The Long Run

Last night, Noah, my six year old son decided that he wanted to run.  He was very insistent.  How can anyone turn that down?

Later, I found out that his real motivation was that I had left out some sport jelly beans which I hadn't used.   He wanted those and figured that going on a run was one way to get them.  Well, whatever gets you motivated I suppose! 

So, this morning we did one loop around the neighborhood.  It was about 8:45 and the cool morning weather was starting to disappear.  We walked a couple hundred feet then I let Noah lead the way.  He kept a pretty consistent pace, had speed up to about an 8:50 pace at one point.  Had to stop and retie his shoes - I should have double knotted them.   At 1.2 miles he announced "Walk Break!" so we walked about 1 minute, then continued on back to the house.

After the run we both hopped into the pool to cool down. 

We averaged 12:11 pace. 

Good Monday morning run. Met up just after 6:00 with Dixie. Started out at a nice and easy pace for the first few miles. Weather was great. On the way back the pace had picked up by itself, with one mile at marathon pace, then the next mile started out that way but we slowed it down a bit. Finished last mile with 7:48.

Average pace: 8:16

 Asics gel - 355
 

I'm aiming for a mile or two more this week then last week, then I'll start backing it down.

Cross train/take it easy day.   Felt a bit wiped out this morning, maybe something that has been making its rounds through my family.  Not terrible though.  Thought about doing nothing, went to the Y did some walking on the treadmill with varying speeds and inclines for about 10 minutes, then 20 minutes on the rowing machine.  I definitely felt better afterwards than I did before so doing something proved to be the right choice.

Needed to head back so that Jenny could do her run before the kids had to go to school.

Going to try and take it easy today and get to bed early tonight. 

6:00 run starting at the Y with Dixie and Randall. Pretty good run with a slightly faster start than my usual slow 9:00+/mile starts but not too fast. Fairly consistent pace with a slight pick up at about 7 miles before we decided to back the pace back down because this was supposed to be an easy day.

Average pace: 8:14

Glycerin - 127.84

I barely listened to my ipod except for a little bit towards the end. Chicago marathon says absolutely no ipods or other devices this year, so I'm planning on going without music. The music got a bit annoying towards the end of my last marathon so I shouldn't miss it, plus there is supposed to be tremendous crowd support at Chicago.

I had dental appointment cloud hanging over my head for this morning's run. One of my teeth was chipped so that needed fixing. In the past week I chipped another tooth. The first one I attributed to bad luck but after the second one I'm suspicious of maybe too much sports drink, so I've been trying to rinse with plain water after drinking sports drink. Ok, both teeth are fixed now although the appointment turned more complicated and longer than I had anticipated.

Another good tempo run today. Dixie was going to do it with me but he called at 5:37 saying he could not make it because had been up late with clients. It would have been nice to run with someone else but it also meant I didn't have to rush to meet anyone. So, I took my time a little bit and didn't get out the door until 6:00 instead of 5:45.

I got to the Y, warmed up inside a little bit on the arc trainer for 6 minutes, then stretched a little bit and headed outside. Today's goal was 7 miles of tempo at 7:01 ~ 7:07 range, with a total of 10 miles including warm-up/cool down. Ran about 1.75 miles at a 9:30 pace or so, then dropped off my bottle of acclerade and took a power bar gel. I was trying to follow the steps of another successful tempo run I had recently.

I took off and wanted to get into a pace that felt like tempo as soon as possible, it was a little faster than 7:00 but it seemed to feel ok so I thought I would stick with it. As I knocked off the miles I still had to keep bargaining with myself - e.g. ok, mile 4, this is the minimum, mile 5 - try and get this one because I slowed down here last time, mile 6 - ok getting close, mile 7 - countdown to finish. I got 6:55, 6:49, 6:53, 6:51, 6:40, 6:54, 6:40.

I think between now and the marathon I'm going to focus on finishing my remaining runs, slow down and take it easier as the "getting close to the race something might happen to me paranoia" is starting to set in.

The pace for this run when projected to a 5K beats my 5K PR. I know those mileage predictor charts don't apply equally to everyone but hopefully there is some correlation. There are lots of things that can happen on marathon day so I'm going to hope for the best conditions I could hope for and go out and do my best.

Average pace - 7:37

Asics gel - 365 

Mainly a cross training and weights day.  I did some time on the arc trainer and rowing machine.  Then I did 2 miles at an easy pace on the treadmill, followed by about 20 minutes of upper body weights.

Getting prepared for a nice and easy 20 mile run tomorrow, the last big long run before the marathon. 

Last big run before the marathon. Next weekend runs are 12, 8, and then marathon.

When woke up this morning and let the dogs outside I found that the heat and humidity had come back. It wasn't completely miserable but not as nice as it has been recently. Starting conditions were 79° and about 90% humidity.

I met up with Dixie and Joe at the Suncoast pkwy trail at 6:00. Joe was going to run about 15 or 16 and Dixie had signed up for the full 20 miles. We started out at an easy pace, 9:30 for first mile and then 8:40-8:50 for the next few. It was still dark for a while which was nice except for a good number of bikes on the trail zipping by. We turned off the suncoast trail and made a left into the Starkey park trail. After 7 miles Joe turned back. Dixie and I continued on until we had done 10 miles then started back. We still had the pace nice and easy with nothing really faster than 8:15. We stopped a few times to keep our water bottles filled and take some gels, so some of the miles were slower.

When we got back to the Suncoast trail, I had to take a left to retrace the route and get the full 20, about .35 miles up before heading south. Dixie was starting to fade so he took a right. With his head start it took me a while to catch him. I found out that although he was fading, there was a big guy that Dixie wanted to stay ahead of. I eventually caught up. We ran along side for a short time. With one mile left to go, my "reward" for not going fast (it was an 8:36 average pace). I wanted to see if I could do the last mile at marathon pace. So, I picked up and got into a pace, I looked at the Garmin and it said 7:06, so I figured I would hold onto that if I could do so without an all out effort. I pretty much did that, finishing the last mile at 7:08. Total distance was 20.12 at this point.

I drank some water, then walked back on the trail until I met up with Dixie then jogged the last 0.2 miles in with him.

The temp at the end was 86° but the humidity had dropped to 78%. Not ideal but a little better than miserable.

The run felt pretty good overall. I did end up with a blister but I don't think it should bother me too much. I didn't feel completely spent at the end. Part of my brain said no way could you do that ending pace for another 6.2 miles let alone an entire marathon. Another part of my brain said otherwise.

Glycerin - 148