Just Keep Runnin'

am - 12.25 1:32.14 158/179 3x2 tempo with 1/2 mile steady recovery...

1.875 14:53.2 139 wu to track

0.25 2:03.3 143 wu

6:26.9 170

6:30.8 176

0.5 4:14.3 161  recovery

6:44.1 170

6:40.9 174

0.5 4:18.1 160 recovery 

6:55.3 167

6:49.1 170

0.25 2:12.6 159

8:57.6 151 barefoot on track - easy...

1.875 15:28 148

I guess it's time to be honest with myself.  I was hoping that I could do these tempo repeats at  6:10 per mile.  I've been attempting to have my MP training be at 6:46.  If I could do that and have tempo runs be 6:10, I was looking at a 2:57+ marathon.  The past three weeks, Monday runs were all 3x2miles at MP which I did around 6:50, 6:41 (both on the track) and 6:54 (TOU course - the hard part...).  Before that, Mondays were tempos targeting 6:10, but one week was 6:38 (3x1.5) and 6:46 (4 miler).  I think that what I've been calling MP training really looks a lot like tempo training.  I'm think I can do the half in 1:24 (according to the McMillan running calculator, that puts me somewhere near 2:57 for the full - on the same type of course) since in a non-race situation, I did it in 1:27:36 last Friday (6:41 per mile - though there is over 600 ft of elevation drop...).  I must have a weak 'internal governor' - knowing I have another repeat, I just seem to run hard enough to call it hard, but not hard enough to hit 6:10.  I guess I need to do 1 mile all out, or 5k all out with no other plans for the day to see what kind of speed I really have.

pm - 3.0 37:46.7 121/140 Very easy with wife. 

          This week Last Week 

11.25 1:30:18 146/159  1:32.21 149/161  - Easy - SHC (3rd Dam)

1.0 9:44.7 130 8:57.9 141 - String head wind this week

0.76 6:47.0 143 6:36.3 148 - still, a head wind

1.04 9:18.1 147 9:44.6 150

1.25 10:21.5 149 11:20.5 151

0.95 7:14.9 146 7:29.0 150

0.625 5:48.5 149 6:11.5 146 Pop stop at SHC - 3rd Dam - turn around

0.625 5:16.5 142 5:18.1 147 

0.95 7:19.4 149 7:13.6 152 

1.25 9:03.8 146 9:00.0 151

1.04 6:59.9 150 7:19.0 152

0.76 5:21.0 152 5:44.2 154

1.0 7:03.6 152 7:26.1 151 

Though I started out slow, with a low heart rate, at 1.25 miles, I consciously pushed to raise my HR.  I did feel a little stiff or sore from yesterday (tempo and very small double) but it wasn't too bad.  Either my HR transmitter is dying, or today was a very good day for HR.  I wonder if it had anything to do with the tempo yesterday, or running very slowly for 3 miles last night?... On the other hand, maybe the heatwave, that was killing my times two weeks ago, is over and I'm back to normal?!

8.5 1:08:23 148/157  I drove to the track today (lst time ever).  My knee might be failing on me and I thought it would be better to do all my running on a nice surface (as well as no slight decline in my warm up).  Another aerobic fitness test

8:51.2 135 wu

8:12.2 141 wu

Test - this week 4 weeks ago 

7:42.1 151 8:06.8 152

7:48.4 152 8:09.9 153

0.5 3:56.6 152 (switch directions 1/2 way through)

7:55.9 153 8:11.9 153

7:57.2 152 8:12.0 154 

7:55.2 152

8:04.2 147 - barefoot to finish it off...

The 4 test miles averaged were 7:51 @ 152 this week and 8:10 @ 153.75 four weeks ago.  I am pleased, it takes about 4% less time to cover the same distance!  I tried to use the last 5-6 weeks as an aerobic base building time - nearly all my runs were at an HR near 151 bpm, except about 6 miles on Mondays and long runs varied between MP+10% and progression runs.

8.6 1:12:18 141/154 LRT Easy

9:23.9 130

0.76 7:00.5 137

1.04 9:48.7 141

1.25 10:49.2 144

0.25 2:29.7 145

0.25 2:18.5 143

1.25 9:40.1 138

1.04 7:34.2 138

0.76 5:59.8 141

7:23.5 143

I am seriously wondering if my HR monitor is not working properly.  I didn't really break a sweat this morning, but it was 61 degrees inside my house (from having the fan in the swamp cooler run all night).  The temperature was a little cool, but I really don't think an HR drop of 10 from two weeks ago, taking only 3 seconds longer this time, is reasonable for this run... 

26.2 3:23:41 155 To TOU 14-26.2, house, 1st Dam 10k turnaround, house + 5 seconds to get to 26.2

My sister has a TOU half entrance that she will not be able to use.  She will sell it for $38 (I think that's what she said).  Comment if you are interested and we'll figure out a way for you to temporarily become my sister Jen (age 26).

Back to my report.  Today was supposed to be a 20 mile progression run, but somewhere around mile 8, I decided I would go 26.2.  The route I had planned was going to be 24.19, so adding 2 more miles on the TOU course was easy enough, then another 0.01 was trivial...

Today's Run    2 Weeks ago 4 Weeks ago

26.2 3:23:14 24.2 3:11:10 17.81 2:13:18 

8:53.4 140 8:41.9 144      7:49.8 144

8:19..7 141 8:30.6 149      7:21.9 159

8:07.5 148 8:38.1 149      7:37.6 160 - *gatorade

8:00.5 146 8:10.1 151      7:28.0 159

2:10.0 149 0.25 2:10.5 155      2:03.5 160 - TOU 20 Mark

8:06.9 147 8:26.3 154      7:42.6 160 - TOU 20-19 gu + water

8:10.6 149 8:15.9 156      7:19.5 164 - 19-18

8:08.1 152 8:19.9 151      7:41.6 162 - 18-17 gatorade

8:05.1 152 8:14.5 154      - 17-16

8:03.6 154 8:12.3 154      - 16-15 gatorade, headwind

8:32.3 157 - 15-14 - turn around, big head wind

7:34.9 148 - 14-15 gu + water, Hollow Road (gentle down + tail wind)

7:42.9 149 7:31.1 159      - 15-16

7:30.3 151 7:44.8 156      - 16-17 gatorade

7:24.3 153 7:33.8 157      7:18.7 161 - 17-18 (Pop stop at Maverick)

7:48.3 150 8:00.5 157      7:41.4 165 - 18-19 (18-20 are a bit uphill) - forgot gatorade

7:32.1 155 7:48.9 159      7:42.8 164 - 19-20 gatorade

7:11.1 154 7:20.2 160      7:20.5 164 - 20-21 (downhill mile) 

7:29.5 155 7:26.8 163      7:21.2 167 - 21-22 (21-23.7 are a bit of an incline) gu + water 

7:33.1 159 7:37.5 167      7:28.1 169 - 22-23

7:07.6 163 7:18.2 165      7:05.2 171 - 23-24 (end of 23 is down into Logan) gatorade

7:10.7 163 7:07.1 167      6:55.9 173 - 24-25

7:08.6 166 7:08.5 170      7:00.5 174 - 25-26

0.2 1:35.6 166   1:35.3 172      1:32.2 176 - 26-26.2 gatorade

0.14 1:06.0 163  1:05.2 172      1:02.7 175 

1.1 8:20.0 167   8:18.4 172      8:44.2 171

7:49.6 168 7:51.0 171      - gatorade - to 1st Dam 2/3rds of the way into this mile, slight energy depletion and some tight, almost cramping legs.

0.25 2:06.9 168   1:56.1 175      No one to catch this time...

0.25 1:57.2 165   2:12.5 169      gatorade, gearing up for last 'fast' mile

6:50.1 166 7:51.9 164

0.01 0:04.7 167 another 100th to get an even 26.2

*consumed after the miles they follow 

I'm happy about this run for a few different reasons:

1.  My fastest marathon ever!  (if you don't count the POP stop at Maverick, which I don't because I'm usually awake 3 hours before a marathon and have never had a time consuming POP stop in a race)

2.  I got up at 4:00 (planned on 4:20, but my crying daughter woke me early), got ready, ate a bowl of Frosted Shredded Wheats and was out the door before 4:30, so I saw at least 15 meteors of the Perseids Meteor Shower, and made it to work at a decent time. (I did wear a head lamp so I could find mile markers and check my HR at each one, but otherwise it was not turned on).

3.  I used 8 oz. of water, 3 packets of Gu and about 20 oz. of Gatorade!  My stomach felt a bit stretched after breakfast (after my run) and empty at 23.7, but for the most part was quite fine.

4.  I didn't really focus on the progression portion (miles 20-26.2+), but my times still looked pretty good.

5.  Best of all - after questioning whether I would even be able to do a long run after having knee problems (I've had knee problems since the 8th grade...) this week, I'm happy to report that there were only a few instances in this run when I really even noticed my knees (mostly my left).

I was pretty tired the last 2 miles of this run, I could tell my posture was terrible running up the hill at the base of 1st Dam, so I worked on it. 

8.6 1:16:10 140/152 Easy -Logan River Trail

9:29.9 132

0.76 6:47.5 139

1.04 9:59.4

1.25 11:44.9

0.25 2:37.4 147

0.25 2:27.7 145

1.25 10:22.2 138

1.04 8:09.9 139

0.76 6:25.9 140

8:05.9 141