The Next Step

Since I went on the overnight with our church youth group Friday night I was pretty wiped out when I got home Sat evening and put my long run off until today. It was warmer today (38) put still pretty windy. Today I planned on doing the long run with at least 10 miles at MP plus I wanted to run the other 10 at faster than normal pace so that when I hit the MP miles my legs would be more tired than normal. I started out I didn't feel the best. It might have been from the lack of sleep on Fri or from not eating well the last couple of days. Anyway the legs didn't feel sharp plus I had some GI issues going on. Still I ran the first 5 miles in the 7:50 range then ran the next 5 in the 7:40 range. After 10 I picked it up to MP and for the last 10 ran between 7:20 and 7:35 with most of the miles around 7:25. Turned out to be a pretty good run since I was able to run a decent pace despite not feeling my best plus having to deal with the wind. Also, I ran this 20 miles 35 seconds per mile faster than my marathon PR. Should give me some confidence for Huntsville. I have 3 weeks until the marathon and this time plan to do a 2 week taper. For my last marathon it seemed like I felt best 2 weeks into the taper and got flat the last week. I will try to this and see how it goes.

2:33:11 (7:40 avg)

Just did an easy 8 miles after yesterday's long run. I felt pretty good today just a little stiff/tight from yesterday. I started off real easy and tired to keep the pace relaxed. I had to battle a pretty good head wind about half of the run so it was hard to run easy into a strong wind. I just wanted to shake the legs out after yesterday so nothing special.

64:48

Another cool and windy morning. I went to Southeastway park and ran the loop easy. My legs were feeling a little heavy today so just took it easy but I did add in 6 x short hill sprints towards the end. I also had some pain in my right calf. Not sure where that can from but will try some ice and stretching.

62:09

It was cold this morning (25) but the wind was calm so that made a huge difference. Today I did a long tempo run. The way I have been doing these is running them longer than normal and running between tempo pace and marathon pace. Today I wanted to run 6:50 to 7:00. I hope that this will make the first part of the marathon seem easy. I have also been trying to run the very controlled effort. I felt better today the legs seemed to not be heavy like they had the last couple of days. I did a 2 miles warm up and then started the tempo. I felt good throughout the tempo part. The only issues was my calf acted up a couple of times. Around 3 miles is when it first started and noticed it for about a 1/2 mile. If it didn't get better I was going to cut the tempo short but it went away. It acted up again around 5 miles but only for a little bit and then didn't bother me the rest of the way. I really need to keep a check on this. Here are my splits for the tempo:

1st - 6:55

2nd - 6:53

3rd - 6:54

4th - 6:53

5th - 6:50

6th - 6:53

7th - 6:51

8th - 6:44

1:28:29 (7:15 avg)

We went to Lexington, KY to my moms for Thanksgiving and was able to get out early for an easy run.  It was cool (28) but no wind which was nice.  I was able to get a nice rolling hill route which was very pretty with a nice sunrise.  Now time to eat and watch football!  I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I know for me that I have much to be thankful for and will take some time to reflect on my blessings.

57:15

Still visiting family in KY. I started feeling bad Thur. night so I slept in today and felt better this morning. Unfortunately that didn't leave me much time to run since we had some family commitments. I got in 5 miles and picked up the pace the last few miles. Felt good.

37:50

Drove back from KY today and got home around 2:30. I promised my wife I would put the outdoor Christmas lights up today so didn't leave much time for a run. I would have liked to have done a long run today since the weather was very nice (43) and tomorrow is going to be rain/snow/wind but got to keep my promises and priorities in line. So with not much time I got out the door as quickly as possible and felt good from the start. I just ran by feel and ended up running the first two miles around 7:30 pace. I picked it up from there and ended up averaging 7:07 for the 8 miles. I didn't check the splits but some of the miles had to be under 7. It was a good run and felt great. Now just hope I can catch a break tomorrow and get some decent weather or I might end up on the treadmill.

56:59