The Long Run

6.55 mi, 1:02:35, 9:33 avg

Ran at the Y with the Striders, first 4 miles with Joe, and then joined by Anthony for two of those miles and most of the last two miles were alone.  Pace was better, still keeping the heart rate down.  Running felt easier, maybe partially due to the nice cushiony feeling Brooks launch worn again today.  Also, it feel cooler today for some reason even though it was 78, maybe a slight drop in humidity.

3.01, 30:43

Ran in nbhd, looped inside of foxwood.  Wore HR monitor with 131 bpm average.

1.16 mi, 9:55, 8:32 avg

Thought I had better run something to make sure my legs would work for tomorrow's race.  Did some easy jogging and a few striders.  As ready as I'll ever be.

Pocatello Marathon is an awesome course, great scenery and every detail is taken care of.  Starting line is at a small farm.  I had one small glitch, though with my garmin.  I turned it on and it was taking forever to get past the start screen.  This happened to me one time before, about a year ago, for some reason it was updating every stored run to today's date.  So, I waited and hoped and eventually it was ready.  While that was getting ready I was waiting for a trip to the POP, but somehow got in the slowest line.  Then with just two minutes left to start, I dropped off my bag at the UPS truck and squeezed into the second to the front group near the 3:15 pacer.

I had a TAZ running 3:20 pace tatoo which showed about a 1:37 for the first half so I thought I'd go out with the 3:15 pace group and stay behind them to make sure I didn't go out too fast just in case it was feeling easy.  Unfortunately, for whatever reason (partially at least due to getting no warm up due to time miscalculation) the pace did not feel easy.  But still, first mile was 7:24 for me and I quickly fell behind the 3:15 group.

The downhill was pretty windy at first and fairly steep but not scray steep.  Turning the first corner, it was still dark but with a faint hint of light just a few minutes into the race.

(former college runner Aaron to the left of me, marathon maniac Bob to the right of me (I'm in middle, #234))

I had driven the course on Friday and knew it was pretty easy to follow but was a little worried about what the first hill on the out and back ending at the 7 mile marker.  But, it wasn't that bad.  Also there, I could see that the 3:15 group wasn't that far ahead and I had a pretty good lead on the 3:25 group (which was the other plan I had thought about, just hang in with 3:25 group from the start, pick it up at the end if I could and if not just stay with them, miss the BQ but get a better time than the last two marathons and maybe even pick up a couple seconds from my Boston time if I could even pull ahead a little bit or if the 3:25 pacer came in a little bit early - like they did at Poconos).

Miles 7-12 felt pretty good, mostly easy and gentle downhill with a few spots flattening out and a few slight, short uphills here and there which felt pretty good.

I slowed down a little bit before mile 13 as I went by an aid station and couldn't seem to easily get back on the pace I was at and ended up with a 7:54 for mile 13.

Still under 1:40 at the halfway point - but I was also picking it up instead of cruising through, held the new pace through mile 14 which came in at 7:30.  But, that was going to be it as far as 7:30ish pace as I headed into the "rollers".

Not sure of the exact point, but maybe around 18 or so the 3:25 group came cruising up behind me.  Pacer Ryan encouraged me to keep up.  I didn't at first and thought I'd just try to keep them in my sight.  As they were maybe 100 or 200 feet in front of me I found a burst of inspiration and decided I'd catch back up.  And, at first it worked.  I must have been holding something back until then because it didn't seem that hard to catch up and once I was there I could slow down a little.  The slight drop in pace and running with the group made it feel easier.  The view of the road also was encouraging, it looked like downhill for a pretty good stretch.

But it didn't last long enough, they had pulled ahead a bit by the time I got to mile 20, but still not that far.  Mile 21 is almost at the top of the last big uphill (not that big, about 69 feet up).  Getting up to the 21 mile marker and staying under 9:00 was a little encouraging.  Was hoping that the switching back to flat to slightly downhill would help.

Unfortunately, hill went up a little bit more and didn't go down right away (mile 22 went up another 35 feet, not a huge uphill but not downhill either).

Earlier in the race I ran a little bit with a 20 something guy named Aaron, former collegiate runner doing his first marathon, originally wanting a 3:00 until a hamstring injury late in training derailed that plan.  But, he had been running pretty strong and had a pretty good lead on me.  Ran next to him for a while but we ended up splitting up at an aid station.  Also, came up to 55 year old marathon maniac Bob who I had also chatted with early on in the race.  I had been trailing him for some time.  Miles 22 and 23 were much slower.  Then, another runner from early on, Lisa, came up behind me and slowly cruised by me.  I was about a minute ahead of her at the half so the slower first half paid off for her with a good lead on me at the end.

Finally, miles 24 to the end were a nice and steady slight downhill.  But, there was also a fairly strong headwind (rare for this part of the course which usually has no wind or a slight tail wind due to the terrain).  But, the wind didn't bother me since I was already slower than originally planned and just wanted to finish.  Actually, I was thinking about how the wind was kind of nice at keeping it cool (temps were still in the 50's but sunny).

Sometime during this last few miles, a runner from another race (maybe 10K or half marathon) told me I looked like the happiest marathoner she had seen all day.  Definitely a nice thing to hear.  I must have been enjoying the race!

Finish line was wonderful with great food and lots of places to sit on the grass or on picnic benches and a DJ for entertainment.

garmin stats: 26.37 mi, 3:32:28, 8:03 avg

1. 7:24
2. 7:27
3. 7:31
4. 7:36
5. 7:23
6. 7:30
7. 7:31
8. 7:40
9. 7:32
10. 7:27
11. 7:28
12. 7:21
13. 7:54
14. 7:30
15. 8:04
16. 8:43
17. 8:37
18. 8:13
19. 7:54
20. 8:34
21. 8:55
22. 9:36
23. 9:25
24. 8:46
25. 8:51
26. 8:26  and 26.2 1:39 (7:36)

1.1 miles - first run after Pocatello

2.17, 22:59

Second run after Pocatello, one more mile

5.46, 50:25

Ran in Longleaf with the Striders.  Feeling back to normal.

4.09 mi, 41:32, 10:09 pace

Ran in the neighborhood, out and back past golf course to Trinity Blvd.

7.01, 1:14:25, 10:37 avg

Ran in Starkey park with the Striders.

6.1 mi, 1:05:01, 10:39 avg

Ran in the neighborhood, started a little bit late and montiored heart rate, keeping at 132 or below which meant a bit slower than usual today but not my worst heart rate run.

6.41 mi, 58:30, 9:07 avg

Ran at the Y with the Striders.  I wore an old pair of Skecher's Gorun.  Ran slower on purpose but took a break from the preciseness of heart rate monitoring and decided a good compromise was to not go faster than 9:00 pace.  Weather was pretty decent and I felt pretty good throughout the run.

3.25 mi, 32:29, 9:59 avg

Ran just under two complete loops around the neighborhood.  Kept heart rate at 132 or under, with an average of 128 bpm (spiked a little bit here and there but quickly brought it down) so this was a pretty good run as far as pace vs heart rate goes.  Hopefully will see some more gains in heart rate pace.

6.76 mi, 58:32, 8:40 avg

Ran at Longleaf with the Striders, specifically ran with Fronasty (aka Fro-fro the barber among other names).  Did not wear heart rate monitor and also my ipod was dead so happy to have someone to chat with.  We seemed to get progressively faster.  Last mile was about a 7:30 pace. 

I'm thinking maybe of doing heart rate training every other day.

7.14 mi, 1:14:10, 10:23 avg

Ran in the neighborhood and stuck to heart rate monitored training.  Average pace ended up being a little bit slower than Wednesday, including the first mile. Pace mostly stayed the same vs keeping heart rate at or below 132.

A few things I've noticed, besides being at a slower pace, I have no desire to stop for a drink or anything like that.  I'd rather just keep going and I have no big desire for a gel or gatorade, and finally once I'm done I have an urge to do a second run later in the day (which I haven't done yet, though).  Usually a second run is more like because I have to, but now I've been wanting to do one because I want to.  Definitely has been interesting.

10.09 mi, 1:33:12, 9:14 avg

Ran with Jamie at Starkey park as well as criss-crossing many of the other Striders for the big group run.  Also, ran into Dixie on the way back who turned around a little early so he could run with us. 

Did some very easy miles at first, then a little bit faster, and then the last 4 miles were 8:30ish.  Legs felt very fresh today and felt like I wanted to keep going.

6.13 mi, 1:00:45, 9:55 avg, 128 bpm average

It was a pretty good run.  Ran in the nbhd, got started at a decent time and stuck to heart rate training today.  I felt a slight improvement from the start and was happy to be under a 10:00 average for the run.  Tomorrow I will run socially and not worry about heart rate but not push it either (except maybe a little bit at the end).

I did five miles, then stopped at home to wake up Andy for school then did one more mile.

Weather was pretty nice this morning, too.

7.19 mi, 1:04:44, 9:00 avg

Ran at the Y with the Striders.  No heart rate monitoring today.  Just wanted to run easy with no monitoring so decided I'd keep the pace at 9:00 or slower (which I did for the most part except for a little bit just faster than 9:00).  Able to run a little bit more natural feeling this way.

6.32 mi, 1:01:30, 9:44 avg, HR 129 bpm

Ran in the neighborhood.  Extra nice out with cooler temps (but still a long ways to go to cold).  Use HR and stayed below 132 most of the run except when I noticed it was too high and would slow down right away.  Ran just over 5 miles, stopped home to wake up the boys, and then ran about one more mile.  I think this might be my second best HR run and maybe best since Pocatello.

6.07 mi, 52:00, 8:34 avg

Ran with Striders at Longleaf, specifically ran with Jamie and a couple of miles with Michelle H.  Somewhat coolish morning.  No heart rate monitoring, mostly conversational pace though.

PM - 2.53 mi, 27:30, 10:52 avg

Ran at the Y on the treadmill while Thomas was doing swim team.  First heart rate run on the treadmill, was using my watch instead of garmin chest strap and sometimes used the built in heart rate on the treadmill, it was all over the place so I just ran kind of easy.

8.55 mi, 1:19:26, 9:18 avg

Ran with Jamie in the neighborhood which meant I was able to start a little earlier than usual since I had to meet someone.  Ran pretty easy.  Finished about 7.5 miles when I was back at my house.  Woke up Andy then went back out and did another mile up and down the street.

18.1 mi, 2:52:05, 9:30 avg, HR 136 bpm avg

Met Jamie at 6:00 and ran from Longleaf, heading to Starkey park to meet Cynthia and Renee for their 8 mile run.  I wore my HR monitor but wasn't going to look at it until the end of the run.  There was a big cross country meet going on in the park so we ran passed hundreds of HS runners in their staging areas, warming up and getting ready.

Found Cynthia and Renee ok and had a  good 8 miles with them before heading back out of the park and towards longleaf.

Heart rate was good for the first 5 miles or so but would spike here and there and steadily climbed even with the even pace.

Overall a pretty good run.

7.09 mi, 1:05:40, 9:16 avg

Ran with Joe and Jamie in the neighborhood.  Joe had been missing for a bit due to a family loss so was good to have him back for a run.  Nice conversational pace, about 6.5 miles together, then I woke up Andy, then went back out for a short cool down.  No HR monitor for most of the run.

PM

2.14 mi, 22:28, 10:29 avg

Went to the Y to take Thomas to swim team.  Did a short weight work out and did a short run on the treadmill wearing the heart rate monitor.  Went much better this time.  Start out slow, ramped up to about 9:40 pace until HR went to 133, then backed off.  Eventually settled into a 10:10 pace which I did most of the run.  After hitting two miles, slowed down to reach a 120 HR which was about 11:20 pace.

7.07 mi, 1:08:48, 9:44 avg, 128 BPM

Ran at the Y with the Striders, but mostly on my own.  Wore HR monitor and kept it under 132.  Felt pretty good and glad I was able to stay in the 9:xx range while keeping my HR.  Very light rain on and off for most of the run which was more pleasant than annoying.

7.25 mi, 58:35, 8:05 avg

First tempo run in quite some time.  Warmed up with about 1.5 miles easy, then ran 4 miles with a goal of anything under 7:00 pace.

First mile was good, stopped briefly to open a gate on the second mile (maybe a better route next time), hung on through the third mile ok, and then at the beginning of the 4th mile had to get through the gate again which was easier leaving so I didn't stop my watch and just made up the time.  During most of the 4th mile I was slower than 7:00 pace but gradually picked it up and was at about a 7:05 pace with about 0.1 left to go, then I concentrated on "quick feet" and out of nowhere threw in "happy feet" into my internal chant and then found myself finishing mile 4 at 6:55 (although it seemed much harder than it should have been).

Tempo splits: 6:46, 6:53, 6:50, 6:55