Bret

Planned rest day.

AM - easy to moderate pace 4.5 miles.  Ran a couple at 7:15 pace just to keep from feeling so slow.  Warm humid morning here - weather forecast for the race will be 25 degrees colder than this morning.  Brrr.  But good.

AM - 5.0 miles - warm up run to the track then 4 x 400 @ 85 seconds w/ 1 min recovery then 2 x 200 @ 38-40, then cool down back home.  Just a short workout to keep from "rusting" during the taper.  Felt fine - did not push the pace very hard.  Because there was no light at the track and the bezel on the FR 405 was acting up, I did not see any of the times until I went home to download.  Just went by feel.  Seemed to have locked in on the pace for each one. 

Feeling a bit jittery (too much caffeine and carbs?) - two long stressful workdays ahead of me.  Yesterday my traps and upper arms felt achy and fatigued - not so much today.  Weird.  Hate the things tapering seems to do to my body...

AM - easy 3.0 miles - felt ok - not great (blame it on taper).  Busy day ahead at work.

Planned rest day.  Quite nervy and jittery again today.  Carb loading, hydrating and resting.  Long work day yesterday, but got 7.5 hours of sleep last night.  Two members of my family are sick -- gotta hold it off for a couple more days!

AM - in NYC - did an easy loosen up 2.5 mile run into Central Park and along the route to the finish line.  Weather is great, I felt good and very excited in anticipation of running tomorrow. 

Delaney had her high school cross country district meet in Sarasota this morning while I was en route to NY, and had a breakthrough race - she ran 21:36 for the 5k and was first on her team - that was represented nearly a one minute improvement on her personal best.  She did not know at time of her text and call to me if the team finished high enough to advance to regionals - but I would have to say it was a great time for her to peak at what may have been her last race of this season.  I was extremely pleased and proud and even inspired by her performance especially as a freshman and knowing how we ran together through the summer for her base training. 

So I had a pretty successful race today in NYC.  3:01.17 which was a PR by over 8 mins (and over 12 years ago in fact).  I was hoping to go sub 3 hours, but I came up a little short.  No worries, I am quite pleased with my time and my effort.  Richie came up to NY with me as my adopted coach - and brought a pancake breakfast to my hotel room this morning at 4:45 am.  Rode with me over to Staten Island on the ferry to see me off and then ran with me from miles 17 to 22 - constantly giving me encouragement and barking out "coaching" advice the whole way.  I had a slowish start, as my garmin gps did not work in the first mile where my starting wave was on the lower deck of the bridge - so no reception and I really was quite cold and did not know how fast or slow I was going. 

I thought I was into an avg 6:52 pace by the halfway mark - but looking at the text updates, it appears that I was a bit slower than that in reality.  Anyway, I kept my pace at a manageable heartrate of no more than 160 beats per minute but mostly around 156 for much of the early part of the race.  Somehow I slowed going over the 59th street bridge much more substantially than I had thought - and had a couple of miles over 7 mins.  Again, the gps did not work on the lower deck of that bridge.  When I connect with Richie at 17, he pressed the pace and I wondered why - and he kept telling me if I wanted to break 3 hours I was going to have to work for it, and run 6:40 miles the rest of the way.  I really was starting to suffer - but he kept me in it - and at least according to my watch, I clipped off some sub 6:40 miles. 

The last 3 miles are primarily uphill - and I think I slowed on  them slightly - but I worked very hard the last mile and felt like I gave it all I had - satisfied that I had not made any errors or mistakes but did the best I could do on the day. 

Heading out now to celebrate...

Awoke spontaneously at 4 am and could not get back to sleep - so I did some work and went to breakfast - and then walked for about a mile in the city - down to the Today show where there were a bunch of marathon finishers lined up to get on TV.  Was very dreary, windy and spitting rain with some snow flurries.  Glad we had such nice weather yesterday.

Recovery week.  Did 2 miles on the elliptical at the gym followed by a mile outside around the lake at lunchtime - very easy.  Leg soreness a bit more pronounced today from yesterday, but once I got moving, I felt ok.  Mainly just wanted to get outside in the nice weather and away from my desk for a break.  Still enjoying the memory of the race this weekend and recounting it to anyone who asks.

Complete day of rest

Lunchtime - easy 2.5 miles around the lake at Carillon - Caught my expected post-marathon cold - so I wanted to get out into the fresh air and move around a little.  Still some lingering soreness in the quads and calves but nothing significant. 

Lunchtime run - 4.0 miles easy - to moderate.  Still have a pretty bad cold, but could not resist running in the very comfortable temps again today in the sunshine - Legs feel almost normal - calves are still slightly tight and sore. 

AM - in Gainesville - had just enough time for a quick 4 miles in cool weather (low 50's) - was happy to see my speed was good - avg'd 7:25 with last mile under 7 mins.  No lingering soreness - now just need to re-set some race plans and goals and resume training.

AM - easy to moderate 5.5 miles.  Longest run in over a week.  Feels like there is some rust in the tank - not completely fresh yet in recovery.  Have a long cycling event this weekend, so need to do a couple of rides this week to reacclimate to the bike, perhaps the cross training will do me some good.

Went to the gym at lunchtime and did 20 mins on the stationary bike and then stretching and core/strength work for 30 mins. 

AM - 25 mins on the bike this morning in the neighborhood.  Easy ride to get the blood flowing.

Lunchtime - 4.5 miles easy to moderate with Richie.  He ran 7 this morning so we shortened our planned 6 mile run when he was feeling a bit tired.  Did 20 mins of core/strength work thereafter in the gym.

Lunchtime run 7.5 miles - generally at 7:30 to 7:45 pace with Richie.  Quite a bit warmer today and I felt rather fatigued and tired at the end of this one.  Longest run since the marathon - and I noticed it.

Afternoon - 6.0 miles easy to moderate with Richie through Carillon and Feathersound.  Very breezey day - with the temperature dropping a bit.  Good stress-reducing run on a very tense work day. 

Lunchtime run 8.0 miles in 58 mins - did the dump run.  Temps were pleasant - still a bit windy.  Ran this as a progression run with the last mile being at marathon pace.  Felt good most of the run - but knew I was pushing it at the end.  Longest and hardest run I have done since NYC 12 days ago. 

Rest day

Cycling - Did an event in Clermont Florida called the "Horrible Hundred" - 100 miles of cycling around central Florida outside of Orlando.  Actually probably one of the few places in the state where a course can be laid out to have "rolling hills."  Very few flats on this ride that my high school friend Craig Oldham asked me to do with him a few months ago.  He lives about an hour away from me, and we may see each other once per year and exchange emails or phone calls every now and then.  He had done it last year and had a very difficult time with poor training but this year was much better prepared.  Unfortunately in the first "climb" of the day (about a half mile at 8% grade) his chain jumped off when he was changing gears and jammed between the spokes and the cassette.   I was out in front of him, and was unaware of his mechanical problems.  But he got some assistance and was up and heading down the hill behind me when I circled back to check on him.  Shortly after that, it happened again, this time snapping a spoke and forcing the wheel out of true to where the bike was unusable - this time I did not know he had stopped.   He reached me on my cell when I got to the first rest stop at mile 17 and let me know he had gotten a ride with a mechanic to the next rest stop where I met him only to find out that they were not equipped to make that complex of a repair - so his ride was over for the day after only 10 miles of riding.  He encouraged me to continue to ride and refused when I offered to pull out or give him my bike.

He had a few other friends who had their wives in the event too -and I rode with them for a time, but the pace was very slow and they were sort of recreational cyclists and so, I ended up riding the rest of the way alone after the second rest stop.  There were very few riders in groups working together (which was surprising for an event with 2000 cyclists) and I never really latched on to anyone or two riders for very long.  The course was at times scenic but it became quite warm (in the 80's) and very windy - which combined with the lack of any long flats - made it a rather choppy - less than enjoyable ride for the last hour to hour and a half.  The "hills" were significant for people who are unaccustomed to them especially because they were so numerous - but none were very long or even approached the mountain climbs I did in the French Alps this summer.  Would have been nice to have a triple chain ring on a couple of the hills especially since I have been really only running (no cycling) for the last few months and did not have great riding leg strength. 

Met Craig after the ride at the finish area and shared lunch with him.  He was quite dissappointed with his mechanical problems but was circumspect enough to know that there will be other rides.  I had stayed with him the night before with his family at his home in Lithia so I was glad that I got to visit with them and share the drive over to the event even though we had a short time of sorts actually cycling.

Lunchtime run - 5.0 miles through Feathersound and Carillon.  Warm day - but felt ok after the first mile or so of shaking out the tightness of yesterday's long ride.

Easy to moderate 5.0 miles on treadmill.  Racing tomorrow.

Had a nice Thanksgiving Day tradition race this morning.  My three daughters and my nephew lined up early for a 5k "Wing Ding" and Richie and I paced my youngest daughter Delaney through a 21:55 race - which is her second best 5k time.  My other daughters and nephew sand bagged a bit and finished together.  My wife took pictures and held sweatshirts while we ran. 

About an hour later Richie and I lined up to run the 10k.  We had talked about running even 6:30's as he is getting back into shape for a February marathon.  Instead we cruised through the first 3 miles at 6:15 pace and were running along with one of the eventual top female finishers.  We had been trading turns on the lead, but at that mile mark Richie pushed the pace just when I was starting to feel a little off.  So I backed off and ran a 6:36 mile followed by a 6:30 then 6:38 -  Richie fell off the pace at 5 miles and finished 39:48 a couple of places in front of me.  I was pleased with the race overall - having not really done any fast training since the marathon 3 weeks ago - and having just done the Horrible Hundred cycling event on Sunday. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

PM - 10.25 miles easy to moderate.  Was planning to make this a recovery day - but I felt fine following yesterday's race - and probably had adequate glycogen stores from all of the Thanksgiving food - so my muscles were not sore and well stocked.  Ran most of the miles betweent 7:20 to 7:30 which was comfortable, not pushing, but not recovery easy either.

AM - 5.0 miles easy before church this morning.  Cool day to start, in low 50's.  Felt fine.

AM - early start this morning - 10 miles easy.  Not a bad run, but feeling like I may be getting something.  Headache and a bit acidic / heartburny feeling this morning - very unusual for me.  Busy work week ahead, so will be getting my runs in before work in the mornings.

PM - after a long frantic day of work I hit the gym/treadmill for a speed workout.  I did an old workout that I had not done in years.  Pretty basic - 2 mile warm up then it is an "50/20" run.  I run 50 seconds "on" and then 20 seconds "off".  With the "on" segments I run at 11.5 mph and then drop it down to 7 mph for the "off" segments at a 1% grade.  I do these for 15 mins then a 2 mile cool down. The first few are manageable, but the last few really become challenging.  Was really pleased with the workout, but then disappointed that the gym shut down the front desk where I wanted to buy a protein shake and gatorade for the drive home.