Wheeler Farm Loops

AM - 10 miles.

PM - 6 miles.

Photos of big trees and sea lions.

AM - 13 miles. 10K Wave Tempo in 33:26 (5:23/mi avg) - alternating 5 x (1K/1K). HHS track. Averaged 3:17 for the "faster" segments and 3:24 for the "slower" ones - not as much differentiation as I would have preferred.

Only made it a few minutes before stopping and walking home this morning. Hamstring acted up, and running was possible but seemed very counter-productive. That's what I get for saying this issue was easily manageable. Or maybe this is just the universe's annoying way making sure I take a day off. Either way, frustrating.

Physically, an improvement from yesterday, but I still stopped and walked home after a mile of running. Mentally, I'm back to basket-case mode. Too much indecision - do I really feel better? am I better off just doing nothing? is racing next weekend a terrible idea? can/should I just push through this? I don't really have a plan now... as this wasn't exactly the situation I thought I'd be facing a week out from Chicago.

At least there's a new puppy in town to distract me from thinking about it too much.

AM - 20 mile long run. Easy pace (~7:10) then finished the last mile quicker (5:19). I almost bagged it after ten minutes again, but Andrea encouraged me to go a little further and the longer I ran, the better my hamstring felt. Go figure. Even though a mile at 5:19 felt faster than it should, it was good to know I could (structurally) handle it. Immediately hit the ice bath afterwards and have felt pretty good the rest of the day.

Obviously missing a few workouts isn't ideal, and my right hamstring isn't 100%, but now I'm cautiously optimistic that I can toe the line next weekend. I might have to adjust my goals a little, but I really want to race as long as I don't feel like I'm risking longer-term damage.

We spent the afternoon in Big Cottonwood Canyon doing some nature walking...

More photos of golden leaves.

AM - 10 miles.

PM - 6 miles.

Since I didn't run last Thursday afternoon or the following morning, I figured Friday was a good time to get my bloodwork done again (no dehydration to potentially inflate the results).

That's a nice reminder that when approached the right way, high volume can build you up, not break you down. Another way I like to interpret this is: eight minute miles on grass are definitely worth something!

AM - 10 miles.

PM - 6 miles.

More evidence supporting lifetime bans. Some more. And some more.

AM - 5 miles.

PM - 6 miles w/ 3 mile MP tempo in 15:54 (5:16, 5:23, 5:15). Tempo loop. Felt a little choppy, but the hamstring didn't hurt as long as I really focused on quick turnover and not overstriding. A fresh pair of shoes is always nice.

AM - 6 miles

PM - 5 miles.

Taper week / fun with Excel / Chicago training summary...

Longer summary on Wasatch and Beyond.

AM - 5 miles.

AM - 5 miles w/ Chris Sloane along the waterfront in Chicago. Beautiful day - weather is perfect for racing. Hamstring hasn't really improved the past few days, but I can take as much time off as I need after tomorrow.

2014 Bank of America Chicago Marathon - 2:21:12, 35th Place.

After an excellent summer of training, the week or two leading up to Chicago was not great. With my hamstring feeling very compromised, it wasn't easy to maintain a high level of confidence. A week before the race, I wasn't even sure if I could race. I decided that if I could run, I needed to be conservative and go out in 1:10 - 1:10:30. That all changed on race morning when I went outside for a short jog at 5:30am. I not only felt somewhat normal for the first time in nine days, but there was an energy along Michigan Avenue at that early hour that convinced me it might be worth taking a shot at the Olympic Trials standard. Chris Sloane (who shared a hotel room with us) and I made our way over to the American Development tent around 6:30am. We did an easy 10 minute jog to warmup, then stood around with some of my Saucony teammates in the corral until it was time to go.

When the race finally started, I immediately set myself up behind Florence Kiplagat's male pacer (who was about 6'3" tall... and maybe 120 lbs) but I could tell within a minute or two that the women weren't going out quick, so I moved past them as we came out of the tunnel and saw my Saucony teammate Jesse Davis up ahead. It took me about 2 miles to bridge the gap to him, and once I did I found myself in a nice pack with 6 other guys. I mentally committed to running with that group and the idea of a 1:10 first half was thrown out the window. I was simply going to race these guys as long as I could. After opening up with 5:17 and 5:19 miles, I missed a few splits, so I was surprised to see 15:38 for miles 3-5. We were moving, and rolled through the first half, hitting 13.1 in 1:08:47. This was my fastest first half ever in a marathon (by far!) which was a little crazy because I did less marathon pace specific work than I have in my last few marathon buildups. I never touched 5:15 pace tempos in training during this cycle but I wasn't afraid to mix it up and see what might happen.

This is a good time to point out that because of the aggressive start, there was no "this feels easy" / "build into it" portion of this marathon. I felt like I was running at a high intensity level right from the gun. Andrea said afterwards that I looked "very determined" and that it was "the hardest I've ever seen you run, especially in the last ten miles" I guess that is both good and bad. On one hand, you sort of want to be relaxed for a good portion of a marathon. On the other hand, I know I gave it  everything I had, even if I knew I was in a little over my head.

Expressing my stubborn Polish determination in Polishtown
 

Chinatown

I think the pack started to break apart around mile 14 or 15 and I was on my own the rest of the way. My calves were starting to hurt. Andrea told me that my gait was noticeably compromised by the halfway point, which isn't surprising - I made some sort of alteration to protect my hamstring, and the gastrocs had to pick up the slack. I held up pretty well through 30K, but the 20th mile was the first over 5:30, and I wouldn't be able to bring the pace back down. I was hanging on and just trying to keep the bleeding to a minimum.

Michigan Avenue death march

The last 5K was a death march. I still had a chance to PR when I hit 40K, but the wheels were coming off quick. With 600m to go, you turn and ascend the Roosevelt "hill" (which is a measly 15 foot overpass). I could not believe how it absolutely. broke. me. My legs started to wobble, I felt like I had no control over them, and simply tried to stay upright over the last quarter mile... an effort that was barely successful. With about 15-20 meters left, everything seized up... I had to windwill both of my arms to keep my balance as I stumbled across the timing mats. After I got across the second mat, I let a volunteer just hold me upright for 10 seconds while I regained my sense of balance. It was a comical finish and despite being a little embarrassing, I had to smile - I knew I went for broke and didn't leave anything in the tank.

I hope there is a video of this somewhere

Overall I'm very happy. Yeah, I didn't run the smartest race, and likely would have run a bit faster and PR'd had I gone out a little slower. But on a big stage like Chicago, it was worth chasing the OTQ dream. I'll continue chasing it, because I have zero doubt that faster marathons are in my future. Regardless of whether I run 2:17 or not, I simply love this journey. I love that it's hard - that it requires so much dedication with no guarantees of success. I love the training, working towards a lofty goal step by step... sometimes taking steps backwards and figuring out how to deal with the setbacks. I love that I keep learning more and more about the sport and myself in the process - race to race, year to year. And I love that I get to travel all over the place and compete against the best runners in the country (and the world). When you run 2:21 and come in 35th place, you picked the right race. No matter what, when all of this is said and done (which is a long way off), I'll know exactly where I stand (the stopwatch and tape measure never lie) in the running universe. I'll know exactly how good I can be... and that's something I want to know, even if it's a bit scary to find out.

When I look back at my goals at the beginning of the Chicago buildup, getting back to PR shape was at the top of the list. I definitely accomplished that objective over the past 14 weeks, and gave myself a solid platform to build on again. Depending on how quickly I recover, I'm planning to take a short break, rally for a series of late Fall races, take a longer break, then dedicate 2015 to a pair of long, focused marathon buildups (spring and fall).

Odds and ends...

Nutrition: Breakfast - 2 Powerbars. Race - 1 Powergel 15 mins before start, 3 more during race (5-10-16). Really like the Powergels and tolerate them well, mainly because of the liquid consistency. Didn't drink much - I need to run faster so I can get my own bottles at major marathons! Post-race lunch - Venison.

Weather: Sunny (although the tall buildings blocked it in a lot of spots) and low 50s for most of the race. A little windy in spots, but this is Chicago so what can you expect?

Course: Flat. Awesome. [Map / Elevation] Other than the overpass at 26, none of the small inclines broke rhythm. The route has a decent amount of turns. Crowd support was excellent. Maybe not quite as good as Boston, but close.

Shoes: Saucony Type A6. Best racing flat out there. Saucony had a great presence at the expo and hooked us up with some cool Chicago-branded gear. The team was well-represented in both the men's and women's races.

Intangibles: Andrea was unbelievable this weekend. She managed to get my hamstring back into working condition on Saturday, then got a bike the morning of  the race and navigated the streets to be at seven different spots (1.5, 3, 13, 17, 20, 22, and 25) to cheer for me and all of the Saucony runners (and take photos). Her airport nap was well-earned. I had other friends at 5, 6.5, 8.5, 10, 17.5, 23, and 26. I've said this before, but I know I'm very lucky to have such a great support system. I had a lot of family, friends, and puppies supporting from afar.

Mile splits - 5:17, 5:19, 15:38 (3-5), 5:11, 5:11, 5:17, 5:16, 5:17, 5:13, 5:12, 5:17, 5:09, 5:20, 5:14, 5:28, 5:17, 5:27, 5:32, 5:38, 5:32, 5:39, 5:38, 5:38, 5:57, 1:22.

5K splits - 16:23, 16:13, 16:22, 16:21, 16:11, 16:46, 17:17, 17:34, and 8:05 for the last 2.2K.

Comparison to a couple other marathons...                    

                   Half          20M        Finish
PHL 2011  1:09:33 - 1:46:05 - 2:25:57
CIM 2013   1:09:29 - 1:46:17 - 2:20:41
CHI 2014    1:08:47 - 1:45:45 - 2:21:12

Final thought: next time I go out under 1:09, I'll bring it back under 1:09 too.

Remarkably sore.

Moderately sore.

Soreness gone, just an achy hamstring.

Hamstring feels about the same as a few days before Chicago. Good progress, but it still needs a lot of improvement.

Looking forward to getting back into my run-commuting routine.... bike commuting is more expensive than driving with all the thorns popping my front tube!

Thought about jogging this morning, but it would likely do more harm than good at this point.

Noon - 5 miles. Nice to see all my horsepark friends again.

AM - 5 miles.

Going to stick with short, easy runs for a couple weeks and continue to work on getting the hamstring issue under control. Originally I was planning on running CIM after Chicago, but I'll just have to see how things go and not have any grand expectations. Needless to say I'm not booking flights yet. There isn't really enough time to get in much better shape, but if I can do enough to maintain the level of fitness I took into Chicago (and not be hurt) then it will be worth taking another crack at the marathon this fall. Houston would be a better option in terms of giving me more time, but the six weeks leading up to it are the worst time of the year for training here.

AM - 5 miles.

PM - 6 miles.

AM - 5 miles.

PM - 6 miles.

AM - 6 miles.

PM - 6 miles.

AM - 6 miles.

PM - 6 miles.

AM - 8 miles.

PM - 5 miles.

AM - 9 miles along the Good Water Rim Trail.

AM - 10 miles from our campsite on the dirt roads. We spent the weekend camping near The Wedge / Little Grand Canyon area of the San Rafael Swell. It was fantastic.

Lots more photos: Camping at The Wedge

AM - 9 miles.

PM - 6 miles.

AM - 7 miles.

PM - 7 miles.

AM - 5 miles.

PM - 8 miles.

Noticeable hamstring improvement every day last week, then a little regression after taking a bad step in the dark on Monday morning. Better today. I figure I have about one more week and then I need to make the call, one way or the other, on CIM. And give sub-8 minute pace a crack.

AM - 7 miles.

PM - 8 miles.

AM - 5 miles.

PM - 6 miles.