Random Inspirational Quote

AM: some carb loading fun - banana pancakes for breakfast.  easy 2 mi. jog and stretching.  50 degrees and partly cloudy this morning at 9am.  A little windy.  Prolly about 10mph

PM: MY buddies came up from Lexington to run the half. Nathan met up with us at my house and we headed up to expo.  Wedecided to go for an easy 45 minutes in the city before the expo - 5 mi. ~45:50

About 40 degrees and overcast, with about 85% humidity for this morning's marathon in downtown Indy.  A couple buddies - (Tim and Thomas) from Lexington (KY) came up to run the half and stayed out my house last night.  We got up and left at about 6 from the house.  Got to the parking garage (and parked) at about 7:15.  It was a comical Friday night and race morning - Tim is a financial consultant from Kentucky, and Thomas is a heavily French-accented exercise physiologist.  They are training partners and have a lot of funny stories that come from two very different perspectives :)  The fun this morning was Tim having to go to the bathroom really bad and Thomas teasing him about it... He made it :)

Anyway, we got there and did my usual bathroom stops and little bit of jogging around after meeting up with Nathan.  We found our way up to near the front and meeted and greeted a lot of the familiar faces - with the usual exchanging of goal times and pleasantries.  I positioned myself slightly behind the half marathon guys that I know are aiming for about 1:20. 

I did catch a glimpse of the back of Jake's head on the front line :)  I was about 10 rows back, though.

The gun goes off, and away we go - right from the start, I felt like today was going to be a good day - I relax right away and fall in to a steady 6:30 pace:

6:28, 6:27, 5:44 (lost signal under bridge), 6:28, 6:31, 6:25, 6:27 -- at mile 7 or 8 the half split off, and I was surprised to find that a huge group of about 10-12 (including the 5th-10th place women) were full marathoners.  This really worked to everyone's  advantage.  I eat a gel and discover that the women had elite water tables set up with their personal nutrition (one even shared her sports drink :) ) 

Awesome friendly group that stayed together most of the rest of the race:

6:34, 6:22, 6:28, 6:32, 6:26, 6:23 -- at the half timing mat we all (still about 10 of us) cross in about 1:24:30.  I'm feeling awesome at this point and about 20 seconds ahead of my goal.  I don't start to feel like I'm pushing until after the steady climbing portion (from about 16mi - 18mi.) our splits don't seem to be affected:

6:24, 24, 26, 34, 30, 28, 18, 18, -- by about 20-22 miles the group has spread out and it is down to me, the four women, and one or 2 other guys. We are through 20 miles in 2:08:44, and I am feeling strong, considering this is a 1:30 20 mile PR.  I have continued to eat gels and really hit the aid stations well up to this point and tell myself to continue the successful trend.  I know at this point that I have the fuel and legs left to do something I have never done today (actually finish a marathon well...)

The consecutive 6:18's are real confidence builders when I notice that I still feel strong after them - in retrospect, maybe this was unwise?  At 23 miles, the four women put the hammer down and start racing each other.  The slowly spread out and I am left in the dust, hanging on to my 6:20's range, but still okay and feeling stong, enough...

6:22, 6:27, 6:23, 6:29...  until right about 24.5-25 miles - I start to cramp up in my right hamstring and little bit in my right calf - I have to focus on straightening out my leg.  Fortunately, it doesn't completely contract/lock up and I am able to continue with a hobbled/straight leg stride approach.  So, I finish up with 6:47, 6:53, and thne I trry to sprint at the finish line causing it immediatley to lock back up.  I end with a painful stiff legged (and probably comical finish line photo) 6:28 pace for last 0.39 mi. (GPSed).  I would've definitely been under 2:50 today without the cramp!  Even with that setback, huge PR today!!

2:50:08 - 26.39 GPSed

OFF - Yep, I ran hard yesterday.

Easy 10 min. on the bike at the gym, super slow 2 mile jog on the treadmill

PM after work: easy jog around the neighborhood with the dog - 3.36mi. - 29 min.

later PM at gym: easy jog on TM at gym w/ 4x0.25mi. hills (mod. - 6%/8mph) and a 0.25mi. pickup @1% / 10mph.  Legs are okay, actually.  4mi. total - about 30 min.

Also, 30 minutes of core and leg strength stuff using all the cool machines/equipment at the gym.

PM Treadmill at gym: WU, 2mi. AT (9.2-9.4 mph), rec., 3x0.25 mi. LT (10.4 mph), CD

easy does it - 7mi. total-52:00

PM treadmill run at the gym: 9 mi. w/ 1mi. pickup - 73:00 total.  Light abs

Off - some light core exercises

AM: 13 mi. w/ the QuaffON! group in Brown Co.  started and stopped at the Brewery.  Super easy pace - 1:51 for 13.05mi. - a few beers afterward really hit the spot :)

PM: easy 2 mi. with dog around the hood - 17min.

light core work

AM: 7 mi. easy over to the gym, 20 minutes of circuits for legs/core (hit this pretty hard), 7 mi.easy back home

14mi. total - 1:52:41

off work for veterans day.  thanks to all our armed forces, past and present.  

early PM treadmill run: 10mi. easy pace - 1:25

Increase volume this week... back in the hundreds next week, with some 5k specific stuff

OFF - A little dull aching pain in several spots on the left leg.  still only a week and a half after marathon - nice and easy coming back.  Really want to be able to hit 100 next week.  Maybe 70-80 this week, but not forcing it.

AM: early am treadmill run at the gym - its in the 20's this week.  still a little pain in the left leg, but good enough to go this morning...

warmed up jogging a mile, then into an LT mile.  Started off thinking I would go 3-4 x 1 mile repeats at this pace...

1mi. - 5:56 (10mph up to 10.2mph), jog 2 min. recovery (7.5 mph), 0.5 mi. into second rep, feeling extremely labored at 10.2 mph, so cut it short at 0.75 mi. - 4:24.  Rec. jog for 2 min. and then 0.25mi. - 1:26 (Still laboring for this...)

:(

Okay, my 5k fitness and shorter speed work is severly lacking right now, apparently...

I finish up with 4x~200m (0.13mi.) @ 12mph and call it a morning.  5mi. total - 35:45

Think I'll give a good workout another shot tonight.  Not so much: hurting pretty bad before warming up --

PM 20 minute bike, 20 minute treadmill run at gym w/ 1.25mi. Threshold run - started at 10mph and increased 0.1mph ever 0.1mi.  This was interesting - made it to 11.2mph and was huffing and puffing 1.25mi. - 7:22,   3mi. total - 20:08

PM treadmill at gym after 10 min. WU on eliiptical: 1mi. WU, 3mi. AT (9.3mph) - 19:20, 2mi. easy

6mi. total - 44:10

OFF - Sore and fatigued in legs - needed more recovery this week than thought.  Still blaming marathon...

AM: Super slow and easy trail running in Brown County State Park.  5 guys in our group, and a bunch of mountain bikers out this morning.  Beautiful weather - 50s this morning, 60s this evening for 5k race.

11.5 mi. - 1:49:46

PM: CR Series 5k Race - 18:14 (5:30, 5:53, 6:09, 0:40) - for 3rd Place.  First race since marathon...  Yep, I'm still recovering from that, apparently.  Note to self - don't try new Clif shots blocks (that have crazy amt. of caffeine) 45 minutes before a race ever again!  I knew the 5:30 1st mile was too fast, but was too stubborn to let the 2 lead guys go.  I ran 17:40 on this exact same course earlier this fall, which is about the same time that won this evening.

PM: easy running on TM at house and outside off and on avoiding the weather.  5.89 mi. total - pretty slow.  Left leg (achilles, knee, hip) feeling pretty tender still... :(

about 250 x abs exer.

OFF - this week is probably what should've been going on the week after marathon and last week. 

Harrison Lakes Trail - 1.25 mile hilly (and muddy today) trail loop - 5 times around - about 8 min. pace - 50 min. total.  Legs are still slow to respond and come back to life... Early am run tomorrow with Nathan and his buddy. 

4:15 AM: early morning run with Nathan and Ryan.  6.43 miles around Semour highschool and neighborhoods - 57:56.  I was really cold and early this moning - I'm glad we were taking it easy...

PM: abbreviated track workout - WU w/ 8 strides, 2x0.5mi, 2x0.25mi. with full recoveries - 2:27, 2:30, 71, 72.  I'm still on the fence with my left leg's condition.  Felt fine after first 0.5mi. hard running.  CD modearte jog home.

6.5 total - 45:34

OFF - let's call this week what it really is - recovery week number 1...

AM:Brown County Trail Run- 4 of us this morning: 12.55 mi. easy pace - 1:55:48

early PM treadmill run at the gym.  Watching the Rams beat the Bears  and my fantasy team suck it up.

1% incline for WU at 7-7.5mph - about 15-20 min.  then into 10min. segments cutdowon from 8.5mph.   up 0.5mph every 10 minutes up through 10.5 mph.

10.5mph was in the LT zone.  Everything right up to there was upper end AT.

7.92 mi. cutdown - 50 min.

15 minutes of core and legs after. 

Feeling a lot more solid today. 

PM treadmill at gym - 8mi. easy pace w/ 4xhill sprints: 11.5mph @ 6% - 60min total.  These really made my heartrate skyrocket. 

OFF- MY wife surprised me with a John Mayer concert tonight.

We're down in LExington, KY through Thanksgiving.  Nice to see family and friends, but pretty tiring and tough on the diet. 

AM: 4xloops around Tiff's parents house: 10k at about 7:45 pace.  Picked it up throughout the run.  Its cold, but legs are feeling better every day now.

PM: easy 4mi. on the Legacy trail w/ 4 or 5 strides - about 7:15 avg. pace.  Very cold outside still.  5k tomorrow.

AM: 5k Race in Keeneland Racetrack (grounds and roads surrounding the race track).  Big race - 2400 people registered.  Hilly course and very cold this morning.  I found myself laboring with the pace after going through 1 mile in 5:35.  I really struggle up a quarter mile uphill and run a 6:15 mile 2.  Yikes.  I rallied a little bit for a 5:52 mile 3 and decent kick to pass a guy in last 0.11 - 0:40.  Still, I was thinking that I would be about a minute faster than this time today...

5k - 18:25

PM: House to Jay C in Seymour.  This course, again is CR 100 most of the way, SR 11 for about 4 miles, and only about 7 scary blind curves/narrow spots.  The bridge at around mile 16 of this run with barely enough room for 2-waytraffic for cars, (much less runners) will henceforth be referred to as Da Bridge.  Sprinted across Da Bridge and didn't get hit by any cars, or have anybody honk and try to scare me (as usually happens).  First Long Run since the marathon.  Pace felt fine in the mid 7's even after a terrible 5k race yesterday, so that's encouraging.

19.11 mi. - 2:25:20 (7:36 avg.) - first mile split was 8:00.00, but felt like at least 8:00.01

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/410130394

PM: 10.16 miles out and back - 1:17:03.  Picked it up a bit at the end.  Feeling pretty good.