Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Insane and Awesome all at the same time...Keep it rollin.

When you are doing marathon training, what percentage of your miles do you run at MP? Or do you just run paces based on how you feel for the day? Great times by the way.

Jason - I don't know I'm not really that scientific about it. Probably about 15-20 miles per week will be MP, so that is about 20% of my total miles. But everything else will be very easy.

Good workout Paul. The 5 miles at the end pushing Seth sound pretty brutal after a killer 10 mile tempo. How do yo like the Kinvara compared to the Brooks Launch?

Paul - I see, thanks for the info. There's so much on the internet (some of it may even be credible) I just wondered what someone real (with a name and face appearing in local races and newspapers), who seems to be having success and fun, does to train...

Clyde - yeah, it wasn't that fun, but fortunately it was still cool out. The Kinvara have less support and are lighter than the Launch. I love them both, but for different things. The Kinvara are basically my tempo shoe (Tuesdays), and the Launch are my long run shoe (Saturdays). I usually do tempo and/or intervals during my long run, and the Launch are "fast" enough for that, but I like the extra support and cushioning for those 20-milers.

Jason - yes, lots of info out there. I've been influenced a lot by various books and coaches, but pretty much do my own thing now, that works for my lifestyle, psyche, and level of commitment. As long as I keep lowering my times and feeling good, I'll stick with this type of training.

Umm... wow. It will be interesting to see your TOU half time, since we can compare that pretty accurately to previous years. Should give you a good idea of fitness.

Who are you pacing at TOU marathon?

Yeah should be a good test, assuming there is a 20 mph tailwind again this year! That alone is worth at least 30s.

I'm planning on running TOU with David Nelson.

Yeah, but we've all done TOU half enough to know how to account for wind or no wind. If you set a PR... good sign.

Oh yeah, Mr. Washington will be here. And he's sticking around to pace me, too, at the Bear. What time is he aiming for? The elusive sub-3?

Yes, sub-3 is the goal.

I know I'm not part of this conversation, but how far sub-3? At an even pace?

I think Dave would be happy with 2:59:59! His best is 3:02. Given the layout of TOU, the first half is always faster, so I imagine we'd go through the half in 1:26-1:27 or so, and then try to split a 1:30 on top of that.

Hmm. I wonder if I could keep up... My current best is 3:24 at TOU last year, but I was ill. My training is much stronger this year (293 miles vs 206 for the month of July). I was thinking of doing under 1:30 for the 1st half and 1:35 or so for the second.

BQ would be a nice goal (sub-3:10). If you can break 1:26 in the half marathon, it's probably worth given sub-3 a shot.

I did the half in 1:25:37 last year. I haven't decided if I should go all out for the half this year or not. I suppose that 3 weeks is plenty of time to recover, but I'm not sure - I'd hate to ruin my chance to BQ for a PR in a half... I might run the half course Friday, all out, to get an idea where I am.

Time trials aren't great indicators (I can never run nearly as fast in a time trial as in a race). I think 3 weeks is plenty to recover. Given that TOU is a downhill half with a tailwind, I would guesstimate that around 1:24-ish equivalent to a sub-3. 1:26 is my flat-course estimate.

Hmm - I hadn't considered the race factor at all. I guess I won't gage my chances by my Friday run then, probably meaning I'll still have hope! Thanks.