Well, we survived the 8.5 hour drive including stops to Denver. No child mutinies, only a large amount of spilled drinks and food. It was a success. Today I got out for an easy 5 miler with some strides. I felt good. My foot was ok today. I wore my marathon shoes for the last mile to see how they feel with the foot injury. It felt great. I will wait to make the shoe selection a race day decision as that still up in the air. Now, to relax and enjoy some vacation time...
Colorado Marathon (26.2 Miles) 02:46:19, Place overall: 8, Place in age division: 2
Slow miles
Fast miles
Total Distance
0.30
26.20
26.50
I have been looking forward to doing a different spring marathon
this year than in years past. I have run the Ogden Marathon two years
in a row and countless races on the course and felt it was time for a
change. I enjoy visiting my Dad and Step-Mom who live in Denver so I found a race near them that looked fun. The Colorado Marathon.
The race begins up a canyon (Poudre River Canyon) and ends in downtown
Ft. Collins (a pretty cool city that reminds me a lot of Logan). My
last marathon was St. George 2008 and so needless to say, I was worried
about weather for today's race. Turns out that I didn't need to worry
as it stopped the downpour a full 3 hours before the race began.
Whew! Conditions were ideal with a near 40 degree start and a mid 50
degree finish. Very light wind, I would call it a breeze. So now that
the stage is set, the marathon can begin (only 15 mins late).
We
began and I quickly joined the lead pack as they meandered down the
canyon. 4 guys in the front row with myself and one other drafting
behind. The pace was perfect for the first mile (6 min), but very soon became
a bit too brisk for me. I finally let them go at the 4 mile mark as
they were pulling me along too fast. I do have to say though that I
sure do love the first 6 miles of a marathon. You feel great, all
tapered and fresh, the race day magic is flowing, then WHAM, you idiot,
you entered a marathon. What were you thinking? The misery then
overwhelms you.
I made my way down the scenic Poudre Canyon
(Very similar to Blacksmith fork in grade only much prettier (and
greener)) all by my lonesome as I settled into my pace. There was
still a lead pace of 3 but the rest of us were spread out by over a min
before long. The canyon goes for 17 miles then abruptly the course becomes
hilly. There were two major hills that were not monsters, but tough.
After those, the course is mostly flat, but still slowly dropping as it
follows the meandering river. Anyway, back to the race.
I
exited the canyon in 6th place and went to work to catch "green shirt"
ahead of me. He seemed to be coming back to me slowly. The only
problem was that my body was doing the same. I was losing it quickly
(as I had fully anticipated). I had strategically asked my wife and
father to greet me on the course at mile 19 as I knew I would be
struggling. They gave me my Gu and water that I was ready for and I
was off without breaking stride. That carried me about a mile before
the wheels really started to come off. By that point in the course, I
was passing the Half Marathoners in droves. The race had the brillant
idea of starting the half marathoners an hour and 15 mins after we
started so that everyone would finish at about the same time. The
problem with that is now the course is packed with halfers and there is
little room for the marathoners. To make matters worse, they made the
course along a riverside trail that just didn't have enough room to
pass. I collided with several runners as they "attempted" to move out
of the way. I was getting sick of yelling "on your left" and "make
way". That was my biggest complaint about the course. It messed with
my tangents horribly and I lost a lot of rhythm and momentum
frequently. The upside was that many of them were pretty good
cheerleaders for the marathoners and entertained me with comments as I
went by. Most were very complimentary quite opposite what I was
feeling at the time. I spent the last 10K in suffer mode totally
bonked and attempted to salvage what I could out of the second half of
the race. I did finally catch and pass green shirt at mile 24 but was
passed by 3 other runners along the way. I guess I should have gone
slower the first half so I would have suffered less, but I chose my own
fate.
In all, I was hoping for a 2:40 finish time, but knew
that 2:45 was much more realistic. 2:46 is a tad slow, but considering
my lack of training, and abundance of injuries and other setbacks, I
will take it. I enjoyed the race and am glad I ran it. I would
recommend it for many people. It is aided, but still tough due to
altitude, crowd control, lots of rollers over the last 10K, and the two
tough hills. Still a PR course for many people.
My foot injury didn't affect me too much, although it irritated me during the race and hurts pretty good now. I count that success.
2 Easy miles with Bethany and the kids. It was nice to get out and enjoy the evening together. I think I am close to being fully recovered from the race. I still have some tightness in the right hammy but the feet feel good. I am almost over the post marathon cold too.
AM: Brisk 6 miles on Landfill Loop. 2 warmup then 2 fast (5:54, 5:55) then 2 more. Good to push it a bit. I can still feel some fatigue from the marathon, but the recovery is going great.
T-38:48 (6:28) 166
PM: Rode the bike with Corey. He kept me honest with a tough pace. My legs were shot. We rode up a big hill in Wellsville just for kicks. Bad idea. Great to get out on the bike once in a while.
22 miles in about 70 mins. Easily equivalent to an hour of running. (8 miles)
I got to test out my new shoes today and they felt great. I am excited to own a pair of trail running shoes that don't injure me. That is an important piece to the trail running puzzle. We started at the canal trail and headed up Green Canyon via the Shoreline trail. This includes the nasty climb (10:48 mile) up the mountain at first dam. 1500 feet of elevation gain in today's run. In all, a good run. He was nice enough to take it easy on me and take an easy day. We topped off the run with 2 for 1 cinnamon rolls at Albertsons. Mmmmm
Early AM run with Jon. We got in 6.5 together (although he started even earlier to get more in) before I dropped him off and headed back out for more (PW 5). Jon was working me over with some sub 7 stuff but once I dropped him off I made up for it by slowing way down. Much better... I ended up with 11.5 before calling it quits.
Canal trail and River Trail. I took it easy going up the canyon while enjoying a tailwind. I took the right fork on the singletrack for almost a mile before I turned around. 44:44 up. Once I turned around, I hit the gas pedal to see if I could kill myself on the singletrack. Sadly, it didn't happen, I only got tired. I ended up going hard for 3 miles until I exited the trail and was back on the road. (6:20, 6:16, 6:02). The rest of the run was in the 7-7:30 range. 38:27 down
PM: 28 miles up to Hyrum City Park in BSF Canyon on the bike. It was a lot of fun. We had a good group of 4 tonight. Sections of the ride we pushed it, and sections we took it easy. Overall, a solid effort. I will count biking miles as 1 mile for every 10 mins starting now (even though it is much harder than that effort wise).
Well, to be more accurate, it was a road, but still.... We left Paradise and headed up towards the Wellsville's. After and hour and lots of hills, we made it to the summitt. Nope not of the wellsvilles, but of Wellsville canyon. Pretty neat run, nice to try something new. On the way down I saw a large bird of prey (not sure what exactly) fly off in front of us with a snake hanging from his beak. I admit I may have been halucinating since Paul claims to have "missed it" even though it was right in front of us.
T-1:56:30 (7:26) 15.65 miles
Good weekend so far, as I have crammed in a boys night out on a father son campout with Jaxon, a trail run with Paul, a day of home projects and still have two days to go...
Today was a great day to hit the trails. No work, sun was out, trail was muddy. We ran on the Deer Fence Trail, but today it was better known as the cow pie trail. Nasty. A good run, I felt good, and most importantly, no injuries as a result. I am cursed with that trail. The hills are so nasty, it usually causes me to break something. Looks like I am in the clear (so far) this time. I followed up the run with lots of projects around the house. Long day. -8:12 ave
North Logan Loop. 5 Mile warmup to the cemetary. Legs were sluggish and I was not feeling good at all. Oh well, go with it and see what happens. The goal was a repeat of April 16's workout. 7 miles at Tinman Tempo (anything sub 6:30 was today's desired pace).
6:19 (down)
6:43 (rolling up)
6:42 (up)
6:24 (flat)
6:20 (flat slight down)
6:01 (flat then big down)
6:05 (flat then small down)
2 Mile cool down at sub 7 pace. I am dead tired now, but glad to get that in the books. Today's run was only a min slower than in April even with the lead legs. That is the overall time, the tempo was 10-20 seconds a mile slower today. Must have run the warmup and cooldown too fast today or something.
Bike ride with Corey to Camp Lomia up Logan Canyon. We went hard but didn't hammer it. 51 mins up 39 down. 20.4 mph ave including stop lights. (1:30:00)
Today's run was a nice and "easy" 20 miler up Logan Canyon. We kept the pace nice and conversational with minimal pit stops. A success. Great day for a run and judging by the crowds out running, many people agreed. We even saw Joe and Scott heading up the canyon too. I told Jon that we should pick it up the last mile to sub 7 and so he picked up the pace even more to have us finish with a 6:25 mile. A good long run to end a high mileage week for me.
