Cool Runnings!

June 27, 2024

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Location:

Mesa,AZ,

Member Since:

Mar 20, 2006

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Age Division Winner

Running Accomplishments:

  • Mile: 4:37 (HS)
  • 2 Mile: 10:11 (HS)
  • 10K: 35:52 (HS)
  • 5K - 18:15 (ARR Summer Race Series #1 - 2008)
  • 1/2 Marathon: 1:32:00 (St. George 2008 enroute)
  • Marathon: 3:10:56 (St. George 2008)

Short-Term Running Goals:

  1. Get down to 155 lbs 
  2. Run sub 18:00 5K
  3. Run sub 1:30 1/2 marathon
  4. Run sub 3:00 marathon

Long-Term Running Goals:

  1. qualify for Boston Marathon
  2. run Boston Marathon
  3. run sub-2:50 marathon
  4. run sub-1:20 1/2 marathon
  5. run sub-17:00 5K
  6. beat my high school 10K time of 35:52

Personal:

I was married in 1997 to my beautiful wife Lybi (confessions of a piano teacher on the blog), and we have 3 wonderful boys who are just as active as I was when I was little (he he). I grew up in southeastern Michigan, and my family became members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when I was 6. I attended BYU, and served a mission in Berlin, Germany. After graduating from BYU with a degree in Health and Human Performance (pre-physical therapy), I promptly changed careers and started working with computers (although no programming for me). We have moved across the country several times, and currently live in Mesa, AZ.  I work in computer security for a major nationwide homebuilder.

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Saucony Grid C2 Flash Lifetime Miles: 148.66
Thu, Jul 26, 2007
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
7.002.000.000.000.009.000.009.00

AM - ran 6 easy miles.  Right lower leg was a little sore - probably from trying to push a car up our driveway - the car of the parent of one of Libby's piano students had died, and it was raining pretty hard, so we didn't want to try and jumpstart it in the rain.  Unfortunately, the car was too heavy.  Took things a bit easier today - at least for the first 3 miles, then the pace picked up a bit.  Total time was 48:47, average pace of 8:08/mile.  Last 3 miles were all sub-8:00.  It was extremely humid again this morning - gotta love that monsoon season.  I do love the rain that it produces (seems like more than last year), but I don't especially like the humidity when we are not used to it.  Will plan on doing another 3 miles this evening to give me 9 total.

PM - ran 3 miles.  Right lower leg still a little sore/tight - will ice it, stretch it and rub it down tonight.  No rain tonight - bummer :(  but the weather was still pretty nice, although still very humid.  Took off, and started with an 8:01 mile.  Then sped up for the next two miles - 7:37, 7:32 (I will count these as MP miles).  I know I picked it up the last 1/4 mile, but overall the run felt good.  Puts me at 9 miles for the day.  8-9 miles tomorrow, and then 16 EASY miles on Saturday.  I have to keep telling myself easy in the hope that I will slow down a little.  Gotta order me some Clif bars - although there are stores here that stock Clif bars, none of them stocks my all-time favorite flavor - blueberry crisp.  Whoever thought of that flavor was a genius.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Comments
From Lybi on Thu, Jul 26, 2007 at 21:58:29

It was kinda fun watching you guys try to move that car in the rain, though(especially since it was in PARK). Isometric workout.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for fixing the treadmill. Now I can run at nap time, if need be.

From brent on Thu, Jul 26, 2007 at 23:25:26

James, I have heard of jogging with a baby jogger, I have not heard of running while pushing a car. You may need some super duper blueberries. Hey, you are really putting in the mileage and doing hard core workouts. Your are easily on target to break 3:30 at St.George. I need to get faster to try and stay with you at St. George.

From James in Sunny AZ on Fri, Jul 27, 2007 at 15:21:21

Thanks, honey, for that one little teensy detail that I just happened to omit . . .

Brent - between your current 3:15 goal and Clay's goal of 3:20, it might be fun to run St. George together. Right now, my thought is to be more conservative instead of trying to get a BQ, and run around 3:20 pace for the first 20 miles, and if I feel really good (yeah, right!), then I am going to pick up the pace for the last 10K. Either way, it will be a huge improvement for me from my first marathon.

From Sasha Pachev on Fri, Jul 27, 2007 at 16:34:26

You should never plan on picking it up on the last 10 K unless you have a consistent history of being able to do so. I've run over 40 marathons, and my last 10 K seems rather unaffected by how fast I go out earlier - adjusted for the grade, it is always significantly slower than the average pace for the whole race. There are people that can speed up on the last 10 K, though, but most cannot do it unless they run the race below their potential.

Plus, you 'll have to run about a 37:30 10 K to get a BQ if you hit 20 miles on pace for 3:20. On the other hand, you would have to run only a 55:00 10 K to run 3:20 if you are on pace for 3:10.

It is very common to hit the wall at 20 even when you have been holding back. There are two types of wall - fuel wall and muscular breakdown wall. They are related somewhat - when you are low on fuel, your muscles break down quicker. You will most likely hit the muscular breakdown wall, and holding back trying to force yourself to run 7:40 pace on the downhills of St. George will bring it on sooner. Go around 7:00 pace on the downhill (or whatever pace you can run relaxed, by all means run 6:40 or faster if you feel that you have to break to run slower), and try to hold it until your legs give out. After that, just try to make it to the finish. If you are lucky, they may never give out, but most likely it will happen somewhere between 18 and 23. But it very well may be a function of time rather than the effort, so the choice could very well be between bonking after 2:20 into the race at 18 miles or at 23.

From James in Sunny AZ on Fri, Jul 27, 2007 at 18:21:24

Wow, thanks for the comment, Sasha. I truly hadn't given it much thought - I just figured that if I had kept some reserves, I would be able to speed up. I am still not sure if I want to try for a BQ this time around or not - it will probably depend on how my training continues to go. I know I did learn my lesson last time on the steep downhill before Veyo of trying to hold back, and got myself a blister or two that really slowed me down starting at mile 13. I do still think it would be lots of fun to run with some other fast running bloggers - it really seems to make a difference in how easily I am able to maintain a good pace.

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