Denouement

Met Ali and KellieS at 10:30, and ran 8 miles.  Had some pancakes and turkey sausage in my gut and was lucky to not have it come up.  Fun way to start the new year!

 My legs felt heavy but not soreness in the hammies when I started like yesterday.  Our visitors (four adults and 7 kids) just left the house so now I will get a nap? 

ave pace 8:01

Best way to get a sleep in?  Don't set your alarm!  I was supposed to wake up at 4:35, but I didn't set my alarm aparently after choosing my wake up time last night, because MacK texted me to see where the heck I was, and that woke me up.  I am sure I was only half coherent.  It takes a true friend to text you at 5:19 and ask why you're not out on the road :)  We saw Marion on the road doing way geeky calf stretches.  As I passed her I thought, "Those are my favorite calf stretches", then I said hello (total etiquette extra credit since I had a running partner with me).  Then we realize we know each other.  It was great because I have wanted to introduce MacK and Marion.  Two very important blog ladies in my life finally meet! 

So I didn't get in the 11 miles I needed today to get to 80 miles for the week, but I guess that is ok since tomorrow is 15 days from my marathon, and I was going to do 20, but now maybe I'll just do 18.  We'll see.  

 15 days from my marathon!  That means I have to start eating better. 

ave pace 8:21

weight 121

I went skiing with my family, the first time with all the kids.  JJ (4 yrs) did great for his first time skiing.  He and Mickie (6) were in ski school all day except I went down one bunny hill with them after picking them up in the afternoon.  Ben did morning lessons, when Paul and I skiied sans kids, then joined us in the afternoon, which only slowed down the runs slightly, since Paul is already skiing like an old man.  We had a great time.  Weather was great (overcast and warm).  I am not sure skiing all day will be good for my tempo tomorrow, but too late to cry about that.

Had a great group planned for today: MacK, Ali, SteveK, and TylerS, but 11 inches of snow fell overnight, which is too much for my car to wade through, so yet another Saturday run messed with by mother nature.  I was originally thinking to do a 12 mile tempo, but after thinking about being 2 weeks out from my marathon, I decided to cut it to 9 miles.  Mother nature turns it into a solo run on the treadmill.

 I warmed up 4 miles, then started the tempo, with a plan to start at tinman pace (8.9 mph or 6:44) then increase after three miles to marathon pace, then increase again the last three miles.  Well, that turned out to be ambitious.  I settled for maintaining tinman.  So I did 6 miles at tinman (break at 5.25 for potty) then dropped the pace for the last three miles, eventually ending up at 9.4 or 9.5, I don't remember which.  Each time I increased pace it was hard to keep up for .5 mile, then it got better, then it would start over as I increased again.  I am not sure what makes me such a wuss on the treadmill, but this is a good tempo effort, and 18 miles on the treadmill this morning makes running 26.2 in balmy AZ sound REALLY fun.  So I am getting excited! 

I also put the  race in the course tool yesterday to see what my splits could look like.  So a 2:45 marathon is about 6:18 pace, but a couple of the middle miles could be as slow as 6:30 or so with me being on target for 2:45, because there is a grade increase, and its a little chunky.  Still, there's never a mile with even a 1% grade increase, so its pretty flat.  I figure ideal 1/2 marathon splits for 2:45 would be 1:23, 1:22.  I think I will be between 2:45 (very good day) and 2:50 (decent day).  There is an 11 sec/mile difference between the two times, so I need to not panic if some of my splits are 2:50 instead of 2:45 splits.  I do want the first half to feel easier than the first 1/2 of St G, where I felt like I went out too fast for the conditions and for how I felt.  So ideal splits for 2:50 according to the course tool is 1:25:23, 1:24:37.  So I hope I feel chipper and ready to go in two weeks.

weight 117 (all the sweating associated w/treadmill-I even drank 14 oz over the course of the run and lost that much - wow)

Bad quality sleep.  Yuck!

Way cold, 3F.  Met MacK and did 7 miles, then one more on my own.  Glad I am starting to decrease miles.  13 miles in that cold would have done me over.

ave pace 8:26

weight 121

I am retiring these shoes.  They felt non-helpful.

I met Mary Ann S. in SF midday for mile repeats.  I thought to do 5 if we ended up 5:55ish and fewer if faster.  

2.68 warm up

 FSI (for Sasha's information) I wheeled a mile before we met to make sure watches weren't off.  My watch matched the mile marker within feet.

Anyone as obsessive about my running as me (ok, I guess noone would be) can compare this workout to my Sept 23rd same workout before St. G. 

1 - 5:41, (miles 1 and 3 are new downhill of about 53 feet if I remember right, so 2 and 4 are net uphill the same amount) slowed down last couple of yards to not be sub 5:40, I guess that was kind of stupid

2 - 5:48

3 - 5:41

4 - 5:43

So averaged about 4 sec faster per mile than in September.  Nice to see improvement.  I felt like I was holding back, but perhaps I felt that way in September since I was tapering then as well.

Mary Ann came in approx 10 sec behind me each time, she'd start out with me, even pushing pace, then would struggle with breathing a bit. 

It was so great to have Mary Ann join me.  We had some fun conversation.  She's serious about her running, and that's right up my alley.  I can dig it.

weight 120

Ran with MacK then a tad on my own to get to 10.  Not as cold (26F).

weight 120.

I am going to start tracking my miles driven as a shoe so that I have records for my tax return of what I drove for 2009 without having to reconstruct.  My driving miles are my #1 expense.

Abs and ham strengthening in the evening.  Ouch.

Ran 7.5 with Ali midday.  No strides, just mediumish pace.  I was hoping for shorts weather but it was only 30F or so, so spandex once again!

7:30 ave pace

Bad roads driving to the ladies, bad roads running.  Quite icy, combo ice skating/running combo.

Ave pace 8:37

weight 121 (after endurox)

some ankle weakness will watch, lots of stretching

Man, I can't find one of my windbreaker shell on my mittens, and it was cold this morning (9F in riverbottoms).  Combine the two and I just about lost a couple of digits.  Met up with the SF group, started off with MacK and Ali, then Travis met up with us, MacK wanted to start the tempo early, which as a consequence made the whole tempo uphill - what a treat.  The plan was 4 mile tempo at marathon pace effort.  It was hard to keep pace, partially probably because of the temperatures, partly because of the headwind for 3.3 of the miles.

1 - 6:51, hmmm, MacK with me for .7, Travis stays with

2 - 6:29, better, bottom lip freezing

3 - 6:32, headwind stregthening, but not as bad as sometimes

4 - 6:36, includes worst uphill section at the end.

Travis was with me the whole time and pushed pace.  I tried to keep it at marathon effort, which gave me poor splits, but did I mention it was 9F?  We turned around and picked up MacK, who wasn't far behind.

I tried some Cytomax during the run, which is the drink the marathon provides.  It tasted like Crystal Light, and had only 1/2 the calories of Gatorade.  My stomach accepted it just fine.

Finished 13 miles in a whiny mood (sorry MacK and Travis) because my fingers were really freezing).  I could hardly untie my shoe to get my car key when I was done.  I kept having to pick at the double knot with my frozen stubs.  Finally success and I am the car.

Endurox, then I took a way long hot shower and now am in sweats with a hoody.

weight 122

Taper baby.

ave pace 8:07

weight 121

right ankle is still a little weak.  Will go to Dr. Bradys today for last workover before the race.

Ran workout from Jack Daniel's Running Formula schedule, 5 days out from marathon.

4x1200 @ threshold (for me 6:04), 2 min easy between

1 - 5:58 pace

2 - 6:04 pace,

3 - 6:00 pace

4  - 5:58 pace

ave pace for run (including warm up/down and between sets) 7:07

all on Salem canal road, back and forth.

I've been doing all kinds of visualizations, if I am feeling fresh and great, if I have sluggish periods, if I need to back off, if I feel like I felt at mile 24 in St G at mile 24 in PF Chang --like death 0 fight on, fight for every ten seconds I can.

The air should be thick, my legs felt good today, so they should feel fresh for the race.  Now just time to relax, sleep, eat right and relax (i know I said it twice, its for emphasis :) ).

weight 121

Not enough sleep, getting stressy sleep now.

Easy 5 with the ladies.

ave pace 8:25

With 4 strides.

Upper right glute, or very lower right back, by the upper bones of the pelvis starting to hurt.

Planned day of rest because of taper.  Same pain area as yesterday only very painful as day goes on, hard to walk without a limp.  I call Josse from the airport to ask about stretches.

Two good stretch sessions.

Ran from the finish line 1.5 miles then back.  My bum hurt when I woke up, but the run and lots of stretching after made it feel much better, almost all gone, after.  Which was good because I didn't want to go to elite bib pick up with a limp.  

I had an elite bib, but when I went to pick up my bib, I realized how dramatically I was a second class elite runner.  Third class would be more accurate.  The elite athletes were staying at the Marriott Butte Resort, and had their meals provided and brought to them for the whole trip, and they were shuttled around (to see course, for press conference, to and from race).  I was invited but not required to attend the "technical meeting" at 4pm and the dinner afterward, so I went.  I was also able to drive to the resort the morning of the race and drive on the elite shuttles to the start of the race and back to the resort after, so I did get a bit of a taste of the sweet life.

 I met some runners, but alot of them already knew each other so it was a bit like being an ugly girl (a slow elite runner) on her first day of attending a new high school.  The ones I dared introduce myself to ended up being very nice and kind to me.

Found out yesterday that the money is 6 deep instead of 10 deep like the year before, so I know I don't have much of a shot at it, but there is also money for americans 3 deep so there's a chance for that.  

I get to the resort at 5:35 because they said that we were leaving at 5:45 in shuttles to go to the start line.  I chat with some people and ate some oatmeal and drank Cytomax and water.

My legs were feeling good, but I felt as we shuttled that I was still waiting for the adrenaline of the race to get me.  I eventually felt it as we lined up and did strides in front of a huge crowd.

My goal was to average 6:20 for the first 1/2 of the race, which is net uphill, then perhaps go under that if I felt wonderful, which would get me to 2:45.  I also knew I wasn't feeling too great that I could back off 10 seconds a mile without trouble and still PR (pr is 2:50:40).  I knew from the course tool that heading for a 2:50, I could still get a couple of miles 6:40ish due to grade differences, so that I wouldn't freak out at splits.

Phase I of race - Michelle has it together

1 - 6:12, a little bit of an exuberant start.  I have two ladies ahead of me who were planning on going 6:20 pace, so I wanted to stay in touch

2 - 6:22

3 - 6:20 two ladies still just ahead

4- 6:23 I come up to two ladies and say hi

5 - 6:23

6 - 6:13 A lady passes me and I want to keep touch, but she's going pretty fast, so I have to run my own race

7 - 6:22

8 - 6:28 starting uphill, slight grade

9 -  6:29, slight uphill

10 - 6:26, 1:03:38 for first 10 miles, 18 seconds off 6:20, gps stopps working so catch splits by hitting split button, also each mile marker has timer so can calculate splits as I run

Phase 2 - wheels start to wobble

11 - 6:36, starting to wait for 1/2 marathon, not a good sign

12 - 6:21, slight downhill

13 - 6:30, 1:23:51, so heading for 2:48, I guess I am ok with that

14 - 6:50, includes first bathroom break, so likely 6:25-30 without

15 - 6:31, slight uphill, I felt like this was a gutsy mile, considering the race, I was still trying to make something out of the race

16 - 6:52

17 - 6:41, bad sign - me calculating what pace I would have to run to make PR, realize its out of reach, because my legs are burning, and I realize its either quitting time or a long death march to the finish for a non-glorious time

Phase 3 - The long death march (second title: Feel the burn) - I hope I'd learn something from the torturous conclusion even though I knew I wouldn't meet any of my goals.

18 - 6:48 every time I try to surge I am in pain, especially my quads

19 - 6:44, seven miles to go, at around 18.5 I am slowing and I calculate what 7 minute pace for the rest of the run will give me, answer 2:54

20 - 6:59, getting passed left and right, can I really have another 10k of this misery, race is in slo mo

21 - 7:32, includes a potty stop

22 - 7:15, I congratulate and encourage those passing me, might as well, since my breathing is fine, its just my legs are on fire

23 - 7:19, with every futile attempt at a surge I either, let out an involuntary cry or gasp from the pain, or I curse under my breathe, or try to talk myself into maintaining the pace

24 - 7:03, I tell a guy as he passes me, "Feel the burn!"

25 - 7:20, I try to pass some people, I pass a couple, I get passed by others

26 - 7:15, where is Alli?  I just want to stop and cry in her arms (mind you I've never even met Alli, just know her from the blog and feel like we're remote friends and that she'd understand).

.2 - 1:26, not much of a kick, but did speed up when I realized I was close to breaking 2:56, 2:55:53 is the final verdict

When I finish the race, I am a mixture of very disappointed, so relieved it is over, and proud of myself for fighting.

So I am needless to say very disappointed.  I think I have already come up with some lessons learned.  You'll see they're all related to each other:

1) I was in shape for a good half but not a good marathon.  If I was a good coach to myself, I would have realized this and switched to the half. 

2) I started building up lactic acid way too early in the race.  I need to focus on lactic threshold workouts for successful marathon racing.

3) Training for a January marathon is too difficult and dicy in Utah.  I had a couple of long hard runs planned that didn't happen because of the weather or because I couldn't find company so I wussed out and didn't do them on my own.

4) I need to be tougher and just plan on running all my hard workouts alone.  If I can get company, then I'll just consider it a bonus.

5) I need a coach.  I have three years to reach my potential so I don't have time to fumble my way through it.

Some of you have watched my training this year and I would especially appreciate your feedback on other insights you have about what other lessons we could learn from this training cycle. 

I'm just glad there wasn't a shot at qualifying so I could learn these lessons on a practice race.

Post race notes - I ate lunch with Bonnie.  She drove up from Tucson to have lunch with me, which was so sweet.  She was tracking me from the website, with 5k updates sent to her phone, so thankfully there was no need to explain the results or the unravelling, she was an eyewitness.  She helped me work through the race and was the perfect combination of compassion and insight.  I appreciate her friendship and support.  The thought of food disgusted me until my bacon burger and fries were in front of me, then they were really good!  So was the trader joe's chocolate bar she gave me!  I walked for 20 minutes in the airport, making circles in my small terminal, per Bonnie's instructions to help work it out.  My legs are killing!

What's up?  Walked three miles on the treadmill while reading chiclet.  Took forever. 

Snowshoed up the switchbacks, for about 40 minutes up, 25 minutes down.  Incredibly beautiful.  Not great snowshoing form, though.  Not fun to kick myself in the ankle for the fifth time in the same place.  Definitely novice.

Dreamt I was the vice president to Barrack Obama, shadowed him all day then hung out with Michelle and their kids at night.  Fun.  

Too much snow, so ran 6 miles on the treadmill.  This is my first run since the marathon.  I haven't felt sore for several days, but running has recalled some soreness.  I guess I just feel a little beat up still.  Ran one mile, then stretched, ran 5 more, then good stretching session at the end.  Nice to be back in the saddle, I am sad that my first run back had to be on the treadmill.  I truly hate it.

Pace was 8:00 after 1.25 miles of easier, felt fast enough for me.

weight: 122 (first time weighing in in 1.5 weeks, I'm glad the news isn't worse, it would have been higher, I am sure, but the treadmill makes me sweat)

Slept like a brick because I was so tired from not getting enough sleep the night before.  

Another 6 inches of snow overnight, I drive through it to meet up with MacK, though I was late, from crawling down the mountain.

The roads were slick for running, which should be no surprise.  The effort felt harder than 8:33 pace, but that's what the ave pace was.  It was nice to run outside and with MacK.

Legs still feel sore.  Stretching after.  Some mild pain/bugging in left knee, not really while running, but I sometimes feel it when on stairs.

weight 122

Ran with MacK and Ali.  Legs still heavy.  

Ave pace 8:34

weight 124 :( 

Finally felt somewhat back to normal.  

Met Carl and MacK in SF.  Having a fast guy join puts some pressure on to run a decent pace, and my legs actually felt ok with it.  I am sore now afterward, but felt fine while running.  

ave pace 7:37

weight 123

Those of you concerned about me running too much, relax :) I'm just doing 6 miles tomorrow.  Cake walk.

Something wrong with this picture?  Could it be running less than three miles, or is it the 8.5 hours of sleep?  Both, actually.

I thought I set my alarm and I didn't.  Dang.  Woke myself up at 6am feeling quite rested, then scrambled onto the treadmill to run as much as I could before I had to get ready for work.  Started slow and ramped up to 7:30.  Still only made it to 2.42 before 6:30.  Hopefully this at least got my metabolism going.

weight 122

Met the SF running group.  Ran some with Ali, Travis, Chad, Hal, and Doug.  Had to do a .5 mile pick up fast after a potty break.

ave pace 7:53