Every Race is an Adventure!

I opted to not run today to let my legs recover a little more from the 20 miler on Saturday. In the afternoon, the weather was beautiful and I had some free time so I got the notion to ride my motorcycle up to Wahlsburg to the start of the Utah Valley marathon and ride the course back down Provo Canyon. My friend Steve Reiser was available and joined me.

Steve has a large road bike that coasted up the canyon in 2nd gear I think. My little Yamaha XT 225 tops out at about 60mph downhill. I managed the speed limit, but most drivers go well over the speed limit up the canyon. Still, I don't think I hindered traffic too much. There were two lanes most of the way.

The high canyon speeds were a little tense, but the whole ride was beautiful, and the slower miles through Wahlsburg were especially enjoyable. We stopped where the marathon starts and talked for a while. On the way back through Wahlsburg I slowed then stopped because something was in the road. It was a wild tom turkey strutting with its tail feathers up. It was beautiful. Steve stopped next to me and took a picture. As we watched, his plain brown feathered mate (I assume) joined him and crossed the road. It was pretty cool, not something you see everyday. 

The sky and clouds were beautiful, as were the mountains and fields, especially the snowy backside of Mt. Timpanogos. It was a great afternoon. It was followed by a wonderful dinner on the deck prepared by my family and attended by my whole family including my two grandchildren. Good day.

6 miles @ 9:24/mi.  Murdock trail north solo.

Easy day sorta easy.

6.1 @ 8:47/mi.  Murdock trail north with Kevin.

A guy passed us in the middle and we chased him at about 8:00 pace for a while. Overall it was mostly conversational marathon pace (for me).

5 miles @ 8:55/mi.  Murdock trail south solo to new Palisade Park.

The last 1.5 miles I decided to push the pace.
1 mile flat @ 7:50/mi
0.5 mile downhill @ 6:43/mi

I have some stiffness in my right hip still lingering from the 20 miler last week, but I'm still able to run uptempo okay. My focus over the next two weeks prior to the Utah Valley marathon will be to loosen up and heal my hip while gradually tapering and healing overall. And of course there's the matter of the annual neighborhood 5K which is the week before Utah Valley (2 weeks later than usual). I wouldn't normally run a race the week before a marathon, but what's to be done? It's only a 5K. I'll just have to be prudent.

10 miles @ 7:53/mi.  Trefoil to mouth of Provo Canyon with Kevin.

I wanted to use this run to test my marathon pace in preparation for the Utah Valley marathon in 2 weeks. I've run everywhere between 6:43 pace and 10:00-ish pace over the past few weeks, with intervals, uphills, downhills, tempo runs, and recovery runs at various intensity levels...but I didn't have a good idea of what my target pace should be in the marathon, or more important, what that would feel like.

This morning I started a little easy to loosen up my stiff hip, and backed off a little at the end to not aggravate the blister I felt forming, but tried to run what felt to me like medium fast marathon pace for most of the run.

7:53/mi avg. Splits: 8:15, 7:40, 7:35, 7:28, 7:50, 8:10, 7:47, 7:49, 8:20, 8:02

My analysis:
1. Based on how I felt at miles 9 and 10, I probably need to back off today's effort level a little at the start of the marathon. I felt okay (except for the blister) but I'm doubtful I could have maintained that effort for another 16.2 miles.
2. Today's run didn't have any long uphill stretches like the marathon has. I might be able to run 8:00-8:15-ish pace for the good downhill sections, but with the hills mixed in the overall pace will likely be slower than that. I need to average just under 8:24 pace for a BQ. It may still be a possibility, but the stars will have to align and I'll have to run a nearly perfect race. Just breaking 4:00 hours would be a good improvement over last year's UVM, and matching my 3:47 time at St. George on the UV course would be a nice achievement as well.
3. I was lazy with my foot preparation this morning and got a blister. I need to be careful to not do something similarly foolish on marathon day.