I only run on days that end in a "y."

Day off. I am going a bit stir crazy not running very much. 

Still have a bit of a twinge in my right glute and hamstring but it is getting better.  I am just taking it easy for now.  The taper came at just the right time.

Wonderful morning.  I almost did not go out because I thought about taking another day off to let my glute pain heal.  But I thought a good slow recovery run might do it good and it did.  Loosened everything up a bit and I feel pretty good.  The pace was super easy and I did not push it at all.  Hopefully with another drop in mileage this coming week I will be at 100% for the marathon. (even if I am not there is always motrin :-))

rest - let hammy heal completely.  I am prepared not to run any this week to make sure I am all healed up.  This week is to keep the legs a bit fresh anyway.  I think I will be fine if I take it easy the first couple miles of the marathon.

Rest - no running - not anything.

After a quick question to other runner's in my group I got 2 strong endorsements for Airrosti - http://www.airrosti.com/  I made an appointment and went in yesterday.  I was diagnosed with a minor tissue problem - no strains or tears so that is good.  The Dr. worked on my hammy/glute and lower back.  Afterward I saw the therapist and we did some foam roller exercises and stretches.  Finally they applied KT tape to the affected area.  Instructions were to ice it a few times and run today in order to get the blood flowing.  I was leary about doing so but went out at lunch for a 30 minuter run on the soft trail.  I felt some very minor pain right where the glute and hamstring muscle connect.  The rest of the hamstring was fine.  At mile 2.5 everything felt really good.  Now, if it will feel good on Sunday at a 7:20 pace is another story.  Still, it is a positive sign. 

I have pretty much pulled out all the stops in treating this: excellent diet, liquid amino acids to assist in tissue repair, lots of vitamins, lots of ice, 2 days of complete rest, sleeping with compression tights, using the "stick" to roll out the leg muscles, stretching, seeing a PT, KT tape - I think that about does it.  If the above does not get me back to 100% nothing will.

If I feel good I will go out again tomorrow for a 3ish mile run, possibly Thursday, rest Friday and 2 or so easy miles on Saturday.  

another day of rest

4 easy - pushed the pace a bit between 2 and 3.  A slight pain in glute but minor.  Legs felt strong.  Traveling tomorrow so 3 miles on Saturday and that's that.  

Forecast for the marathon is anywhere from 38 to 43 degrees at the start with mid 50's by the end.  I could not ask for more.  Hopefully this is a marathon where everything comes together.

As far as the race I am still at a loss at explaining what happened.  I had put in consistent 60 mile weeks since April.  I trained hard but smart for the marathon.  I had run 4 – 5 long runs over 20 miles, etc., etc..  I was pretty sure with all the work that I had put in that I would BQ this time around.  At the very least I would PR.  In the end I ran 2-3 minutes slower that I did at Austin which was in warmer weather and a tougher course. 

Steamtown is billed as a PR course with an 800 elevation drop over the first 10 miles and flat until 23 when the first of three hills comes.  I had trained on a lot of hills and did quite a bit of downhill running.  I thought my quads would be fine but in the end they took quite a beating.  The advice from past runners was to go out slow and don’t run down the hills too fast – bank energy not time.  I thought I did a good job of this except for mile 4 but was able to slow back down after that.

I ran for a few miles with a guy that had run 14 Steamtowns and was going for a 3:20.  I said, "Great, I will stick with you."  He retorted that of the 14 he had only run 2 of them correctly.  I was worried.  As it turns out the course is indeed tricky. 

The weather at the start was low 30’s – perfect. I remember seeing 38 degrees at a bank that we ran by at about mile 5 or 6.  It could not have been any nicer.  I had disposable gloves, hat and long sleeved shirt that were all tossed by mile 3 or so after I warmed up.  The course itself was beautiful and runs through a few small towns, each with great crowd support.  All of the fall foliage was in full color as well.  There is a great section around mile 15 that goes off on a trail and runs by a river.  This is about 2 miles long and then joins the road again.  Miles 19 – 21 were quite desolate as the course ran by a industrial park.  The last few miles head into the city and ultimately downtown.

I ran the first 3 miles 25 seconds off pace to warm up and to avoid taking off on the decline.  I got into a grove after that and crossed the half way point at about 1:38 ish – right on target.  I was running really good until mile 20 came along.  This was to be expected though - it's a marathon afterall.  By 22 though I walked a couple times and by the hill on mile 23 my legs were pretty much toast.  I kept pushing – walking a bit and then running.  It was not good.  The hills at the end killed me.  I was about 30 feet from the finish when my legs dropped out from under me and I landed on my knees.  Immediately I felt the arm of another runner reach down and grab me, he put my arm around his shoulder and would not let go.  He helped me across the finish line with my noodle legs trying to run.  Recounting this story still brings a tear to my eye – that someone would be selfless enough to reach down and help another runner.  Pretty amazing.  I will never know his name but will always remember what he did for me. (Yeah, I am a softy.)

Here are my splits:

7:48, 7:49, 7:50, 7:19, 7:39, 7:31, 7:36, 7:28, 7:34, 7:29, 7:35, 7:29, 7:24, 7:25, 7:21, 7:35, 7:26, 7:36, 7:31, 7:41, 7:49, 8:04, 8:41, 8:35, 9:32, 9:45, 2:19.

My only reasoning at this point is lack of calories at the end.  I had my fuel belt of Cytomax with me which amounted to 3 GU’s and had a 16 oz disposable bottle that I drank from the first couple miles that was another GU.  I drank water at every stop but ran out of my bottled supply of Cytomax at around 18 - 19 I think. I remember drinking one cup of Gatorade after that but not sure when.  I had GU’s with me as well but forgot about them.  I don’t think I drank any water or Gatorade past 21 or so – I was struggling so much mentally that I just did not think about it.  I am sure this contributed to some of my problems at the very end, but I can’t say it was the complete cause.  Next time I think I will tape a couple GU’s to my forehead so I don’t forget.  Other than that I can't figure out what went wrong.  I am pretty let down but I am sure I will get over it. 

4 recovery miles this morning - the first mile hurt but things felt much better after warming up. 45 minutes of spinning at lunchtime - my legs felt great afterward and I worked out my aerobic system - I don't want to jump into high mileage but I don't want to lose too much of my aerobic fitness either.

50 minutes spinning - good aeorbic workout and my legs are feeling fantastic.  5-6 mile run tomorrow?

5.25 miles - it's October in Texas - sunny and hot - close to 90 degrees.  

Nice morning - 58 degrees - very easy miles. 47 minutes cross-training - spinning at the gym during lunch.

I am going to go back to the Pfitzinger plan for my next marathon.  So far I think it is the best plan and got me my PR.  I may toy with the idea of running 5 days a week and substituting a 4-5 mile recovery run with cycling to reduce the pounding on the legs.

Nice morning - easy miles.  Still a bit of soreness in the hamstring.  I keep stretching, etc, but it does not want to go away.

6.7 base miles at lunchtime.  Nice and cloudy but a bit warm and humid.  8:20 overall pace.  Still have a bit of hamstring soreness.  I will see how it goes.  I want to start training by the 2nd week of November.

Met up with some other runners today.  I thought they were going to run an easy loop but they wanted to run 14-16 miles.  We went our separate ways at about mile 5 as they wanted to run some MGP miles as well.  In the end I ran a bit further and faster than I intended.  Overall pace of 8:15.

20 miles on an indoor bike - 47 minutes total aerobic workout  Good - steady effort.  I will be running again tomorrow.  40 miles this week is the goal.

7 aerobic base miles.  Is this still summer?  Warm and humid morning. Hamstring has pretty much been a non issue with switching to the Nike Vomeros. 

Nice cool morning - only had time for 4 aerobic base miles.  8:20's.

Cool morning.  Aerobic miles - low 8:00 - 8:20's. I ran early so it was dark.  At mile 5 a truck turned the corner towards me so I moved off into the grass and kept running. I do this often.  I was at a pretty good pace at this point as well.  All of a sudden I smacked right into the end of dead tree branch that was sticking down and pointed right at me.  I have about 6 lacerations.  I bled profusely.  Fortuntaely I found a crunched up paper towel about 5 feet away.  What luck.  I was able to use it to stop some of the bleeding.  After about 5 minutes I got going again.  I passed up the short cut to my house and finished my run like any commited runner would do. :-)

I got home and put ice water on the cuts and looked in the mirror - not good.  I woke my wife up and then I drove myself to the ER.  They cleaned everything up and glued the 3 major cuts back together.  It still hurst a little.

Note to self:  wear the running headlight that I have!

Areobic base miles at lunchtime - warm-up mile 8:50, then 8:05-7:50's.   I will get in a bit over 40 miles this week, shooting for 50 next week. 

Great morning in the low 40's to start.  Ran a somewhat hilly course between miles 3 and 9.  Legs feeling it a bit at the end but pushed through.  8:37, 8:41, 8:37, 8:07, 8:16, 8:20, 8:25, 7:59, 8:00, 7:50, 7:48, 7:51.