The Next Step

It was a really nice morning (58) with wind.  I wanted to do some miles at MP today so did 6 miles easy then ran 6 at MP with a 1 mile cooldown.  I didn't feel the best today.  I still feel like I am working hard for the pace that I am running.  I ran out into the wind and then turned around and ran back into the wind for the MP miles.  I was running the MP miles between 7:10 and 7:15 pace but into the wind I felt better about it.

1:38:37 (7:35 avg)

Another great day.  It was around 60 but windy.  I ran easy today and felt better than I have in quite a few days.  I started off slow and picked up the pace as I went along.  The battery on my Garmin died about 4 miles into the run so not sure of the pace but it felt like the last 3 or 4 miles was around MP.  I just tried to run by feel and not think about pace or anything.  I was a good run for a change.

It was really warm today for this time of year.  It started raining soon after I started and got harder as I went along.  I felt sluggish starting out and after around 3 miles I did some around 1 min surges to try to get my legs moving. That seemed to help and I felt better as I went along. It seems like I have been in a slump training wise.  It just doesn't seem like the body is responding.  Hopefully I will snap out of it before Boston.

54:48 (7:50 avg)

It was really warm and very windy today.  Today I planned to do 3 x 8:00 at tempo pace with 3:00 recovery.  I started out easy with a 2 mile warmup.  I felt ok but a little tired.  I stayed up late last night watching Butler almost knock off Duke so didn't get normal sleep.  During the warmup I almost stepped on a snake that was laying in the road.  I am not a big fan of snakes but stopped and scared it out of the road so it wouldn't get run over.  About another 1/2 mile up the road I saw another snake that was as luckily.  It had been smashed by a car.  Must be the nice weather bringing out the snakes.  

After the warmup I started the tempo.  During the first one I felt pretty good and was running around 6:20 pace.  Toward the end my legs were feeling flat and tired.  I did the 3:00 recovery then started the second one.  I felt bad on this one from the beginning.  I kept the pace around 6:20 but was having to push it pretty hard.  I cut this one short at 5:00.  I did another recovery and tired another.  Still didn't feel good and cut that one short at 4:00.  I am not sure what is up but I have nothing in my legs.  I am not even breathing hard when I run these but I feel like I can't get my legs moving.  I'm not sure what it is but is making running not much fun right now. 

59:50 (7:29 avg)

Another warm (66) and very windy morning.  Because I haven't been feeling the best running the last couple of weeks thought I would try something different today and do a super easy recovery run.  The goal was to run in the 8:15 to 8:30 pace range.  I haven't done many super easy runs in awhile and thought that maybe I am not letting myself recover and it has built up to make me feel run down all the time.  Again I felt sluggish starting out but kept is slow and easy and seemed to feel better as I went along.  I guess I will not know how it worked until the next few days.

49:51 (8:21 avg)

It was cooler today (46) and super windy (30 mph). I just did an easy run because the wind made it impossible to do much else. I felt a lot better today and did several 1:00 pickup to around 5k pace to test the legs.  Those felt good too but I didn't want to push it too much.  I hope as I taper I continue to get more bounce back in my legs.  Maybe the trend will continue.  I have been getter more rest and trying to watch what I eat.

38:08 (7:38 avg)

It was a pretty nice day (around 50) but still windy.  I am getting tired of the wind but I guess that is to be expected this time of year.  I felt better today and thought I would try to get some MP miles in.  I did a 2 mile warm up and then did the next 5 miles at a little faster than MP.  The first couple of miles didn't feel the best but after that I kind of got into a groove and felt pretty good.  It was a good confidence builder for me because it has been a while since I had a good run.  Here are the MP splits: 6:50, 6:54, 6:47, 6:47, 7:10 (slowed down the last 1/4 mile to warm down a little).

 50:07 (7:09 avg)

Another nice day in Indiana.  It was around 58 but still windy.  Today's plan was a med-long run just easy after yesterday's faster run.  I felt pretty good today and everything seems to be heading in the right direction.  I just ran by feel and tired to stay relaxed and keep it easy.  It felt good to keep it in the 7:40 pace range which is good because last week it was a struggle at that pass.  It seems like the body is starting to respond to the taper.

Today was the first day I could see the advanced forecast for Boston and it looked good (mid 50's).  I just hope it is not windy.  I am tired to the wind already.

1:31:58 (7:40 avg)

I ran after work today so it was pretty warm (75) and windy.  Today I wanted to my last MP run before the marathon next week.  Starting out I didn't feel the best.  I felt a little sluggish so knew it wouldn't be a super easy effort.  I ran 6 miles at around 8:00 pace then ran 4 miles at MP and then a 1 mile warm down.  The MP miles were: 7:06, 7:00: 7:02, 6:58.  The goal was to stay around 7:00 so I was happy with that.  I just wish that they would have come more easily.  I am still trying to figure out what pace to plan on running next week and today didn't help with the decision. I probably need to be conservative but that is usually hard for me to do so I will have to wait a few more days and see how things go.

1:13:16 (7:35 avg)

It has been unbelievably nice this week.  It was in the upper 60's and the wind was finally not blowing that much.  Today I just wanted to do an easy recovery run as I continue to taper for the marathon.  I felt ok but I kept the pace real easy so hard to tell much about how I was running.  The plan for the rest of the week is easy day tomorrow then a few faster repeats on Thur to shake the legs out the really taper down for the race.  I will be traveling to Boston on Sunday so I am trying to take it easy before the race and not get out sight seeing, etc.  I just really hope the weather forecast holds because it is looking good.

 40:24 (8:05 avg)

Very warm today for this time of year.  I don't want to complain because I am definitely enjoying this compared to the cold winter.  I just did an easy run today.  I am continuing to cut back on the taper.  I am planning some faster repeats tomorrow to shake out the legs so wanted to keep it easy.  I am trying to get everything ready for the trip and hoping the weather stays good. 

 39:38 (7:52 avg)

Another warm and sunny day with some light wind.  Today I wanted to do some tempo running to shake the legs out and have another test before the marathon.  I planned on doing 5 x 4:00 at tempo pace (around 6:20 to 6:30) with 90 seconds recovery between.  I did a 2 mile warm up and felt ok nothing special.  The first tempo took me a little to get in the groove but felt ok.  My legs still seems tired and sluggish any time I run faster runs.  The rest of them felt better and I had two into the wind that made them a little tougher.  After the tempos I did a few strides as well.  I don't think today was a confidence booster for the marathon.  I am still thinking that I am maybe 5 to 10 minutes off of the shape I was in last fall.  Hopefully, the next few days of taper will give me some sharpness on race day.  

51:29 (7:22 avg)

Another warm day around 70 but more windy.  I just wanted to do an easy run today to continue the taper.  I felt ok today nothing special but just ran real easy.  I plan on taking tomorrow off and then running a few easy miles on Sunday before the race on Monday.  I am finally getting everything ready to go and the weather still looks good but is going to be cool in the morning so need to bring some warm clothes to hang out before the race.

40:06 (8:01 avg)

It was really cool this morning (38) but sunny.  I just ran a few easy miles to warmup and shake the legs out.  I did some strides at around tempo pace.  Afterward stretched good now heading to the airport to fly out to Boston.  

My first Boston turned out to be a rough one.  I knew going in that I was not in as good of shape as I was for my last marathon so decided to reduce my goals.  I was thinking going in that if I ran between 3:10 and 3:15 I would be happy.  The weather today was perfect with temps in the 50's and some wind but it was mostly a cross wind.  I definitely learned a lot just dealing with the whold Boston experience.  I came in yesterday and ended up rushing around all day trying to get my packet, food for breakfast and finding a place to eat.  Spent way more time on my feet than I wanted to.  Slept good last night and woke up early to catch the buses.  An added bonus was getting to meet up with Dave Rockness and riding the buses out with him.  As many of you already know from the blog he is a great guy! 

Hanging out before the start wasn't as bad as I expected mainly because of the nice weather.  I can imagine on a nasty day that it would not be much fun.

I planned to start off slow and then based on how I felt get into a pace around 3:10 or so.  I did take it easy the first few miles which are downhill and then picked it up some through the middle miles.  Around 12 the legs started to have that fimilar feeling of being heavy and sluggish so I started to worry some.  I stayed in pretty good shape up to around 15 or 16 and then knew that it might get ugly the rest of the way.  I slowed down on the hills through Newton because of this but didn't really have much trouble on the hills.  The thing that was getting to me was the down hills because I was started to feel a cramp in my right thigh.  I was slowing down but felt it was manageable through the hills.  I made it up Heartbreak pretty good then hit the downhill on the other side.  This is where it all started to go bad.  Right after I came off of the downhill I got major cramps in my right thigh and left calf.  I slowed down to see if that helped and after about a 1/2 a mile it got better so gradually picked the pace back up.  I made it about a 1/2 mile before the cramps hit again so I slowed down and recovered then it got better and I picked it back up.  This went on for a few times and it bacame apparent that I was going to have to slow down or I was going to make it in.  Around 22 I got the worse cramp and it almost brought me to a walk but I was afraid if I stopped I might not get going again.  I settled into a basic slow shuffle the rest of the way in.  I had some spots where I though I might be able to recover but those were short lived.  Once the cramps hit I started thinking maybe I could at least break 3:20 and requalify but running as slow as I was that quickly went out the window and I thought I should just focus on finishing.  Amazing enough even as slow as I was going I got another really bad cramp about 400 yards from the finished but basically ran stiff legged the last little bit because there was no way I was stopping there in front of thousands of screaming people.  It was a huge relief to cross the line and staggered around for a while until I could get somewhere to stretch out the legs and try to recover.

Even though I didn't have a good race, Boston was an amazing experience.  The fans are awesome and they run such a quality event.  It is also cool to have that many great runners in the same race.  At this point I don't know what holds for my marathoning future.  Until I can dedicate myself to putting in the mileage I don't want to commit to another.  I don't want to repeat today.  For those of you that like to see the damage unfold, here are my splits:

1st - 7:24

2nd - 7:13

3rd - 7:18

4th - 7:08

5th - 7:17

6th - 7:13

7, 8, 9 - 21: 36

10th - 7:18

11th - 7:16

12th - 7:09

13th - 7:14

14th - 7:16

15, 16 - 14:46

17th - 7:43

18th - 7:51

19th - 7:40

20th - 8:02

21st - 8:35

22nd - 8:01

23rd - 8:50

24th - 9:19

25th - 9:07

26.2 - 11:25

3:22:45

Woke up this morning pretty sore and stiff.  I took about a 1 mile walk and that seemed to help loosen the legs up some and reduce the soreness.  This is probably the most sore I have been since my first marathon and I was not really ready for that one.  My left calf is really sore because that is the one that totally cramped up in the race.  Both thighs are more sore than I remember for a marathon which is probably from the downhills. 

I was looking back on the training and numbers never lie.  I went into this marathon running around 30 to 40 less per month in the 3 months prior than I did for the Huntsville PR.  Probably more significantly is that the number of MP and tempo miles was much much lower.  I am definitely going to have to get that back on track if I am going to run another marathon.

Well I am actually more sore today than yesterday especially my left calf.  It feels like it really needs some work done on it.  Maybe a massage when I get back home.  I did a lot of walking today.  I finished up my business meetings and walked around Boston this evening which was probably good.  I starting to feel like I want to take another crack at Boston.  My time in Dec qualified me for 2011 so who knows maybe I will come back and try to redeem myself.

Well finally felt like I could run a few miles.  The last couple of days I was still sore and did some walking each day but didn't want to push it.  I ran real easy today and my legs were sore running especially my thighs.  The good news is my left calf is better now and didn't cause any problems.  It was good to get out and hopefully it will do the legs some good.  I will probably take the day off tomorrow and then try to get back to training on Monday.

Now the wife and I have a date night.  Going to dinner and then the symphony.

32:33 (8:08 avg)

Huntsville, AL:  I left early this morning for Huntsville so had to run after work.  By the time I got finished with work and went to a dinner meeting I didn't get to run until around 9 pm.  That is usual for me.  I have had a long recovery/rest after Boston so I was really ready to get going again.  Since it was late I ran on the TM in the hotel.  I felt ok and just ran easy.  I want to get back to running everyday this week and see how I feel.  I definitely came out of Boston with a lot of soreness and wanted to give myself plenty of time to recover.  I hope that now that I have rested this much that I am able to get back into training quickly.

39:10 (7:50 avg)

Huntsville:  It was cool this morning (44) but not windy so actually felt really good.  I just did another easy run today.  Since I ran so late last night and was running early this morning I didn't want to over do it so kept it to 6 miles.  I felt pretty good for the most part but did still feel some fatigue in my legs.  I really tired to keep it slow to continue the recovery mode.  I plan on taking it easy all this week and then getting back into training mode next week.  I need to start making some plans for what I am going to do next.  Without plans I usually fall off in my training so need to keep some targets out there to shot for.  Any ideas?

47:40 (7:57 avg)

Huntsville, it was a nice morning in the mud 40s and light wind. I added a few more miles but still kept it easy. I felt pretty good this morning but still feel slow. Hopefully that will improve over the next couple of weeks. I am heading back home today but have a lot of travel over the next few weeks so really need to work hard to stay on schedule.

63:40 (7:58 avg)

I drove back from Huntsville last night and got in late so I was tired this morning.  It was a really nice morning in the low 60's but super windy.  I was slow getting going this morning but I felt better as I went along and actually finished the run feeling pretty good.  Overall, I feel pretty good and feel like I am getting fully recovered from the marathon.  I hope to get back to some more intense training next week.

47:07 (7:50 avg)