Of Mice and Marathons

AM: 17 miles. Philadelphia Love Run

I had a rough day. The half is my best distance and it didn't show that today. I ran better than my embarrassing 1:20 time last spring but this was not great. And I'm a bit embarrassed that I was so far off goal and what I've been able to run in good shape in the past. I'm not quite sure what happened. Did I overestimate my fitness? I don't think so. sub-75 was a stretch I knew but I though a PR chance was a reasonable goal. A few things here and there that I should have been better about and an off day I guess.

I picked Megan up from the airport at 12:00AM or so and got to bed late around 1:00 and couldn't fall alseep. I rarely go to bed before midnight before a race. This is something that needs to change.

It was a chilly and deceptively still morning. I warmed up 2 miles and felt really good. I never feel good on a warmup for any workouts or races. Not that good. Met Jonathan in the corral and told him what I was shooting for.

We got out in 5:46, which was maybe 2-4 seconds ahead of plan but managable. The next mile was a 5:33. I have no idea how. This seems off but both my Garmin and Strava have it down as such (must be true, right?). I forgot to turn my autolap off so the rest of the splits were junk given the issues in the city with the buildings and early splits.

Miles 1-4 in the city. Felt pretty good. Well, normal.

Miles 5-7 had a headwind that wasn't bad but it took my drive from me

Mile 8 was a nasty, twisty, uphill grinder with turns and some rough pavement.

Mile 9 I got back a bit after coming back down the hill. I hit about 5:45 here and knew my day was done. It was done by mile 6 really.

Mile 10 I got to final turn around and headed back down MLK Drive (more or less the final miles of the RnR course) and I got side stitches. This happens rarely to me and almost always in a marathon. Only once in a half and it was 70-75 degrees and humid (and I ran 1:18:30 that day).

The final miles I was trying to get rid of the stitch. Two guys passed me and then two more and I didn't really care; I wanted to jump in the Schuylkill. I lost my top ten finish right then, which is what I should have been focusing on as my time went out the window. I tried to get those guys but they ran the last 5k @ 5:35 pace after a 60-minute 10 mile split.

I was sucking air when I hit the finish but the overall effort didn't feel that hard. I just couldn't move. I pouted for a while then cooled down 2 miles. Cut it short as I wasn't feeling it and my stomach was going south. Felt pretty ill for a while this afternoon.

I want to pore over my training and find out what I did wrong, but I don't think I'll find it. I thought for sure with good workouts and a decent 5k PR I would have the speed to carry me through to a PR. I felt like I was running in sand and tried to surge to get my legs to fire faster than 5:50-6:00 put it wasn't working.

I'm tempted to take a day or two off and just run whatver feels right and run Broad Street with Megan and decide what to do from there and scrap an pre-determined summer plans for Beach to Beacon.

PM: 5 miles easy. HR 134. Fairly sore.

Off.

Still sore. Not quite marathon sore, but pretty close. Very odd. Too short a cool down and bad hydration mostly likely. I had a lot of work to do today and I am still at it. Might run tomorrow, might not. Likely in the afternoon if I do.
 

Off.

I'm coming down with a cold. I didn't feel like running in general.

PM: 10 easy.

Nice afternoon. Felt like crap from the race and a mild cold. Trying to decide what direction my running is going to take.

PM: 10 miles or a little more (forgot to restart GPS). Did some strides.

Still feeling like crap mentally, physically, and existentially. Not sure if I'd calling TOD on the spring racing season or not. I am also trying to decide if I want to just do a long base training period going into a fall marathon. Summer training in Philadelphia is pretty rough when you are carrying around a 175 lb frame.

AM/Lunch: Flourtown Tempo Loop - 14.5 miles, averaged 7:04

8-Mile AT/SS Tempo in 49:47

6:20, 6:16, 6:16, 6:14, 6:09, 6:08, 6:11, 6:10

Effort was definitely crossing the zone but I felt pretty good until the last mile, at which time I was ready to be done. It's been a while, far too long, since my last aerobic tempo. I thought I would do this one today whether or not it really does anything for Broad Street. It was fairly warm but dry and with a breeze it felt cool when I was cooling down.

Probably my third fastest 8-mile tempo, but I am fairly rested if somewhat sick and still recovering. Definitely my fastest with a sizable hangover; that's for sure. I think I broke 50 minutes this past fall once and I broke it winter 2014 running with my former running partner, Patrick.

PM: 40 minutes on the elliptical. Stretching .