Every Race is an Adventure!

Nathan and I (don't know why Tom wasn't there) ran the Eagles View hill course at noon today at roughly an easy marathon pace. I chose not to stop my watch at the red lights today so of course we got stopped at nearly everyone, plus a lady stopped in her car and asked us for directions. We figure we lost roughly a minute to those delays, so our adjusted finish time was roughly around 38:30 for the roughly 5 miles (roughly 7:42/mi). That's roughly how the run went.

The rain and cool air kept many people inside today, but shortly after we started the rain stopped and by the end of the run the sun was out and it was beautiful. Similar to Saturday's pace, we didn't really push hard but still managed to hold a respectable pace for us. I think this bodes well for St. George in two weeks.

During the run again today Nathan was trying to convince me I've got a 3:15 in me, maybe even a 3:10. Tom has made similar comments, but my primary goal still remains 3:20. My PR (in the current era) is 3:27, so 3:20 would beat my PR by 7 minutes, and my BQ time by 10 minutes.

Still, I feel like I'm in the best shape of my life (knock on wood), maybe even in relatively better (age adjusted) shape than 25 years ago when I ran St. George in 2:52 at age 22 (before taking a running hiatus of about 20 years). Based on my Hobble Creek half time of 1:27:03 in August, and using 40 miles per week as my average mileage (it's been higher recently), Sasha's predictor estimates my finishing time at 03:12:11. Using the (2 * half) + 10 minutes formula yields 3:04:06, or (2 * half) + 20 minutes yields 3:14:06. I'm beginning to wonder if 3:20 is really too low a goal for me this year?

I have nothing to lose. I'm already qualified for Boston, and even if I blow up near the end I might still have a chance of qualifying anyway. I kind of feel like the only way I could be disappointed at St. George this year would be to finish with gas left in the tank. I'd be very disappointed to run a 3:20 if I had a 3:10 in me.

I really want to push my limits, but I don't want to be foolish about it. My current plan is to run by feel. I've done some "don't look at the watch" runs and feel like I have a good handle on what a "fast marathon pace" effort feels like. Based on these runs, I think I may be able to safely hold around a 7:30 pace for the first 7 miles up to Veyo. That's the pace Nathan is targeting so I'm planning to run with him for these miles. Up Veyo and for the tough miles through Dammeron Valley I plan to let Nathan go (he's a strong hill runner) and try to hold a "medium to fast marathon pace" effort without pushing too hard. I may let the brakes off a little as the steeper downhill begins at mile 14, but I don't plan to push very hard prior to mile 20. From mile 20 to the end, I fully expect that last 10K to be very mentally and physically challenging. In fact, I'll be disappointed if it isn't because that means I should have pushed harder up to that point. I hope to be well on target for 3:20 at this point, hopefully closer to 3:15 or lower if things go well. I'm counting on having enough mental toughness, and enough training miles behind me, to focus and hold a good strong pace (7:30 or faster) through the finish.

The interesting thing for me on race day will be to try to ignore my watch for those first 7 miles and listen to what my body tell's me it is capable of that day, to exert that "fast marathon pace" effort and (with tapering, lower altitude, downhill, race day energy) see what pace that turns out to be. I averaged 6:38 at the Hobble Creek half marathon. I know I can't hold that pace for a full marathon, but what pace will it be: 8:09 (3:30 BQ), 7:49 (3:25 new PR), 7:38 (3:20 goal), 7:27 (3:15), 7:15 (3:10)?

Later I will discover the answers to other questions: Was what felt like a "fast marathon pace" effort early in the race truly that, or did I fall to my tendency to go out too fast and am I now destined to suffer pain and agony as I crash and burn? Did I really train hard enough to have enough left at the end? Am I really mentally tough enough to hold on and pull out everything that's left?

It will be fun finding out! I can hardly wait!

The temperature was in the mid-30's this morning, with frost on the housetops, lawns, and car windows for the first time this fall. It made for a brisk but enjoyable run.

Larry, Wayne, and I wandered through the foothills of Lindon and Orem again this morning. I pretty much just followed where Larry and Wayne led. It was an easy day so I didn't push very hard, but very little of this run wasn't uphill or downhill.

I ran Lake View with Tom and Nathan at noon. The weather was perfect -cool and sunny. None of us wanted to push hard today. It was comforting to discover that while running at a conversational pace we still ran the last couple of miles at just over 7:30/mi, right around target marathon pace for Nathan and me. Our time overall for the 5.2 miles was 40:40 (7:49/mi).

I ran the water tank hills with Larry and Wayne this morning. Prior to meeting up with them I had a little time so I ran a little over a mile. I warmed up the first half mile then settled into marathon pace effort for a half mile. I was pleased to discover that the pace for the "marathon pace effort" half mile was 7:22/mi.

We took the first part of the run a little easier than normal. About the time we started up the first big hill we were talking strategies for St. George next week. I mentioned I was going to run by feel and Larry, who's run St. George about 20 times, was warning me I needed to be careful to not go out too fast and bonk. He's got many stories of people who passed him early in the marathon going too fast whom he passed back near the end after they bonked. I countered that I've been training to listen to my body and I trust that I can read my body's sensory data accurately enough to not overdo it while still not holding back too much. He continued to warn that the excitement of the race can make "too much" to "feel good" at the beginning. I said that even if that happened, that I prefer (this year at least) to err on the side of pushing my limits even if I risk bonking.

About this point Wayne said the big hill was "kicking his butt" today. I realized then that we were near the top of the first big hill and I had been so distracted that I had hardly noticed the climb. After hill one I pretended to be upset with Larry (he knew I was kidding) because he had questioned by race strategy. I told him his punishment was that he would have to run the rest of the hills alone. I was going to push ahead and I could tell Wayne was in the mood to follow me. I jokingly muttered things like "I'm not going to bonk" and "stupid Larry" as I pulled away. I am supposed to be tapering a little this week so I didn't push too hard, but I did try to hold "marathon pace effort" up the remaining hills and got to the top faster than normal. Larry said he pondered his own race strategy for St. George as he ran alone up the hills, so it worked out well for all of us.

With the beautiful full moon, clear skies, and cool but not too cold temperatures this morning I really enjoyed my run with my two good buddies this morning. If the only rewards were found in PRs and awards at the finish line I don't think I would be a runner. I experience the rewards and benefits of running almost every single day (exertion, fitness, challenge, discipline, the outdoors, natural beauty, fellowship with other runners, satisfaction, achievement, ...) and that's why I'm a runner.

I went out at noon and did an easy four miles on Kuhni Rd., average pace 8:19/m.

Larry, Wayne, and I ran from Trefoil down to the mouth of Provo Canyon. I think it was warmer when we started than when we finished. The weather was cool but not cold, but there was a pretty steady and at times pretty strong headwind coming UP the canyon. It normally is going DOWN the canyon, but I'm guessing the approaching storm was the cause of the wind reversal. The headwind was stiff enough that I turned my hat around to keep it from blowing off.

We ran together and took it easy as we started down from Trefoil. I had thought about pushing hard the whole way, but I decided to spend some time with my buddies and warm up for a few miles. I was going to starting pushing at 3 miles but I missed the beep. We were in the middle of good conversation so I decided to push at 4 miles. I started to push but we were almost at Vivian. Wayne stopped for a drink and I wanted to tighten my shoes a little so I stopped, too. The mile splits to this point were: 8:43, 8:26, 8:13, 7:46, and 6:51/mi for the 1/4 mile after I started pushing and before I stopped at Vivian.

At this point I decided to do a five mile tempo run between Vivian and the fountain near Mt. Timpanogos Park. My mile splits were 6:44, 7:02, 6:53, 6:59, 6:55. I lost the GPS signal briefly during the 2nd and 4th miles so the times may be off slightly.

I waited at the fountain for Larry and Wayne and we ran the last 0.85 miles at around 8:05/mi.

Overall I ran 10.15 miles averaging 7:35/mi. I intentionally ran slower than marathon pace at the beginning and end, and considerably faster than marathon pace for the five mile tempo, and averaged pretty close to marathon pace overall. I felt good after the run, like I had many more miles in the tank...just not at sub-7:00 pace. It was a good reminder of what "too fast" marathon pace feels like so I hopefully can avoid it early in the race next week.