I'm feeling fat and sassy

Ran 15.1 before work this morning.  Felt a little stiff overall but not bad.  It was very hot and humid today (in the 80s temp wise), like summer's last stand.  I'll be glad when it's over.  Average pace was 7:48 and it was pretty even over the run

Easy 7 miles before my Labor Day race (8:13 average).  Felt pretty good. Also got new shoes!  I like the Adrenalines and they run nice but they don't last at all.  At about the 250 mile mark, I'm almost through the outersole and the cushion is beat.  

Race Report: Run into Buffalo 15 (USATF Master Championship) or Your Grandmother showed up to race and kicked my ass:

Initially I was going to run this as my Fall A race but my sister convinced me to run Wineglass in October so this race became an estimate race to see how my training was going.  In addition to being a local 15k, it serves as the USATF Master Championship so you get a bunch of superfast masters runners from across the Northeast and Country.  The fun part is they wear their age-group on their back so you can see just how old that guy is as he pulls away.  My goal was to run 1:00:30 which would indicate I'm in good shape for my marathon.  My super goal was sub-60. 

Pre-Race:  The weather in Buffalo was mid 90's and humid for the days leading up to the race but it broke the night before and I won't up to a nice 62 degree day with a little breeze. I also woke up to a moderate stomach virus that had me questioning if I was gonna be able to make it an hour w/o a pitstop.  Luckily, modern medicine is avaliable and got me to the start, though my stomach still wasn't happy with me.  Got to the start and jogged a nice 2 mile warm up to get loosed up.  Had some water but I was grumpy becasue I forgot my powerbar/gel/chomps.  The race is held downtown on the Buffalo waterfront and the course is a 8 mile lollipop with an extra little out and back added at the start along Lake Erie to make up the full 15k

Race:  Lined up where I thought was good.  Super nervous as I waited for the start and off we went. The course narrowed down pretty fast and ended up tripping over a couple people but it wasn't too bad

1st 5k in 20:10 (miles 6:31, 6:30. 6:27):  My goal was to not go out too fast and get settles into a nice pace which I accomplished.  It felt easy but I knew if I pushed it to much I'd be hurting later.  Managed to start picking off people who started a little fast.

2nd 5k in 20:19 (miles 6:38, 6:22, 6:35):  Just wanted to maintain pace and was using the people in front to drive the pace in an effort to get to them.  This 5k had some long slow hills which shows in the pace.  Overall felt good, starting to feel the burn but I know if I could get past this chunk, the last 5k would be a snap

3rd 5k in 19:51 (miles 6:31, 6:26, 6:17 with the last 0.3 at 6:00 pace).  We were headed to the finish and had a slight net downhill to help us out.  My goal was just to maintain and push a little towards the end.  It was going great until about mile 7.  At an intersection, a cop was directly traffic and a taxi tried to sneak through but ended stuck in the middle with the slower people headed up and the faster people going back down.  I thought he was gonna hit the group of us (maybe 4 runners).  As I ran by I slapped the hood pretty hard in anger as I had to run around the front of him.  In hindsight it was probably unnecessary but he was frustrating that he couldn't wait the extra 20 seconds.  I see it a lot when I bike commute, people always in a rush in their cars.  But in the end no one got hit and that's all that matters.  I was pretty pretty gassed at the end but kicked it up for the last mile to try to stay with a couple people that passed me  I came in at 1:00:37 (gun) and 1:00:30 (chip) for a 55th place finish and 6th in my age group.

Overall:  I hit my goal time right on the nose and this was one of the better paced races I ran.  I think I could have easily squeezed out an extra 30 seconds if my tummy wasn't angry and I was fully tapered.  Definitely happy with my results and it confirms that I'm in good shape for my marathon in a month.  I keep doubting my fitness despite hitting my times in training so hopefully this is the last nail in the coffin for that.

I'm also not sure if I should shoot for sub 3 at Wineglass or sub 3:05.  This race puts me at like a 3:03 marathon but it's untapered and I wasn't feeling great.  My training milestones put me all right between the 2 goals.  Something I need to think about

5 easy miles after the race.  Felt ok, average pace was 8:18

Waited too long to run outside before bed.  Ran on the treadmill while watching some brainless tv.  average pace was like 7:45

8 regular miles at 7:34.  Nothing special.

Marathon paced run.  Did 0.5m warm up then 9 at marathon pace, then 0.5m cool-down.  Average pace during the speed part was 6:52.  Felt pretty good and definitely the easiest of my MP runs

Long run after work.  It was real hot and sunny when I started.  Felt pretty good for the first 3/4 and kept the pace around 7:55 but the heat totally dehydrated me and I didn't drink enough and exploded for the last 5 and averaged about 8:15 for those and was suffering a lot.  Averaged 8:02 so it wasn't too bad, I'd just like to have finished stronger.  Was pretty sick when I got home, took about 30 minutes of laying on the floor before I could stand to eat or drink.   Just glad it's my last 20miler before my race.  I'm in full taper mode now!

Run 1:  8 regular miles before work.  Average pace was 7:35.  Unremarkable in geneal

Did 4 easy miles (8:08) pace. Felt good

2 run day

AM run:  6.5 miles today with the middle 4.5 at marathon pace (6:44 pace).  Ran it a little faster than I should have but felt good.

PM run: 4 easy miles with ralphie. 8:17 pace.

 Side note.  I have a massive blister on my little toe.  80% of the skin is abnornal.  Makes running kinda poopie right now.  Hope it heals up ok

I'm in full taper mode now and it seems to be working. Went out for my 12 mile long run and ran it at 7:33 miles. The crazy part was that I felt like I was bearly working. 2 more weeks and I'm pretty sure I'll be convinced I'm frank shorter with delusions of taper grandeur. On a sad note, I managed to get a pretty nasty blister on my little toe last week. There is no regular skin left on 80% of it. Kinda gross, I'd post a picture but it's gross enough it's probably illegal in our more puritan states. Hopefully it'll heal up fast

4 easy miles

3 on the treadmill at about 8/mile before my inlaws got into town to visit

6 miles.  Felt good and easy despite my 7:20 pace.  Looking forward to the weekend.  I've slacked a little during my taper and skipped a couple runs during the last week or so.  I hope it doesn't mess with anything, it likely will not I'm just a head case now 

Last long run. 8 miles @ 7:13.  Felt ok, kinda hot out

Easy 3 with ralphie at 8:12s

Mini-track workout

1.6 warm up

4 x 400m with 200m recover @5k pace (repeats were 1:27, 1:27, 1:25, 1:16)

1.6 cool down

 Went home, let the dogs out and they promtly got sprayed by a skunk.  Fun times