our choices show what we truly are

I am in Pescara for the weekend, I decided to do a good general reharsal for the marathon in 2 weeks. I went around the starting line of the marathon and I wanted to do an half marathon at goal marathon pace (4:37/km, 3h:15m total) starting at the same time (9am) and doing exactly the same course. For the first 10k I was on cruise control sun on my back and wind in my face, I extended the distance to 13k because I was feeling good and I thought going for 26k at that pace. As soon as I turned around, face to the sun and wind in my back, things started going south almost immediately, at mile 10 I decided 13.1 was enough at this pace, but during the last 4k I really struggled to keep the pace. It was definitively hot (many thermometers indicated between 30 and 32°C) and as soon as I hit 13.1 in 1:37:30 exactly, I stopped at a drinking fountain and spent the next 5 minutes drinking and dousing myself in a too-late attempt to cooldown. Because I had to go back to the car 5k away I started running at a slow speed more depressed than actually tired.

I felt really bad and depressed, because I thought it was going to be much easier to maintain that pace (as I did in some of my long runs in the last few weeks), the "two" excuses are the usual suspects: the heat and being tired after lots of mileage (for me). For sure if the temperatures won't go down at least 10-15°C in the next two weeks I will reassess my goal to a slower pace for the marathon. I have already decided to move my goal from 3:10 to 3:15 because I am not feeling very confident and I also have another attempt at the end of november in Florence. But if the heat will the same as yesterday even with some more rest and tapering things won't change much, I have already done three races in the heat in the last two months and I know I don't do very well when the temps at the start are above 25°C.

At least I can't blame taper madness because I haven't start tapering yet (and probably I should).

In order to try to kick the bad feelings away about yesterday run, I went running at higher altitude to have some cooler temperatures on some of the hills around Pescara. The temperatures were already 10° lower but my mood didn't change much. I went 4 miles uphill and then came down, but I was tired and demotivated. No energy in my legs and in my brain, I wanted just to be over with the run, have lunch and take a nap. 

I really need some rest to regroup. Tomorrow I will take a day off from running.

My legs are not so bad today, but I will take a day off, the rest of the week I will maintain my mileage around 40, but no speed until next saturday.

This will be the mileage I will be running everyday for the rest of the week, I am trying to recover my energies while moving my legs on some minimal, non-stressfull miles. I hope it will work because after 6.2 miles in 58 minutes, my legs are still heavy and my desire to run is close to zero.

Another recovery run 6.2 miles in 59 minutes, my legs are still heavy, breathing is fine.

Running these days is really hard, my legs are constantly tired but tonight I concluded that it is just a mental problem. My brain is trying to convince me that I am tired and I have to rest, it is just a life saving mechanism. Even if I would like to push the pace, my brain is telling me to slow down because is concerned about the upcoming marathon. I will go through the next 10 days with whatever pace feels good there is not much I can do about this, and I would rather getting at the starting line well rested and "hungry" for some good old fast miles than tired and demotivated. 5 miles in 48 minutes. 

I got home at 6pm tonight and I went running around the lake taking advantage of the last  hour of light, it was really refreshing compared to the 1k loop in the industrial area. Legs are still tired.

Finally a cold wind kick the summer out, at least for the weekend.

I waited  until 9am before going out running, last time I started so late on saturday morning was probable back in may.

Another slow 10k, enjoyed the sun and the crisp air, I am so tired of this out of season heat.

Another 10k at whatever pace was comfortable slow at the beginning and then progressively faster.

A few more running days and in one week the marathon.

Rest day. Walking around Rome as a tourist guide all day, it was not the best way to rest my legs.

Short run just to move my legs and keep my brain entertained.

It's about time to look back at the training cycle leading to the upcoming maraton and try to evaluate in an "unbiased" way positive and negative aspects.

Positive things: this is my first fall marathon ever (I am keeping my fingers crossed), I am unjured and since april all my training was uninterrupted. It is the first fall marathon because it was always hard to train throughout the summer months, last year I tried and I signed up for Florence, but three days before the race I fell sick with high fever, but my training was not as consistent as this year. This year I also maintained high mileage and good speed in july and august. I have doubts and questions in my brain right now (as a side effect of not running much), but I will have a second chance at the end of november at the Florence marathon, for this reason I am not too worried about this race.

Negative things: I wish I had more slow/base miles in may and june, but I was afraid to crash and burn as I did during the last three years failing all the attempts to run a fall marathon, so I kept the mileage more manageable. I feel I lack some endurance (I wish I had 200 more miles on my board). Racing was really bad, I didn't race much because  I felt always tired and the two races at the end of august and the half in september were really sub par due to the heat. I wish I had a couple of good (in terms of feeling at the end) races to better evaluate my training. Other than these two points I don't have many regrets.

I am going to write down my three goals just to keep my mind focused: #1 to finish in 3:15:00 maintaining a constant pace of 4:37/km, #2 to finish in 3:19:59 this would open the door of the first corral at the Florence and Rome marathon, #3 to finish under 3:24:21 and beat my most recent PR done in Rome. The most important thing for me is still to finish, if uninjured would be even better. I get a very special mental reward even when I don't reach my goals, I am progressively slowing down, but I am still able to fight until the end, until the finish line. Being able to do this kind of activity is a blessing and I will try to enjoy it while I can.

4 miles 36 minutes.  The weather forecast looks promising cooler temperatures and cloudy sky, the only open question about the weather is the strength of the wind. I am almost there, no real pain or problem, the only concern is my lack of excitement and anticipation, but there is not much I can do about it.

It was a great race in spite everything, as added bonus I did better than my goals.

I stayed at a friend place, woke up at 7am to find a cloudy sky and cold weather (about 50F) and some light wind. As soon as we arrived in Pescara the wind was stronger especially on the main marathon road along the sea. My mood was totally flat no excitement whatsoever, I was just determined to repeat 4:37/km for 20 miles as I did three times during my long runs and then evaluate my situation and trying to get the best out of it.

This race included also a half-marathon with 800 people, a non competive walk with some 200 people and a marathon with 200 people. It is a 3 loop course, first one of 13.1 miles along with half-marathoners and then 2 shorter loops of 6.5 miles. The course is completely flat, at sea level right in front of the sea going north for half of the distance and south for the remaining one.

The only "hill" was a bridge 200 meters long 30m high the rest was pancake flat. No crowd support except for the last 100 meters before the finish line, the rest of the race was a time trial with a few runners here and there, the wind and the roaring sea.

The race started at 9:25 and immediately I settled in a relaxing pace that I discovered soon was a little bit faster than I wanted, in spite my efforts to slow down I thought we were going south we had a tail wind, so I decided to maintain the 4:30ish per km. As soon as we turned around (mile 4) going north the wind was definitively making an impact on my efforts, but I did my best to stay behind my wonderful fellow half marathoners and I passed the bridge with the hill with about 1:30 of advantage respect to my time table. Still heading north the road was wider it was really difficult to stay behind anybody so the whole line of runners moved right next to buildings or parked cars, whatever was offering a better protection. At km 17.5 first 180 turn and we were heading south again, my advantage was the same meaning that I kept a more honest pace. First passage in front of the finish line and goodbye to the half marathoners, I was at mile 13.1 in 1:36:02, now the fun begins (so I thought). We were going south (tail wind) and there were 3 people in the next km in front of me and about 2 behind, and no one else around, just a few cars trying to run over the volunteers at the intersections. Going north was a fight against the wind, my times went from 4:37/km to 4:50/km, but I was OK with that, another 180 degree turn and going south my times and my speed were good again hovering around 4:28-4:30. I passed in front of the finish line (again for the second time) to start the last loop and at mile 20 I was still 1:30 ahead of my schedule (2:26 and change). I got a big mental push out of that, I calculated that with 5:00/km (8.00/mile) I would still do a great time, so I decided while I was still going south to keep pushing as fast as I could (around 4:30), going north the story was the same of the previous loop, my times went immediately up, but I was picking up people (most of them were marathoners still in their first short loop) and my times never went above 4:55/km. Third 180 degrees turn I was heading south with 4.5 km to go and wind  under my wings, I wanted to go down to 4:30/km again but it was not going to happen, I could do just 4:35-4:37. Final 2 km were on some kind of cobblestone, but I couldn't care less I was flying again until the finish line.

This is the end of a journey started in Ogden in 2006 when I did 3:20 and change. Since then I couldn't put together a strong training plan or race day was just bad.

I thought at certaing point (last year) that going under 3:20 would be near impossible, but I kept pressing on and finally all those long runs at MP and all those miles finally paid off.

I can squeeze a few more minutes out of this training, because today's conditions were hard (the wind), no crowd and no runners around, the course was flat but monotonous. It was really like one of my long runs, where I am by myself going out and back on a 6.2 mile stretch. In Florence in 40 days I will try to go after 3:10,  this time I have nothing to loose.

My splits from the official timing service:

            Distance    Position Age group         Time                               Average pace

Lap 1    17km            52         11                    01:17:01                            4.32
Lap 2    27.5km         51         12                    02:05:43    00:48:41          4.34
Lap 3    38km            47         11                    02:54:31    00:48:48          4.35
Arrivo   42.195km     44          11                    03:14:40    00:20:08          4.36

Rest day. Legs are still tired especially my hips. I didn't sleep very well last night too much adrenaline and my hips every time I was turning reminded me they were in pain. For sure the 3 hour drive back home last night didn't help.

Every marathon for me has its signature pain: Ogden and Des News quadriceps on fire (Ogden 3/5, Des News 5/5), Rome calf cramps/pain, two different trail marathons (BoSho and Monti cimini) knee and ankle tenderness, Pescara hips, Park City except for the usual being dead tired didn't leave any specific pain or tenderness.

I will take a couple of days off or until pain is gone and then I will do a reverse taper. A few more days of vacation from running will be good.

Another good rest day. Hips are almost back to normal, legs are just tired, my sleeping pattern is almost back to normal (I hope that the next 8 good hours of sleep will help to normalize). Tomorrow I will probably do my first running steps.

First miles post marathon. I took advantage of a great sunny afternoon to go to the lake to shake out whatever was left in my muscles after the race.

A 5k in 30 minutes not exactly a run, it was more an excuse to get some sun and a light breeeze. Legs were heavy but no residual pain not even in my hips.

A huge thunderstorm flooded Rome this morning and transformed my normal 1h20m morning commute in a 3 hours hell adventure and this evening was the same.

I got home and I went running just to relax. Tonight I broke the wall of the 35 minutes of continuous running for 3.5 miles total, in a couple of days I should get up to 45 or even 50 minutes. I am just glad my recovery is fine.

4 miles in 40 minutes, weird pain on top of my left foot around the fourth metatarsal bone.

I hope it will go away.

I am getting faster 5 miles in 48 minutes, first time under 10:00/mile since the marathon.

My legs are still heavy without any desire to go faster than this. Pain in my left foot is  coming and going.

Today I wanted to break the 6.2 miles for the run, I went a little bit longer, but the feeling was  still the same of the last four days, slow and heavy, last monday I thought  I would be able to bounce back in no time, but it will take a few more days. I need to be patient, I need to be patient, I need to be patient.

I have just got back home after spending two days in Bolzano. Yesterday it took 5 h to get there by airplane (driving from my house, waiting at the airport, flying and then cab to the hotel) and today about 6 h. I went out tonight just to do something and enjoy the breeze.

It is funny because when I arrived in Salt Lake City in 2001 I felt the whole setting was very similar to Bolzano (a city in a valley surrounded by mountains), now I consider Bolzano like Salt Lake, even though the valley is very narrow and the mountains are just 360 degrees all around and you can reach the tops of some of them with a tramway from the city.

I spent two good days upthere and yesterday I managed a few miles along the river, the main problem there are the bike paths (and the bikes on them), there are miles and miles of bike paths crowded with bikers going everywhere (to and from work, loaded with groceries, biking is an official way to go around town), I risked several times collisions with bikers coming from different directions, it was crazy and a few times I felt much safer running on the main road along with cars.....

Back to a more normal schedule and probably my legs in a few days will be ready to resume a more regular running routine.

Highest mileage in one day since the marathon and fastest pace too, 1:11, with the last half at marathon pace. Today I was at home much earlier than usual so I took advantage of the sun still out for the first 20 minutes of the run and the nice temperatures after sunset.

No run today, last night I didn't sleep very well and this morning my throat was on fire. No fever (yet) but I am feeling as someone has beaten me up with a stick. I guess running a marathon and then flying is the perfect combination to catch one of the early bugs of the season. Tomorrow I have to go to work, dead or alive, this the worst part.

Third consecutive day of no running, my chest is still congested, fever keeps going up and down and my muscles and bones are beaten. I think this is the way my body is telling me to relax for a few days, I don't even have the remote desire to put my nose out of bed.

I hope this bug will be my early vaccination for the rest of the winter season.