The Long Run

1.9@10:32   Treadmill

Panama City Beach.  No run Saturday, up early, drove to Lakeland to watch Tom's meet (8K race on cross country course, 7th place overall, first for the team, a very good season opener).  Drive back home then get ready and on the road to Tallahassee and Panama City Beach.  Plans changed, detours, stopped to get Jacob's golf clubs from his dads house.  Wasn't sure if we'd stop in Tally but finally got word he'd be home and could we take him food shopping?  There until about 6, then on the road again and two more hours and we were at the hotel.  Fortunately the hotel restaurant was still open so dinner was easy.

Next morning was overcast with a few sprinkles, supposed to be cloudy all day but changed to partly cloudy.   I started to go on a run/walk barefoot on the beach but going was tough, had to either run on slanted section or deep and loose sand.  Decided just to walk.  Did about two miles.

A little bit later, while up in the room decided to get in some steps on the treadmill, which turned into a 20 minute run.  Better than nothing.  (The "plan" called for 8 miles easy today).

No running.

Drove home from PCB, stopped briefly in Tally and had lunch with Jacob before continuing home.

7.55@8:19

3x1200m @7:20 - felt good, no struggles (would've been ok with 7:30s)

4x400m @6:20 - actually a little faster than goal (which was really anything better than 6:46 pace, paces were 6:16, 6:15, 6:19, 6:04) - if only I could start hitting 1k repeats at these paces.

Plus warm up and cool down.  Wore new pair of Brooks Hyperion Tempo which I've had good luck with but old pair was getting worn.  Thought about jumping into a pair of carbon high tech shoes but waited too late.  Got Andy a new watchband for Tom's old garmin forerunner 25 which he's going to use for new training plan (written by Tom) targeting the Turkey Trot in November.

4.25@9:37   HR  131 bpm

Easy run day, Westlake Village, usual route.  Started out feeling like I'd have a pretty fast run for being easy.  It was pretty good but no new records, I guess just felt better than I usually do on the first mile, one of those runs where you could trick yourself into running too fast and still call it "easy".

5.02@8:14   HR  143 bpm

Short tuneup MP run, 1 mile easy warm up , 1 mile 9:45, HR was 128 bpm.

Next was 3 miles at 7:46, 7:48, 7:45

Last mile was supposed to be easy, it felt easy but probably did not back it down enough, ended up being 8:05, which technically is still marathon pace for me (if shooting for 3:35).  Or is marathon pace the average pace of one's last marathon (which would be 8:21 for the 3:39 marathon I did at Treasure Coast).

1.15@9:15   HR  139 bpm

Short shake out run day before the marathon.  Brighton, UT, about mile 3-4 of the marathon on the loop at the bottom of three steep miles, still about 8,000 feet or so.  Felt ok, didn't do this run until 4:45 pm, probably should've gotten up here sooner but later flight and getting to the expo in the opposite direction pushed the time.

Big Cottonwood Marathon

Not quite the results I thought I'd get, but lots of unknowns.  How would my quads do?  High altitude?  Running flat after 23 miles of downhill?   But, in the end kept some dignity and this wasn't my slowest marathon.

Low 50's at the start, up high at Guardsman Pass.  Prepared for 3 steep miles to start out.  Towards the end of the first mile my shorts were falling down and I had to pee real bad, so found a little turnoff with some bushes.  Retied my shorts - I need to retire these for good.  Finished up the first mile which was 11:15 - but at least it would be my slowest mile.

Next mile was good, at 8:05 , thought I could build on it.  Course was steep but I was managing but at same time not getting the speed I thought.  Next mile 8:24 which included a small amount of uphill, then next mile was slower as expected with net uphill of 47 feet but maybe a little over 100 feet up before starting down.

Next 14 miles through the canyon, downhill, shaded, cold feeling in parts.  Mixed results catching up.  At start line was near the 3:35 pace group which I lost in the first mile.  Eventually saw the 4:20 group then the 4:10 group.  Don't remember seeing the 4:00 group but at mile 14 saw the 3:50 group.  I would pass them and get passed by them a couple of times.  Another porta-potty stop somewhere in the canyon (mile 16, 9:05).

Then next two miles good with 7:54 and 7:49 (mile 18 7:49, fastest mile). But then we were out of the canyon and onto a bike path before getting onto the streets of Holladay.  Miles 22 and 23 were 9:46 and 9:35, but slowed down more for miles 24 and 25.   Mile 25 was looking like it might turn into a 12 minute mile or slower (I had kinda given up), however the 3:50 pacers caught up to me and were about to get away from me when I decided to try and hang with them.

Had a lot more in the tank than I thought and had no problem keeping up.  There were a couple others that tried to hang on but they fell back after a little bit.

Turning the corner to start the last mile I suddenly felt better and was trying to get a bigger gap on the pacers, but my calves had other ideas giving me some warning cramps - slow down or risk going down.

Came in just ahead of the pacers who must've been close to 3:50 on the dot, but since I'd lined up with the 3:35 group my chip time was 3:50:11.

Besides the shorts issue at the start not exactly sure what went wrong.  My garmin watch and whoop band both said I was at lower performance - garmin body battery started at 55 percent, whoop had me at "red" recovery, and after the race garmin reported my vo2 max down to 53 from 55.

It was a beautiful course as well as challenging.  Race was well run, couldn't have asked for more as far as organization and support go.