free, the only things to worry about were breathing, relaxing and keeping those legs pumping.  I do think this speedwork is helping my overall fitness and making marathon pace feel easier.

Time:  7:24/mile

Just 4 easy miles today.  Incorporated some strides to work on form and turnover.  Mostly just a nice easy pace and easy run.  Temps continue to go up and up...83 degrees at 5:00 am this morning.  Should be a really hot fourth of July.

Time:  8:19/mile

Happy Independence Day to everyone out there!  What a great day to enjoy our freedoms and a great run!  Ran 7 miles today and felt so good we decided to throw in a couple of sub 8:00 miles which were about 25-30 seconds slower than marathon pace.  So not too fast but faster than normal.  After we finished our run the wife talked me into going for a bike ride and since I didn't have to go to work today I decided to go out with her and we did 12 miles at a fairly easy pace.  I think I am going to sleep the rest of the day.  We had a great ward party at a members house with a pool and enjoyed pancakes and breakfast burritos.  Pretty decent post work out recovery meal.  Man it is hot here.  When we started our run today at 5 am it was 86 degrees an our later it was 94 and rising, supposed to reach about 115 today.  Hot Hot and more Hot.

Time:  8:08/mile

Ran 4 miles today with a couple of sub 8:00 minute miles.  After staying up a little later than usual for the 4th of July festivities I found myself a little more tired than usual this morning so the run felt a little harder on the legs.  Thankfully I got through it and tomorrow is another day.  Some days when you just don't feel like running are the days when you really need to get out and do it.  Right shin was botherin me a little more than usual, I think I have a slight shin splint.  I forgot to massage and roll my shins last night so that may have been part of the reason for the discomfort.  Temperature was 89 degrees this morning at the start of our run.  Vegas is looking at a possible record high today.

Time:  8:16/mile

Ran 8 miles today instead of the prescibed 7 miles.  Felt really good the whole way and picked up the pace for 5 miles to about 15-20 seconds slower than marathon pace.  Pain in the knees and shins were very minimal and it all felt good.  There were even some clouds in the sky today to keep the sun hidden for a bit longer than usual and cool the temps although it is still very hot and we were close to an all time record yesterday.

Time:  7:59/mile

Ran 14 miles today for my long run.  Ran with Chad and Meg today, Chad is also training for St. George and will be going for a Boston qualifier this year which he just missed last year.  Overall the run felt pretty good and Chad and I even picked up the pace to about 8:10/mile for miles 11-13 but after mile 13 I was done and finished out the run with a 8:45 mile.  The sun and heat was a huge factor today as it was 98 degrees when we got back home at 7:00 am.  My prerun food consisted of a vanilla power gel and water and then just water throughout the run.  I may need to start adding additional food in the morning before runs that go 15 and beyond.  I will start experimenting with bagels and bananas over the next few weeks to see how it goes.  I also think we will need to start our longer runs 30-60 minutes earlier due to the heat.  The heat causes my body to work harder than it needs to to get the same result.  Overall good run today but lots of work.

Time:  8:37/mile

Rest

Interval training today with 5 x 800 meter repeats.  Began and ended with an easy 2 mile run for a total of 7.85 miles today.  Once again, today I tried to run each of these intervals as near to 3:15 as possible and here are the splits: 3:15, 3:17, 3:15, 3:17, 3:13 (pushed a little harder on that last once because I didn't want it to be my slowest).  Tough workout but rewarding at the end.  You know you have worked hard and your week quads are evidence of that.  This week is a cut back week on Higdon's plan so it will be my last week at or near 40 miles.  Probably a good thing since we will be at Duck Creek Village above Cedar City from Thursday - Saturday of this week and the running won't be easy at 8500 feet but I imagine it will be beneficial.

Time: 8:45/mile

Switched the normal 3-4 mile run today with a 7 mile run.  Lower back has been bothering me a little more than normal lately and the muscles in that area are feeling really tight.  Hopefully some additional stretching will loosen things up if not I will start on some anti inflamatories for a few days.  Funny how once your legs are fit and doing well something else always pops up to give you problems.  Run felt good today, besides the back and we ran negative splits through 6 miles and then cooled down slightly on the 7th mile.

Time: 8:24/mile

Easy run today, we are leaving to go to Duck Creek today and will be running 23 miles up there over the next 3 days.

First run at Duck Creek and didn't sleep well the night before.  Running at 8500 elevation really works you good.  Took it pretty easy for the entire run.

This run was supposed to be 7 miles at marathon pace but with the elevation and lack of sleep it turned out to be a "let's just log the miles" run.  Ran 9 miles on the roads through the camp ground and was glad to be done.  The quads are feeling week and the lack of good sleep is killing me.

Didn't feel good this morning at all.  Quads hurt, knees hurt, head hurt, just felt worn out.  This was our third and final run at Duck Creek and the elevation has finally kicked my butt.  This turned out to be a very very slow 10 miles through ATV trails, dirt roads, and mountian highways and it seemed like everything was aching.  Let's just say I was glad to be done with the run and will be glad to get back to Las Vegas to continue with the marathon training.  I was glad that I didn't miss a run and logged all the prescribed miles during this vacation but I am not really pleased with the effort or the way my body felt.  Hopefully things will get back to normal when I return to familiar territory.

Rest.

Well starting today and for the remaining 12 weeks until the marathon, Mondays will be my lower mileage days.  I decided to switch Mondays to the lower mileage run because the Saturday runs are getting longer and I thought an additional recovery day might do me some good.  That way I will be refreshed on Tuesday for the hills, tempo, or interval runs.  Run felt a little sluggish today.  By the third mile I got it down to 8:00/mile pace but the first two miles were pretty slow.  Probably still recovering from last weeks vacation.  It is good to be back and I'm not planning on any distractions over the next 12 weeks leading up to the marathon so I am hoping for some good hard training and preparation.  This week's mileage is 47 and I have never gone that far in a week so from here on out I will be running in unfamiliar territory.  Hopefully the body and mind hold up as I am planning on the mileage topping out at about 60/week by the end.

Time:  8:36/mile

Today was 5xhills and it was a good hard workout.  Began with two easy miles to warm up and then ran up and down the Azure overpass 5 times.  Decided to run up and down at the same intensity since SGM requires lots of down hill running.  Ended up running one of the mile splits during the hill repeats under 8:00/mile, thus the one fast mile.  This was Megs first day using her new toy (Garmin 301) and I think she enjoyed it but is not too fond of the heart rate strap.  It took me a week or two to get used to it and now I hardly know it's there.  I don't really know what the temps were today but it really doesn't matter, it was hot.  We are going through the peak of the hot season right now.  By the first couple weeks of September things usually start to cool down.

Time:  8:26/mile

Longer midweek run today of 8 miles.  Decided to pick up the pace a bit for 3 of the 8 miles to at or near marathon pace.  The faster pace miles felt a little more labored today probably due to my hill workout yesterday.  It continues to get darker and darker each morning as the days get shorter.  This seems to keep the temps down a little bit....still hot though.

Time:  8:05/mile

Easy 4 today.  Took it fairly easy today in preparation for the big Friday and Saturday runs.  Added a few strides during miles 3 and 4 just to let the legs get the feel of race pace.  Temps were actually quite nice today with 79 at the start it actually felt a bit cooler today which is always nice.  Been working on controlling my diet over the last couple of months and it seems to be paying off as I have slowly been dropping the pounds.  My goal is to get down to about 165-170 (5'11" average build) and lose the fat (spare tire) around my waist.  I am at about 178 now so I think by SGM I should be pretty close to my goal as the training miles increase and the diet stays healthy.

Time:  8:22/mile

I was scheduled to run an 8 mile marathon pace run today but it didn't quite work out that way.  Started off as normal with a nice easy warm up mile and then gently picked up the pace to marathon pace.  After about two miles I noticed something was not quite right.  I was laboring too hard at this pace.  I decided to stop in for a sip of gatorade to see if that would help.  Continued on for the next two miles at marathon pace and felt better for a bit but eventually the same result, couldn't maintain the pace.  Stopped in for one more sip of gatorade and was able to complete one more mile at marathon pace and then decided to back it off.  Heart rate was going higher than normal and body was laboring way too hard.  So I ended up today with 5 miles at marathon pace (7:28/mile) and the rest of the miles at an easy pace.  As I look back at yesterday I think my water intake was a bit less than normal and the slight dehydration may have had something to do with my problems.  I know you can't be on your game every day so I will keep an eye on this issue over the next week and see how my performances are, especially with a 40 minute tempo run coming up next week, that will be a good guage on whether I had a bad day or something else is wrong.

Time:  8:05/mile

Long run today of 16 miles and it went much better than expected.  Based on my performance yesterday with my marathon pace run and my major bonk I expected today to be a very difficult and long run.  It turned out to be my best long run to date.  Not to say that it was easy, but relatively speaking it was easier than expected.  Started out fairly slow with just under 9:00/mile and had a few miles under a few miles over 9:00 the whole way.  I think the easy pace really helped to make this a good run.  By the last two miles I still had a little gas in the tank to step up the pace to about 8:30/mile which was a nice confidence builder based on how I have felt at the end of previous long runs.  Felt like the perfect long run.  Pre run meal was a banana and about 8 ounces of water with 2 Advil.  I could feel the advil working within the first couple of miles because the legs felt really good.  During the run I consumed 700 ml of water and two Vanilla power gel packets.  We started our run at about 4:15 and ran around our complex a couple of times for 3 miles just to let it get a little lighter and then we headed out on our regular long run course down to Jones up to Grand Teton up Tenaya and back home.  Temps were about 84 at the start and it was bit more humid than usual.  We were running with the wind for the first few miles so the temps were almost unbearable.  Eventually the winds changed as we moved through the course and we got some small breezes here and there to cool us off but not much.  Luckily we got home before the sun really started blazing down.  This completes my longest mileage week to date at 48 miles.  Plan I am following tops out at 60.

Time:  8:52/mile

Rest

Easy 3 miler today.  Legs felt good considering the 16 mile long run on Saturday, but my lower back was killing me.  It really started hurting early Sunday and has continued to ache today as well.  Decided today to take 800mg Ibuprofen 3 times daily to see if that will knock out the pain over the next couple of days.  The only things I can attribute this flare up to would be our stake pioneer day celebration where I helped prepare corn for the whole stake and much of the work involved lifting boxes of corn, etc.  Not much of a relaxing day after an early monrning long run ehhh.  Hopefully it is not a result of the long run but I guess the possibility exists since running can be hard on the lower back especially one like mine that has already gone through one surgery back in 1993 to repair a herniated disk.  I will continue to stretch my back and take Ibuprofen over the next few days and see where we are.  Maybe a new matress is in order too.  Ours is really old!  Run today was very slow and the weather was hot and wet with the monsoon seaon upon us.

Time:  8:48/mile

Ran a 6 mile tempo run today with a mile warm up and cool down.  Wasn't exactly sure what to expect to be able to do today based on my last marathon pace run being a complete disaster.  Started the run with medium expectations of running a fairly fast temp pace.  Ended up runnning the 6 tempo miles at a 7:13/mile pace which isn't bad but is slower than my expected capability.  Overall I am happy with the run and felt pretty good for most of the way except for the lower back which has continued to ache but seems to be doing better with the Ibuprofen regemin.  Not much rain in the valley but man it is humid for Vegas.  I was drenched when I got done today.

Time:  7:30/mile

I decided to run my 8 mile run today in the familiar negative split format.  Since I wanted to finish with a 7:30 or better pace on the last mile I started mile 1 at about an 8:40 pace and cut 10 seconds per mile for each mile.  Meg stayed with me until about mile 4 and then we went our seperate ways.  Short story long, I exceeded my goal and ran the last mile at 7:19.  Weather was very humid again today and the sweat was flowing freely although the temps were only in the high 70s.  I will take the dry heat and high temps over the wet heat and lower temps any day, this humidity is a killer.

Time: 8:01/mile

Ran 8 easy miles today.  My back is still bothering me but we bought a new matress topper to go on our bed and it seems to be helping.  I stopped taking the ibuprofen yesterday as well so I can get a better read on how the back was feeling.  We'll see how the next couple of days go and go from there.  Today was supposed to be a 4 mile run but Meg doesn't like going 8 on Friday and then long on Saturday so we decided to switch 8 to today and move 4 to Friday.  I will probably go 5 or 6 tomorrow just for the extra conditioning.  Todays run felt pretty good and the pace was a little faster than my normal easy runs but still felt pretty easy.  There have been lots of threatening clouds in the skies the last few days but not much rain to show for it.  Hopefully the rains will be coming soon because the valley really could use it.  Temps were in the high 70s today but it was still very humid.

Time: 8:22/mile

Today I decided not to look at my Garmin for the entire run and just run at a pace that felt comfortable regardless of the time.  I do have the alarm set to go off each mile so I knew what mile I was on and so I took of just running at a pace that felt good.  I figured I was running about 8:45-8:55 pace but when I completed the run I was pleased to find that my pace was 8:29 per mile.  My back actually felt a little better today.  The last couple of days I have been running on the opposite side of the road than usual and that may be helping a little bit as well due to the slightly cambered roads in my neighborhood.  The new matress topper seems to be working pretty well so far too.  I seem to be sleeping better at night and tossing and turning less, or at least it seems that way.  Temps are still slightly cooler than normal but the humidity more than makes up for the cooler temps.

Time:  8:29/mile

Long run today that I decided to run as a 3/1 run.  In other words I ran the first 13 miles at an easy long run pace and the final 4 miles at marathon pace.  Had some stomach issues for the first several miles and had to make a couple of stops at the house for the bathroom.  Once the system was cleared out is was smooth sailing.  Started feeling better as the run continued and decided to pick up the pace the last four miles to near marathon pace.  I think my average for these last 4 miles was around 7:30/mile.  It was good to try and get to marathon pace on tired legs so that I could know what it felt like.  It wasn't easy but as the last miles clicked by it didn't get any harder either, which I think is a good sign.  Felt pretty good for the rest of the day with no real soreness or aches on Sunday either.  I know I am much more fit this year than last year based on my shorter recovery from these long runs.  The long runs would wipe me out for the weekend last year.  This year I feel like I could go for a run on Sunday if it weren't my day of rest.  Needless to say, I am pleased with the overall results of this run even though I need to figure out the bathroom thing.  I think I really ate too much food on Friday due to a lunch at work which was different than my typical small portions.  That won't happen again.  Temps were warm as usual and the humidity was relatively high, making for another wet run.  This concludes my highest mileage week ever at 49 miles enroute to my highest mileage month ever which ends tomorrow.

Time:  8:28/mile

Rest.

Took it easy today in preparation for 6 x 800 tomorrow.  Thought about going an extra mile or two but changed my mind due to the fact that this a cut back week and the two weeks following this week are going to be fairly demanding with long runs of 19 and 20 miles.  So I will make this a true cutback week in order to hopefully benefit from a bit of recovery, although the mileage difference is only 3 miles less with a 12 mile long run on Saturday.  Added a few strides today during the last mile just for fun.  Hot and muggy again today.

Time:  8:33/mile

Speed workout today!  6 x 800 meter intervals with 3 minute breaks.  Splits for 800s were as follows:  3:15, 3:07, 3:13, 3:16, 3:18, 3:18.  Gave a little too much on the second and third intervals and paid for it on the final three, which were tough.  This was my third 800 meter workout during this training cycle which has been building from 4x800 and each one has become progressively harder.  There will be two more of these workouts before the marathon 7x800 and 8x800.  Ran slow for 3 minutes between each interval and ran 2 mile warm-up and 2 mile cool down at a very slow pace.  Nice cloud cover today but it was still hot and muggy.  I guess that will be the theme for then next few weeks during the monsoon season.  This also concludes a huge record mileage month for me at 193.5 (previous record was 153).

Time:  8:36/mile