Second Wind

Solo run today as Meg had a cortisone shot in her heal yesterday and needed to take the day off.  Decided to pick it up a bit today and see where I am.  Nothing too out of control with only one mile at marathon pace.  Felt pretty good but I can tell that fatigue is going to be a factor in the marathon due to my lack of long runs and time off.  Hopefully I still have it in me to get at least a couple of good long runs in before the big day.

Time:  56:49  8:07/mile

Basically the same run as yesterday without the faster marathon pace mile. Felt pretty good and less clunky today. It seems to always take a few days to get back into a good rhythm after an extended time off. Still find myself having a hard time getting up at the usual time so I have been running behind the last few days.

Time: 56:39 8:06/mile

One of the few longer runs I am going to be able to squeak in before the marathon.  Took it really easy today, backed off the pace a bit and decided to go a little bit longer today.  For the most part everything felt pretty good.  Haven't decided whether to take tomorrow off or do a short easy run or maybe even a walk.  Guess we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Time:  1:24:46  8:29/mile

Couldn't resist going for a run in my new shoes that came in the mail yesterday.  Something about new shoes that makes a run extra enjoyable.  Took it really easy again today and just kept it low and slow.  Hoping to put in some big miles tomorrow, we'll see what happens.

Time:  25:26  8:29/mile

Well, I made it the full 20.....more details later.

It's now the Tuesday after this run so I don't remember too many details.  I ran the first 15-16 miles with Meg at a fairly easy pace in 8:40 range and then picked it up the last 4-5 miles into the 8:10 range and began to really feel the fatigue kick in around mile 18-19.  I know I am going to need at least one and hopefully two more quality long runs in order to build up my endurance as much as possible before the marathon.  Hopefully the bailing wire and duct tape hold up.

Time:  2:51:11  8:33/mile

Rest.  Not feeling too bad after the 20 yesterday.

Our stake had a labor day run today so Meg and I got up and ran three before the race and then loaded up the kids and the bikes and headed over to the church.  The kids started first on their bikes and then the runners started.  They had races of 1, 3, and 5 miles.  I ran into Don Bigger aka Pron8r at the starting line and decided to stick with him since I got their late and didn't really know the course.  We were not racing but we ran pretty hard, just slower than 7:30/mile.  Don is tapering for top of Utah and man he looks like he is in great form.  Well we ended up getting lost on the course and got back to the church at 4 miles and decided to call it good.  Nice excuse for a semi-tempo run since I haven't had one for a few weeks now.

Time:  56:22  8:03/mile

Nothing too exciting today just a fairly easy 7 with one slightly faster mile at the finish.  Temps have felt great the last few days with temps in the low 70s I almost need a jacket....lol.  The duct tape is holding up and the body is hanging in there at least for now.  Hopefully it can hang in there for a couple more quality weeks and get me through to the taper.  The plan right now is to taper for only 2 weeks and try to fit in some easy long runs with one quality long run between now and then.  Guess we'll just see how it goes.

Time:  58:12  8:19/mile

Another mid week make-up day for missed time and mileage on the road.  Planned to keep it pretty easy but felt good the last three miles and decided putting in some marathon pace miles would be a good idea.  They felt harder than expected but not bad.  Will continue with usual for the rest of the week with hopefully a high quality 20 miler on Saturday with several marathon pace miles.....we'll see.

Time:  1:21:50  8:11/mile

Dead legs today!  Felt pretty dead for the first 3-4 miles and then was able to slowly pick up the pace over the remaining miles.  I guess that's why we have recovery days.  Temp was back above 80 today and will probably stay that way through the weekend, should make for an interesting and challenging long run on Saturday.

Time:  59:21  8:29/mile

Legs felt pretty dead again today but seemed to warm up quicker.  Ran a little faster than I planned today, it may have had something to do with visualizing myself on the marathon course near the finish trying to push in the last miles.  I'm a little nervous about tomorrows long run, it will be interesting to see how my body holds up.  Good luck to everyone on their last or next to last long run.

Time:  0:41:44  8:21/mile

Well it actually came together fairly well today for a good hard long run.  Plan was to go out and run 3 warm up miles to get really good and warmed up and then go at least 10 and maybe more at marathon pace (7:28/mile).  The first 3 miles were right at an 8:30 pace and then I was able to pick it up for 13.1 miles with these splits:  7:18, 7:27, 7:26, 7:28, 7:28, 7:25, 7:30, 7:28, 7:29, 7:31, 7:32, 7:24, 7:23 and I don't know what the pace was for the last .1 but it was probably in the range of 7:25.  Took it easy for the next 3 miles and brought it back down to 8:25/mile pace and then picked it up for the last mile and came in at 7:40.

This was not an easy or even moderately hard run, it was hard!  I think it does a little bit to instill me with some confidence that I am farily well prepared but not sure about maintaining that pace for the full 26.2.  I was contending with high temps and the entire course was completely flat so on race day I will have a couple of advantages working in my favor, cooler temps and a downhill course.  Hopefully those two things will be enough, along with race day magic, to get me across the finish with at least a PR and hopefully a BQ.

Time:  2:35:14  7:45/mile

Rest.

Fairly easy 7 miler today.  Was pleased that I didn't have any soreness today.  Legs felt a bit dead but no soreness to speak of.  Going to just try and be consistent this week with nothing too crazy.

Time:  58:02  8:17/mile

First 5 miles with Meg at 8:30 pace and the last two miles at marathon pace.  Temp got really cool this morning with a bit of wind too.  It was 72 degrees and I was feeling kinda chilly, it's amazing what you get used to.

Time:  57:28  8:13/mile

8 miles today, some a little faster and some a little slower, nothing out of the ordinary.  Temp was 75 and it felt pretty good.

Time:  1:05:48  8:13/mile

Did a progression run today where each mile gets progressively faster.  Didn't start the run intending to do this but after the first 3 miles decided to go for it.  First mile was in 8:30 and last mile was 7:10.  Not blazing speed but still a good workout.  Legs felt good today, maybe a good nights sleep had something to do with it.

Time:  54:39  7:48/mile

Nice moderate run today.  Great morning weather with light breeze and 73.  Hope it holds for tomorrows last long run.  Legs felt pretty good even after yesterdays slightly faster then normal run.  Going to try going a few days without the ibuprofen to gauge the pain level.  I would prefer to run the marathon without any pain meds, that is why I am doing the test.  I feel recovered enough to go without, but until I actually do it's hard to tell for sure.

Time:  0:57:49  8:16/mile

Pretty good quality run today although I wasn't able to do it without the pain meds as I had hoped.  About noon on Friday I could tell I still needed to be taking the Ibuprofen for continued inflamation in my back and other areas.  So I ran on drugs today and felt pretty good the whole way.  From mile 7-12 I ran 7:28/mile or better and then mile 16 I picked it up to the finish and came in with 7:06.  During the first six miles Meg and I added some hills both up and down over our usual over pass route.  So I got a run with a little bit of everything and feel pretty good about it.  Now it's time to start reducing the mileage and make it through the rest of the taper.

Time:  2:05:13  7:49/mile

Rest.

Fairly easy 6 today.  Legs felt a little dead but warmed up after a couple.  Finished it off with a faster mile and called it good.  Still pretty warm this morning at 79.  I hope this doesn't mean we are in for an extra warm marathon.

Time:  49:20  8:20/mile

Ran an easy 6 without the aid of any meds today.  Felt okay but I could tell that my usual aches and pains were amplified a little bit.  Will continue to try and reduce the amount of meds until the marathon.  I'm gaining weight too fast these last couple of weeks, I gotta get my diet under control for then next couple weeks or I'll turn into an even bigger blob.

Forgot to mention that it was 67 degrees this morning....BRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Time:  50:26  8:24/mile

Off the meds again today so I was doubting wether or not I would be able to run a tempo run today.  After a mile warm up I decided to just go for it and not get too crazy with the pace.  My usual tempo pace has been around 7:00/mile so I decided that if I kept it under 7:15/mile I would be doing pretty well.  Here are the paces:  8:34, 7:13, 7:04, 7:11, 7:05, 6:50, 7:48.  I decided to push it on the last tempo mile and get it under 7:00.  I felt pretty tired after this workout but not dead.  The pace felt like it was in the moderately hard range.  I was just happy to get in a tempo run again finally.

Time:  51:47  7:24/mile

Nice and easy recovery run today.  Didn't try to push it at all today but focused mainly on recovery.  The schedule I am using calls for one more tempo run next week on Wednesday with 4 at tempo pace and a warm up and cool down mile.  Does anyone have any thoughts on whether that is too close to the marathon to be running a hard day?  I was thinking of maybe switching the run to Tuesday instead and making it a marathon pace run instead of a tempo run.  4 miles at marathon pace should be fairly easy and shouldn't cause me any problems going in to the marathon and should help keep my legs sharp during that last week...any thoughts?  Nothing else too exciting.  Temps still hanging out mostly in the low 70s in the early morning hours.  It's supposed to get back up around 100 for the highs this weekend but then it cools off next week.  Maybe we'll get lucky for the marthon.

Time:  50:45  8:28/mile

Crappy run today.  I've been feeling like a have a cold or something coming on for the past couple of days and now my legs were kinda achy today.  I hope I can hold off whatever I have lurking cause I really don't need a cold at this point in the game.  Didn't intend to run quite as fast as I did today but I had to hustle cause I slept a bit longer than usual.  Hopefully tomorrow brings fresher legs and health.

Time:  32:08  8:02/mile

Not a very good run again today.  Started off pretty good for the first couple of warm up miles and the first marathon pace mile but went strait down the drain at about mile 4.  My stomach started feeling like crap and I actually had to stop and walk it off for a couple minutes.  I made it through the remaining MP miles but it was a huge struggle and stopped for a rest at the end of those before finishing the last two cool down miles.  I really hope I can get rid of whatever I have going on cause it really sucks.

Time:  1:02:34  7:49/mile

Rest.

Nice and easy 5 today.  Stomach is still not feeling very good but no real problems at this pace.  Whole body just feels tired and weak.  Hopefully this week will allow me to recover and feel better.  Not much time left for recovery.  Last chance tomorrow to see how my stomach and body react at marathon pace.

Time:  41:43  8:21/mile

Last chance for a dress rehearsal of the marathon.  Wore the clothes, the sunglasses (on the back of my head) the pace band, and the shoes.  Ran 2 miles at GMP this morning and they felt pretty good, no stomach issues.  Temp was 70 degrees which is cooler than the last few days but still pretty warm.  Not that I ever consider MP miles "easy" but generally they were easy.  I've had a little tightness in my calves the last few days, could be the lingering effect of whatever bug I have had in my body.  I will plan to do extra stretching the rest of this week to try and work that out.  At this point the training part of this race is pretty much over.  Gotta be careful with the diet for the next few days and eat smart.  Plan to run 4 then 3 then 2 over the next three days just to keep the legs awake.  Nothing faster than 8:00/mile.  Also plan to get more sleep.  So there is the plan, let's hope for a good execution.

Time:  47:44  7:57/mile

Important Info for the 3:15 group

I plan to be at the expo between 3:30 and 4:00 pm on Friday to pick up my race packet.  If that works for some of you then great, I will see you there, if not, I may call each of you (if I have your number) Friday night sometime between 7:00 and 9:00 just to say hey and see if we are all good to go.

I think the plan is to meet up on Saturday morning around 6:30 in the elite corral near the porta potties.  If some of the group do not get elite bibs we may need to revise that plan, any thoughts on an alternate meeting spot?  I just had a thought that the porta potties may be a bit crowded and it may be hard to find people.  What about meeting at the north west entrance to the elite corrals.  That way if someone didn't get elite status they could jump in right behind the elite corral and stay with us at the start.

Here is the group as I know it right now Mike Warren, JonA, Josse, JulieC, Huans32 (Mark), MarcE, ChadL, Dace, Lee Elmer (not on the blog) and Me.

I know everyone has different ideas on pacing so I wanted to share mine.  A couple of us are planning to use a weighted pace chart created by a friend of ours that has you running slower on the uphills and faster on the downhills (makes sense).  Generally the halfs are about 1:38:30 and 1:36:30.  We would like to stick as close to that pace as possible so please don't feel obligated to hang with the group if we are going too slow or fast in certain areas.  In fact, I would hope that if and when I fade, that none of you give a second thought to slow down and stay with me.  Just keep pushing on!

Please add your comments and we will revise the plan as needed.  I look forward to meeting and running with all of you.

Super Slow and easy run today.  Winds have picked up and were pretty steady throughout the run.  Calf muscles are still a bit tight but seem to be feeling better.  Just trying to relax and heal in these last couple of runs.

Month end notes:  This marks my second month of the year above 200 miles which is the same as I had last year.  My overall average pace for the year is 8:15 compared to 8:25 for last year and my overall mileage is 1574.2 compared to 1442.21 last year.

Time:  35:13  8:48/mile