The Next Step

Nice morning (58). Just did an easy 5 miles today. It was good to have the rest day yesterday and it felt good relaxing. I was feeling good this morning and took it real easy. I am planning a couple of faster runs this week mixed in with the short easy runs. Should be about 50 miles this week and then in the 30's next week. We have some cooler weather moving in tomorrow so maybe it will finally start feeling like fall around here.

40:01

Today I did my last workout before the marathon. Nice morning (53) with some light wind. Today the plan was for 6 x 800 around 3:05 with 2:00 recovery. I wanted to shake the legs out one more time and have 12 days to the marathon. From here on the fastest running I will do is MP. I did a 2 mile warm up and then jumped into the 800's. Here are the splits:

1st - 3:08 (a little slow but getting the legs awake)

2nd - 3:05

3rd - 3:02

4th - 3:04

5th - 3:02

6th - 2:59 (just couldn't resist going under 3:00)

I felt pretty good during these. My legs still didn't feel great but breathing was very controlled and didn't feel like I had to push. The first 3 were probably harder than the last three actually. Once I got the legs moving everything seemed to be easier. Overall happy with the workout and everything seems to be going ok with the taper.

1:02:28

Cool, crisp morning (46) and just ran an easy 5 miles. Felt good and ran along easily. The weather was perfect today. I hope for a day like this for the Chicago Marathon.

40:25

Great morning for running (44) and light wind. Today I did a MP run. I broke it up into two segments since I am tapering and it would be less stressful. I did 2 x 4 mile at MP with a 1/2 mile jog between. The goal was to run them at 7:15 pace. Here are the splits:

1st - 7:01

2nd - 7:13

3rd - 6:53

4th - 7:12

5th - 7:11

6th - 6:59

7th - 7:06

8th - 7:07

I felt good this morning but did have a little pain in the hip and my hamstring was tight. The MP miles were comfortable but I probably pushed some of them a little. I couldn't get into a steady pace but hopefully that will be better in the race when I am not running by myself. These MP runs are starting to feel better which gives me some hope.

1:17:48

Another good day for running (48) and just did an easy 5 miles. My hip and hamstring felt better today but still a little sore. I have been doing some extra stretching and that seems to be working. Otherwise felt good and relaxed so just cruised along. I plan on doing around 12 tomorrow which will be my last longer run before the marathon. Today I was able to check the 10 day forecast for the race and looks good but says chance of rain. Good luck to everyone running marathons tomorrow!!

39:45

Awesome morning for running (45, sunny). I went out for an easy 12 miles which is my last "long" run before the marathon. I felt really good and the pace came easy. I still have a few aches and pains but it might be me just being paranoid about everything. I had to hold back today because I was feeling good and wanted to run faster but kept with the plan. I will do one more short MP run next week but other than that everything next week will be easy. I am starting to get excited for the race. I am going to have to really spend some time this week coming up with a plan that I feel comfortable with. I have not been real sure about what pace to shoot for so I need to nail that down.

1:34:04 (7:50 avg)