Boston Strong

I looked at my Garmin activities page, and realized that after my since my 18 mile run on August 12, I have only done 1 run over 10 miles, that was 12 a couple weeks ago.  So I decided to mix it up today with some more miles.  I also biked 16.6 miles today.

 I biked 8.3 miles to Lake Lanier Islands at 15 mph.  I decided to explore a little to try to make the run more interesting ... I ran a couple miles of boat docks, on the golf course, roads, trails, through a campground, along the rocky shore line, and on some horse trails.  Variety kept me distracted, and sure enough I got in my planned 15.  I then rode 8.3 miles back at 15.7 mph.

Pretty good workout, I am tired!

http://connect.garmin.com/player/113665903

80 deg/50% ... not too bad.  I think we have next 3 days hitting 90 & that will be it for the year!  Forecast high of 72 for Saturday, hope that is accurate, as I have a super hilly trail Half with close to 5,000' of climb & descent.

My legs are feeling the higher mileage, but they felt a little better as the run progressed.  As a mens of measuring my improvement, I decided to look at my St. George splits from last fall where I got my BQ with a 3:20:49 .... my fastest split was 7:05 & I only had 8 miles where I went under 7:20 pace.  I am pretty excited about this, as 6:30 miles downhill have become relatively easy for me ... so I conclude I am light years ahead of where I was.  The only question now is how my legs are going to respond the last 8 miles after cranking out 18 faster miles ... and that is something I guess we never know until race day!

Was happy with today's run, just wanted 8 minute miles.  I saw a friend walking there dog at the 3 mile mark and walked about half a mile with her ... and got to refresh my water bottle from her fridge!  Every couple miles from there I took about a 30 second breather to hydrate.  This helped my pace to be a little higher while staying relatively comfortable.

 PM  -  Went to Alex's cc meet  and did 14 strides of about 115meters each on the football field, totaling 1mile, OAP: 4:53

Also ran some around tghe course to cheer Alex on, but not counting that!  Course ended with about  350 meters on the track, so I met him at 400 meters to go, clock read about 18:50, so I told him to put the hammer down and go for the sub 20, and then proceeded to chase him around the track egging him on.  probably the most obnoxiour (or supportive)parent there depending how you look at it.  He has a relatively good kick & finished strong , but crossed in 20:01.  Guess i should have met him 20meters earlier!  lol  Still  a great race for him, much tougher course than last Saturday, and alot hotter.  He was mad he missed by a second, but i told him he got an A for effort in my book, being only 6seconds off his Saturday time.  Meeta are fun, makes me wish I was in high school again!

Minor Details!

Well, I excitedly went to register for Boston this morning as it opened up to those who beat their qualification time by 10 minutes ... unfortunately they updated the requirements to state, 

"Important Note:  the 59 seconds allowed for qualifying times aren't applicable for those registering before Monday, September 19."

Yep, that excludes me!  Guess I get to try again Friday, when it opens up to those who beat their time by 5 minutes!  It will be interesting to see at what point it sells out, and if they will provide any statistics as to what percentage full the race capacity is at the close of each wave.  I am positive I will get in as I will be one of the faster ones registering in the BQ minus 5 minute registration window, but I am sure there are thousands of people that did not qualify by more than 5 minutes, that are anxiously awaiting to see if they will be granted entry!

Another day of rest ... Yea!

Will be rested for my trail Half this weekend ... and the cooler temps!  :-)

Going to Roger Daltry concert tonight.

I have been offered the opportunity to be a pace leader for the 3:45 group (8:30 pace) for the Soldiers Marathon in Columbus, GA in November.   I think this would be a fun experience and a great way to get a long training run in ... although I am not too sure how I feel about running 26.2 three weeks after racing a downhill marathon at all out speed. 

 I have a day to think on it.

Went out for an easy run for lunch ... 2.5 miles to a 6" Subway Italian value meal ... took a little detour on the way back to get a couple more miles.  Low battery popped up at Mile 6, so I threw down a faster last mile just in hopes of recording the whole run ... which it did.

Boston registration submitted!  Read an interesting article that projects that reg is already over half full.  Based on submission confirmation numbers, which are issued in chronological order, they were up to over 9,000 registrations just a couple hours after opening up to those who beat there times by 10 minutes.  This morning it opened up to the 5 minute group, my submission number, which was issued at precisely 10 AM, was 10,968 ... there are approximately 20,000 slots issued to qualified runners.  Of course, this could be a farce, because I don't think anyone can confirm the first submission granted was number 1 ... but they are definitely progressively going up in number, one at a time!  lol  I think it may sell out today .... but if it does not ... there will not be many slots left when it opens to all qualifiers next week.  I wish this was not the case, and hope that all that got a BQ and wish to get in ... do!

 Still debating if I will run today ... cool weather in the low 70's ... but I am doing a super hilly trail Half in the morning.  Probably a few miles later just to loosen things up.

Fun trail Half Marathon, basically a training run for Oct. marathon.  Started out in 5th and held that for the first 4 miles, when I was joined/passed by a good friend who was also running.  He really helped me out pushing the pace from Miles 4-8, where I had to do frequent 'bursts of speed' to stick with him.  We chatted some, but that was killing me going up the hills!  Had I been out there alone through this section, there is no way I would have maintained the pace he carried us to.  We passed one guy in this section ... the other 3 were never in my sight after Mile 2 of the race.

At Mile 8, he briefly stopped for water, and I continued figuring he would be right behind me, as he only stopped a few seconds, surely he was no more than 10 yards behind me ... this happened to be on a brief downhill pavement section, which I strided out, figuring it was my turn to pull the load for a bit.  I realized he was slowly dropping back, and at about 8.5 the trail took a looping turn, so when I saw him about 50 back, I yelled out for him to keep pace with me!  I was just about to slow down a little and wait for him, when I saw another runner only about 20 yards behind him running strong.  I felt bad because I really wanted to wait and run with him, but by the time he would have caught me, the other guy would have been out in front and off to the races.  I figured if he had it in him, he would pace with the guy passing him in pursuit of me.  I held pace and continued on.

 Sure enough, next time I looked back, the guy was about 50 behind me & my friend about 20 behind him ... I kicked it up a notch as I did not want the guy getting closer!  For the next 4 miles I played a little game of cat and mouse with him ... every time he got within 50 yards, I would throw in a burst of speed after rounding a corner ... so by the time he saw me again, my lead would have increased.  This happened at least 6 times ... I know he had to be pushing hard as he was closing the gap on me ... but my spurts would just lengthen it back out.  Had to be frustrating for him, and I figured if he ever put down enough to catch me, I would crush him in the last half mile.  I fought off the urge to let him catch me just so I could race him at the end, and held the comfortable lead to the end.  His pursuit really helped me keep the effort up the last 4 miles, again ... if I had been out there alone, I would have run the same pace, but without all the surges ... which made it a more beneficial training run ... forcing me to maintain pace when I was more winded/fatigued from the sprints.

 All in all, I was pleased with the pace, effort, and result - and it was good race prep for my marathon.  The weather was totally awesome ... mid 50 at start, low 60's at finish.  I am happy when I am running in cooler weather!!