Craig's Running Blog

Same course as yesterday. Did a mile warmup. Things felt ok. I went up 3 miles on the 4wd road to the top of the bluff. Pushed it up the hill and again at the end. Coming back down was a blast, as usual.

swimming only

Mile warm up. 2x2 miles at marathon race pace (more or less), with some hills. Felt good by the end.

I am thinking a good taper this week will be another 5 miles tomorrow (Wed), then 3 miles Thurs and 2 on Friday. I am planning on some speed in there to keep things loose.

Easy today. I felt a little fatigued, but not hurt at all. Good sign. I'm not tapering as much as usual, so we'll see how that goes. I plan on running Thurs and Fri.

Nothing today. I got home last night and noticed a scratchy throat, so I got the Zicam going. I figured some extra sleep this morning would be good. I woke up with a very slight scratch in the throat, so I imagine I'll have some congestion on Saturday. Fortunately, it shouldn't be anything in my chest.

*crosses fingers*

Well, the sore throat and cold are still an issue- even more so today. I seemed to get more fatigued doing 1.5 miles than I can ever remember. I may have to scale it back at the marathon tomorrow, depending on how I feel.

This race was a bit mystery for me in terms of how I would perform... for a number of reasons. First off, I spent the majority of July and August battling an achilles issue. This was apparent after taking a week off before the Provo River 1/2 Marathon, racing, and then not being able to walk afterwards. Some constant stretching and strengthening during September helped, but it didn't help the missed training miles in July/August. The other big variable was a cold I developed a few days before the race. After battling it Thursday and Friday, I woke up Saturday morning feeling pretty close to normal, so that ended not being a factor.

 My friend and (sometimes) training partner Bob and I talked about running the first couple miles together. His goal was to break 3:00, which was similar to my goal (break 2:55). A couple months ago I had planned on breaking 2:45, but I knew that wasn't realistic this year. The big variable with Bob was this being his first marathon. I knew it was possible because he ran a 1:22 half at the TOU 1/2 Marathon, but experience is much more key at the marathon distance. We also tried talking Mark (aka "Red Dragon") into running the first 1/2 with us, but he was set on breaking 3:10 and running the first half conservatively (1:34-1:35). Our goal was to run the first half in 1:28-1:29.

So we took off and did a very conservative 2 miles in 14:08. I started to get impatient, so we gradually picked it up and started logging 6:30 miles at mile 3. Veyo and the gradual uphill to mile 12 slowed us down again to a 7:00 pace, but I started getting a second wind as we approached mile 13. The first half time ended up at 1:28:15, which I wasn't thrilled with because it was my slowest 1/2 time at St George ever. But, considering the goal, it was appropriate. Once we reached the downhill, I started to pick it up and temporarily left Bob. I tracked 6:05-6:10 miles going down the big hill to mile 16, where Bob met up with me again. I was surprised to see him, as he must have been logging sub-6:00 miles down the hill. After the hill, I kept a pretty steady 6:20-6:30 pace, and Bob gradually backed off and fell behind. I knew the hill before mile 19 would be tough, but I felt strong and passed a handful of people up it. I kept waiting for the wall, but it didn't come until mile 25, at which point I slowed down to a 7:00 pace and cruised in with a time of 2:53:05 and a -3:25 split.

Here are the splits:

Mile	Pace
1	7:15
2	6:53
3	6:21
4	6:26
5	6:31
6	6:14
7	6:15
8	7:28
9	7:04
10	6:56
11	7:13
12	6:46
13	6:31
14	6:25
15	6:11
16	6:05
17	6:12
18	6:20
19	6:38
20	6:24
21	6:14
22	6:33
23	6:20
24	6:35
25	6:46
26	6:58
.2	1:23

Generally speaking, I think I had a good, consistent performance. I bailed out on speedwork almost entirely this year due to a chronic achilles issue. So I think my endurance was ok, but I lacked the speed and threshold training that would have allowed me to pick up the pace. I think I can realistcally move these numbers down about 30sec/mile next year, which would put me right at my sub-2:40 goal. I've finished in the 2:40s twice, so I think that goal is very attainable.

I noticed times were a lot faster this year. Normally, a time of 2:53 would gaurantee a spot in the top 100, but I fell to number 121 overall this year. I attribute that to the weather more than anything else. Is it possible that runners are gradually getting faster with more information sharing and better gear? Possibly.

I keep thinking about next year. I think the different focus on my training that I've gained from veteran runners on this site will help.