Of Mice and Marathons

North side - 8.25 miles, averaged 7:57.

Feel pretty good despite skipping my shakeout yesterday. Felt it was important to spend time with Megan and my friends, and I got a little over 19 miles for the morning. Waited until dinner to do my recoery run.

Got chased by a dog that tried to come after me. I did the only thing I thought would work: I scolded it. Worked but it kept coming back until it left to go to the children in the yard a few blocks down, apparently its owner with no parents around. The dog had already almost got run over and I wasn't sure if I needed to pick up a large rock to defend myself (I was looking for wacking material). Good times in Lafayette, IN.

I ran in a new pair of Newton 5 lugs, which I got in exchange for another pair that were shredding my feet for some reason. They feel amazing. Much wider, solid base. Upper feels very smooth and should be great sockless. Definitely their best update I have seen.

AM: North side - 8 miles, averaged 8:00

PM: Rest Haven - 4 miles, averaged 8:20

Winter needs to go away. I would like 35-40 degrees in the morning and 75-80 in the afternoon. Is that too much to ask?

Pre-bed: rolling and stretching

Jefferson High School loop to 9th Street - 10.5 miles, averaged 7:42

Pre-bed: 30 minutes of rolling and stretching + hips and glutes

AEROBIC BUILDER - 12 miles, averaged 6:58 w/ 6-mile tempo.

I stupidly did this workout. Last year I did the same thing after my tuneup half for 7 miles and barely ran under 7 min/mile (I ended up running 6:30s in the marathon), so I kept telling myself it wouldn't be worth it but I was ticked off and anxious (about what I don't know), so I started my run faster than normal but I was planning to do 14-16 miles depending on feel to get some good aerobic time on my feet. But I thought I felt okay, so I went to my tempo loop instead of working toward the south end of town. I should have just run 9-10 miles and let my legs continue to recover. Felt okay in the first few miles, but was (unsurprisingly) fatigued so I cut it to 6 miles. Oh well.

I guess from last May I have made some improvements. 6:58 was what I ran for the fast portion and 6:58 was what I did for the entire run this year. I am not upset that the workout didn't go well. Just mad I was foolish enough to think that maybe, just maybe, it would. It also makes rcovery harder and this week was about easy mileage and my final long run/big workout.

Splits: 6:25, 6:26, 6:22, 6:18, 6:30, 6:26 (6:24 average)

3 up/down

Late: 20 minutes of rolling and stretching + 25 minutes of core. Mostly planks, some crunches (which are basically useless for a runner but I feel flabby after 4 days out of town).

North side - 9 miles, averaged 8:04

Got chased by a yellow lab puppy with no one around (as usual). I almost brought him home but he was quite the tough little guy. That is until I yelled at him to get home.

PM: 30 minutes of rolling and stretching + some core (moves that I didn't hit yesterday)

Fink Cemetery Loop - 10.25 miles, averaged 7:43

FINAL BIG WORKOUT/LONG RUN - 24 miles, averaged 7:00 w/ half marathon tempo

Warmed up 10 miles @ around 7:38 pace them into a long tempo around goal pace, but the idea was no pushing. Legs were moving to start of the first mile then settled into ~builder average for a while. Breathing was great, legs were saying "but must we really go faster? Where is that day off you promised??"

Last year I bonked hard doing a 10 + 12 and I didn't feel like walking in the cold today, so I allowed myself to switch up the plan as necessary. The main idea was not to run the race today. Run hard, but don't force it and end up ticked when you don't hit the paces. Got some downhill running in but I got a bit of a headwind and cross wind that negated it some. Hit some uphills that had me running ~7:00 until I crested them. Those were hard. I need to remedy this lack in my running.

I was going to call it at 20 miles (10 + 10) and jog home, but I hit the bridge and thought there was a sidewalk on the opposite side of the trail (I didn't want to recross the road) and I heard a cop on his loud speaker say "joggers must use the trail." I ignored him because it was mile 20 with 4 miles to go and he called me a jogger (I was close to 7:00 pace overall at this point). He came up beside me and I could barely hear him over my iPod, so I cussed at him somewhat audibly to leave me the dang nabbit alone but he was giving me an escort. Thanks. I was fine. Still, much appreciated. Felt like I was winning a marathon. I was still rolling about 6:40 when he took off, so I figured I would pick it up and do another mile. I got to the top of Northwestern and just let the downhills work. Again, no pushing. So 3 more miles.

I ended up with a half marathon tempo and a short cool down to 24. I realize this is more than necessary, but I needed this today for a number of reasons. Mentally I beat myself up pretty much every mile, but around miles 22-24 I was feeling good.

10 miles in 1:16:13 (~7:38 pace)

13.1 miles in 1:25:24 (6:30/6:31 pace): 6:28, 6:29, 6:26, 6:37, 6:27, 6:25, 6:44, 6:27, 6:53, 6:32, 6:31, 6:20, 6:20, :40 (partial)

Total run ~89% of marathon effort

Tempo ~96% of marathon goal pace

2:48:07 for 24 miles