Of Mice and Marathons

AM: North side - 6 miles, averaged 8:14

PM: North side - 4.5 miles, averaged 8:05

AM: 9th street to the Heritage Trail out and back - 6.8 miles, averaged 8:06. Did some strides after 6 miles. 

PM: North side - 5.2 miles, averaged 7:51

AM: North side - 5 miles, averaged 8:16

PM: 18th street - 9.22 miles, averaged 7:04. Did a micro workout in the middle with 7 x 2 minutes on/off @ LT or a bit faster to get the legs moving. Got a bit fast on a few but felt comfortable. Averaged 5:59, which is definitely below LT pace (I think it is 6:06-6:09 currently). Started at 5:54, which was a gradual downhill. Slowest was 6:10. Finished a bit fast at 5:50. Hoping to hit some high 5s in the last 5k of the race this weekend.

Jefferson High School - 7.5 miles, averaged 7:30. Did some strides on the way back

9th street to the Heritage Trail out and back - 6+ miles, no watch. Did a few strides on the way back.

Goals for the 15k tomorrow

A+ 56:45

A 56:59

A- 57:30

B 57:59

AM: Indianapolis 500 Festival 15k. Final race of the series. Warmed up 3.1 with an about a third of a mile or so around marathon pace toward the end. Active stretching and drills. Lined up near the front. Some guy was talking about hitting 5:20s so I figured I better get behind him. After the gun went off I hear a man and a woman say they were settling on 6:05s, so I figured I would follow them. Mile 1 was what I wanted: 6:08. After the first mile I went out in front of the chase pack. Well, if you are still a chase pack running 6 minute miles, while watching 2 guys on the horizon ripping 5:20s. I got a bit fast and didn't do a very good job pacing us. Mile 2 was a hair under 6:00, but rounded to 6:00. The lead women got back in front of me and she was met with an awesome amount of cheering from the slower folks coming the opposite way. As for me, I was thinking "If she beats you don't include it in your race report because if Andrea gets wind of it she will make fun of you." I think her, another guy, and me exchanged 3rd place a few times. Nothing too eventful.

Mile 3, 4, 5: 6:09, 6:04, 6:00. Around mile 4 my left glute started doing its thing. It straightened out. Again, no pain, it just doesn't track right.

I could hear the lead woman breathing pretty hard going into the 10k mark, but I was also working pretty hard (I can never tell if it is like body odor where you think everyone else is bad, but you are worse than you think). I checked my 10k split just now. 37:36 for 6.22 miles. PR! I dropped the lead woman and her friend about this time. A guy came from behind and we exchanged a bit going into the last 5k. He got out ahead of me around mile 7 or so. During this mile we hit a good headwind (enough that over a small roller I was running a lap pace of almost 7 minutes, mostly because I was tired but the headwind wasn't helping). Worked really hard to get my seconds back. I thought that I was going to be done, but I rallied. I was running with the guy who passed me in the 10k last month (he went on to beat me again, although I think I took the brunt of the wind for him).

Mile 6, 7, 8, 9, partial: 5:58, 6:10, 6:11, 6:19, (5:47 pace for partial. Weak.)

The headwind picked up at mile 9 again. I was having to work very hard. Tried to put a target on the guy in front of me, but I couldn't catch him so I kind of coasted. I've run some great times improvement wise this year, but I haven't had much of a kick. Peaking at 5:04 on a gradual downhill just doesn't cut it.

Cooled down with 2 laps on the canal trail for 5 miles.

PM: North side - 4.1 miles

Prophet's Town S.P. - 8 miles, averaged 8:01. Ran with Jim and Brandon. Hoping this will be a regular thing. With more friends leaving this summer it might be the only way I survive the next year. Great to run with people as I do all of my running solo. 

Lunch: North side - 4.25 miles, averaged 7:35. Didn't have much time. Recently resurrected my first pair of Newton racers with some shoe goo. Wonderfully toxic product, but it works like a charm.

PM: South side - 7 miles, averaged 7:10. Stopped to feed a critter for my friend. Ran too fast because I was pretty caffeinated and fuming because a jerk interrupted my talk at a roundtable discussion (a professor I might add). Angry running isn't good, but I was shirtless and sweaty and saw LOTS (relatively speaking) of people out running. Felt like a million bucks after. Now if I just had a BAM BAR for dessert . . .

AM: North side - 7.3 miles, averaged 8:15. 55 or so, but humid. Felt pretty tired. Kept the pace recovery style until the last mile. 

PM: South side - 6.8 miles, averaged 7:36. Check on my friend's cat. Did some strides on the way home.

Lunch: After getting a good amount of sleep last night I feel pretty good. Tired, but less so. 13 miles, averaged 6:57. 2 mile warmup during which it start to pour pretty nicely (70 degrees with 70 % humidity to start). Then 9-mile AT tempo in 59:56 (average 6:39.6)

Splits: 6:42, 6:38, 6:46, 6:42, 6:36, 6:32 (very downhill, last .25 or so), 6:44, 6:45, 6:32 

Cooled down 2 miles.

It poured the first 3 miles or so, leaving giant puddles and me with heavy clothes, but I had fun.

Evening: 4 miles easy, averaged 8:11. 50s and cool. Bit windy. Quite a change from earlier.

North side - 7 miles, averaged 7:57. Did a few strides. 

AM: Hanson Brothers' Half Marathon Workout (Jason's Modification). I did this workout last year, but I did it 3 weeks out from my half (I figured it was the same logic as the marathon. I've gotten a lot faster and wiser since then I think). This year I changed it to the metric half marathon, which basically takes the base HB 4 x 2 mile workout and adds the final 200m partial to practice kicking a bit at the end of a hard workout, but it also gives you 13.1k (not terribly important, but I thought it would be nice addition). Last year I did half mile recoveries (~4:30-4:40), but I realized this year the Hanson team runs these @ LT and I run them just above or right at toward the end, so I set the recovery to lap and kept it 3:00-3:30 recovery. It's more of a pace tuning workout than it is one that leaves you crying at the end (it is still not easy). 

3.5 miles warmup to the golf course. The usual jazz. The last part of the trail before the dirt was flooded. Had to make sure the last repeat didn't leave me running 5-minute pace into the drink.

4 x 2 Miles @ HMGP

Rep 1: 12:27.6 (6:15, 6:13) w/ 3:03 recovery

Rep 2:  12:21.5 (6:11, 6:11) w/ 3:22 recovery

Rep 3: 12:21.3 (6:12. 6:09) w/ 3:32 recovery

Rep 4: 12:19.5 (6:12, 6:07), then 200m in 39.2 (5:27 pace)

Frightened a few furry critters on that 200, but that was about it. Averaged 6:11 for the 8 miles. Indications say Low-1:21 into 1:20 for next weekend with sensible pacing and smart racing. No superhero starts.

Cooled down after walking a minute until I hit 16 miles.

PM:4 mile shakeout

North side - 5 miles, averaged 7:55

Evening - 7.6 miles, averaged 7:58

Took Megan back to the airport today. That's never fun. Great weekend though.

Best of luck to the Boston-ers tomorrow. Run hard, say hello to the ladies at Wellesley for me, and let it rip when you see the Citgo sign.

AM: North side - 6.5 easy, averaged 8:17

PM: Vinton Woods - 10.3 miles, averaged 7:15

Didn't know what else to do, so I ran a bit longer and a bit harder than I normally would. Such a strange, tragic day. I hope all bloggers are safe and for the best for those who were less so.

18th street and Fink Cemetery - 11 miles, averaged 7:28. Pouring rain. On the colder side.

AM: North side - 5.25 miles, averaged 8:12. Trying to keep it on the turtle end of the lawnmower scale until Saturday, with a brief sharpening workout this afternoon or tomorrow.

Still thinking about Monday, of course. 

PM: North side - 7.9 miles, averaged 7:19 w/ 6 x 400m @ half marathon goal pace as a sharpening workout. Basically ended up about 1:30 on/off x 6. A little fast, but not too bad. Legs feel okay, but the range of motion isn't there, so I did some strides and they responded beautifully. Pushed it down to low 4:20 pace. They felt really good.

Needed a day today. 80 days on is definitely a record for me by about 60 days. Need to get my legs worked out. They were a bit tight last Friday during the workout and were tight yesterday. I imagine today will do me some good.

Evening: ate too much. Stretched and did my routine core work and strength stuff. Rolled my legs well. Decided to run some numbers for the last 80 days:

80 days or 11.43 weeks:

929.59 miles, 11.62 per day, 81.34 per week

33 doubles or 41% of days (not quite 3 per week), 6 long runs of 18-24 miles not counting races (this number could have been closer to 1 every 9-10 days rather than 1 every 13+), but I got some quality long ones in there.

5 weeks @ 80+, 2 weeks @ 90+

Not sure of the number of work outs because I didn't take the time to check. The new Garmin Connect is nice, and yet missing a few of the good features of the prior version.

North side - 5.25 miles, averaged 7:48

Goals for tomorrow 

A+ Break 1:20:45

A Break 1:21:00

A- Break 1:21:30

B Break 1:22:00

Did some more number running. The last two good half marathons and the rough plan for tomorrow:

April 2012

Total: 1:33:44 (7:09)

10-Mile Split: 1:12:19 (7:14)

Final 5k: 21:25 (6:54)

September 2012

Total: 1:25:28 (6:32)

10-Mile Split:1:06:00 (6:36)

Final 5k: 19:28 (6:16)

April 20, 2013 (Projected)

Total 1:20:30 (6:09)

10-Mile Split: 1:02:00 (6:12)

Final 5k Split: 18:30 (5:58)

Course is being re-certified due to flooding. It came up very long for many. It's not officially certified at this time. Yadda yadda excuses. I just went for broke and I need the morning to be a baby and eat my pancakes. Full report later. 6:07/6:08 pace on the watch. I still wouldn't have broke 1:20 I don't think, but 1:20 would be nice. Bam, I need you state side to slap me and steal my pancakes. I still ran a 4 minute PR.

AM: Carmel Half Marathon. When I picked up my packet yesterday I noticed some flooding in the area and sure enough they were making changes to both the half and full course. The re-certifications were submitted last night (I'll change my numbers when everything is approved). Got there about the time I wanted to, but was somehow running a bit late. I only had time for a 1.25 mile with some low-intensity strides (it was probably for the best). I had what I believe was a Joe Bell (from the blog) sighting. He was running the full. I thought I had to use the john, but I think it was just nerves ("race pee" is what I call it). We had a prayer and moment of silence. Lined up a bit in front of the 1:30 pace group because I didn't want to get caught up in the elite runners (the woman pacing was a 2:37 marathoner). Things went off fine and I ran in a group of 6-minute folks for a little while (~3 miles) before taking off and running on my own for the rest of the way with no one passing me (about dang time Dodgey). I usually hate running alone, but I decided I didn't want anyone around me today and I was going to shoot for sub-1:20 on my own. It was sometimes hard to tell if I was on the course or not, but once I got to the turns, signs or people confirmed my direction. This is already getting long so I will get right to the rich chocolatey goodness.

Splits: 6:09, 6:08, 6:15, 6:06, 6:10, 6:17, 6:15, 6:00, 6:00, 6:20, 6:11, 6:00, 6:00, 1:35 (.28)

Garmin Activity

I tried to set my watch to manual lap before the start but couldn't figure it out because it's new. I know I was pretty much dead on or a touch early to the halfway point. After that I noticed a big difference in split timing with mile markers (incidentally not long after I was running the improvised section). Ultimately it doesn't matter (even though it still hurts a bit. Could you tell?); I just hope everything is all set for any course records so folks can get their prize money.

Cooled down 4.75 miles. I saw Jesse Davis coming down finish in 2:20-2:21. I think he's a 2:18 guy. I have no idea if he won. He ran the Olympic Trials last year.

I am very pleased with the effort today despite my earlier grumbling. Even though 13.1-13.14 would have put me at 1:20:24-1:20:36 :)   All this really means is I have to run 1:18 in September at Philly RnR. Overall, I wanted to place in the top 10 and race (as well as run) well. The first part I accomplished (running 6th), and I think I did the second part as well.

PM: 4.25 mile shakeout (~35 min)

Congratulations to Bret Jardine who ran the London Marathon this morning. He is FRB's newest sub-3 hour marathoner!

PM: 7 miles easy, averaged 8:32. Legs were a bit sore, but not demolished. Probably should have hit the cool down sooner yesterday rather than standing around talking and waiting for results, but it probably didn't matter.

Final big workout sometime this weekend, depending on non-running stuff and recovery this week. It's something like 24 miles with 10 around 7:20-7:30 or slightly faster with a half marathon MGP tempo (6:38ish pace) at the end with a mile or so cool down. 90-95 miles for the week. Last week of the semester. Nice planning, Jason. 

AM: North side - 7 miles, averaged 8:23 

PM: North side - 7 miles, averaged 8:00

AM: 5 miles easy, averaged 8:26

PM: Jefferson High (modified) - 9 miles, averaged 8:09

I checked my half splits from the half on Saturday. Apparently I got 6th place, not 7th, and not 10th like the original printout said. I definitely ran a negative split for the 13.1+ a little bit that I measured (about negative 20 seconds), but the results reflect 40:28/40:56. Either way, still good. Wish I could split that close in a marathon!

Evening: 18th street south to Veteran's Memorial Parkway and back - 13.1 miles, averaged 7:27 w/ 7-mile MP tempo and 3 up and down. I knew I wasn't ready to 6:35 pace, so I figured I would go by feel and hope be 6:45-6:55 range and go with sub-3 hour. Glad I wasn't racing today! Just a hair under 6:59, which means I'm not recovered from Saturday (I knew that) and my inner Garmin isn't finely tuned. Still enjoyed the run and it was nice not to know what my pace was and burn some lard I seem to be accumulating with the joy that is the end of the semester. 

AM: Old Standby - 6.5 miles, averaged 8:29

PM - North side - 6.5 miles, average 7:54. Pretty much the same as the morning. Did some strides. 

Lunch: Ran to Tri-n-Run to get some gels, continued to Jefferson High and came home - 7.25 miles, averaged 8:07

PM: North side - 4.5 miles, averaged 8:09

Last big workout in the morning. Hope it's a good one.

Last big workout today. Wasn't sure how it was going to go since my legs still haven't recovered fully from last Saturday. Figured I would give it a go and if I could hit my goals a pair of rested legs can do it over the distance of a marathon. Plan was 10 easy-moderate, then 10-13.1 mile MP tempo. Ended up doing 10 @ 7:28-7:30ish and then 11.25 miles at marathon goal pace. 21.25 miles, averaged 7:02. The run was not easy. Even starting out at just below 8 minutes for the first mile I knew I was in for a tough run, but it wasn't terrible and I can't complain with the outcome. The rich chocolatey goodness is as follows:

Somewhere around 1 hour 15 minutes for the 10 miles, then 1:14:45 for the 11.25 miles. Splits: 6:46, 6:48, 6:45, 6:36, 6:36, 6:50, 6:34, 6:27, 6:41, 6:31, 6:32, 1:39.1 (6:30 pace) or 6:39 average. Right on 2:54 pace. I bonked pretty hard toward the end and my feet were smacking the pavement. A gel and an orange before the run, 1 gel at mile 8 or so to test one of the new ones by Huma. Super tasty and less junk than the others. I could easily eat it on a piece of toast. Water would have helped today (about 65 degrees, which wasn't terrible, but I had some good salt deposits toward the end).

This also make a PR for weekly mileage by about 160 meters from a few weeks ago. The 100-mile peak weeks will have to wait until fall or Boston, but I think I can do some damage off 80 average w/ peaks into the 90s as I have been doing.

North side - 7 miles easy, averaged 8:29.

All body parts seemed to have made it through the toughest part of the build up. A little bit of hip tightness today (it's not asymmetrical, which is good), no doubt from trying to push in the final mile or so yesterday with pretty bad form downhill

I checked out the course on YouTube last night, and I have some Garmin data from a friend. It looks there are some drops of close to 200 feet in a mile, which is pretty serious compared to what I am used to. However, I built in a mile into my long runs that has about 115 feet of drop, which should prepare me okay.

Sugarloaf Marathon Course

AM: 9th street out and back - 7 miles, averaged 8:04. Did some strides to try to loosen the hips. Finally got moving on the last one around 4:30 pace.

PM: Nothing. It's beautiful out too, but there's too much to be done. As much I wanted to get out this will slow me down a bit. 

AM: North side - 6 miles, averaged 8:06. Warmish. Beautiful.

PM: 6 miles steady, averaged 7:23 w/ 1 mile @ MP (6:48). A bit too fast for the first day in 80 degrees, but I was shirtless, feeling the end of the semester relief, and a bit manly.

Hoping this weight will be shed this summer. Averaging 80 miles per week for the last 3 months and I am not far from where I've been. Heck of a lot faster though I guess.