Doesn't Get Easier

Basically the same as yesterday, but a little slower.

Caring for the kids this weekend so couldn't make this a long endurance run.  Good thing because my legs were dull and felt very heavy today.  Probably wouldn't have made it much further.  Barely made it another 100 this week.  Now time to relax.

Food note, no more pizza the night before.  At least not from around here.  Nice potty dash up a hill though!

Ran 2x for 14 mi.  All easy pace.

Ran 2x for 15 mi.  Again, all easy pace.

Ran 3x for 20 miles.  Last run was progression down to sub-10K pace.

2x slow and easy running.  Second run was a bit faster.  Bodyweight is coming down slowly, which should help a great deal overall.  Strange thing is my legs feel a bit faster on the second or third run of the day then they do on the early morning trot.  Wasn't that way before.

Ran 2X today.  Mixed in a lot of fartleks, but no clock watching, just various distances at a steady controlled speed.

Ran 1x long endurance run.  Started out slow first 2 miles then repeated 2 min. fast + 8 min. easy for the remainder.  No idea how fast the "fast" sections were so I just marked them as MP, but the last 3 were tough.  Focused on staying in control and relaxed.  It was warm and sunny.  I was wiped out and hungry at the end.  That makes 4 weeks in a row of 100 miles.  Making progress, but it comes slowly.

Total for the entire week was 54 miles.  I started it out on business travel and then came home to the Mrs. being very ill.  Schedule was blown up for the rest of the week as I took care of things around the house.

1x run for 6 mi during the lunch hour.  Right leg is really tight first 2 mi, but then better for the remainder.  Plan to alternate short and longer days this week and then go short everyday next week before the race.

All slow on the treadmill.  Didn't want to deal with the wind and rain.

Out of town on business so I ran these really easy on the hotel treadmill.  Marathon is this Sat. and weather forecast is 50s with possible high winds.  No rain so I'm happy!!

No run today as race is tomorrow.  Just finished a super stack of pancakes with scrabble eggs for supper.  Might have found a prerace favorite, but we'll see what happens.

I finished the 3^rd annual Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon, my first Illinois marathon since relocating here for a new job last October and a marathon PR by one minute.  Since it was held in Champaign-Urbana, which is about 1.5 hours away, we decided to go the cheap route and drive there the morning of the race instead of staying in a hotel.  So my wonderful wife got up with me bright and early at 4 am and we packed our sleepy kids into the van for the short trip northeast.  Due to traffic, Krista dropped me off near the race location about 30 min. before the start, which gave me just enough time to hit a porta-john along the way before heading to the starting line.  Found out later the rest of the family went off to eat a quick breakfast before coming back to watch the race.  As for weather, it was mostly cloudy with winds of 15-25 mph throughout the entire race.  At the start, the temperature was 50 dg. and climbed to 60 dg. over the next three hours. With the exception of the winds, it was perfect conditions for a race.  From a stage near the starting line, Frank Shorter wished all the runners well and said “let the wind push you all quickly to the finish”, that was cool and I got a bit of an inspiration surge recalling pictures of him running for gold in the Olympics.  The gun was fired and the wheelchair division was let out for a one minute lead before the runners.  I was really excited for some reason, so I decided to tag along with the 3:10 pace group for a short while so I didn’t blast off.  Here are my times at various points in the race:

First 10K – 42:04 (6:47 avg) The first 10K was mostly uneventful.  I was feeling good and battling with the wind.  I never thought I’d say this, but I was thankful there were plenty of turns.

13.1mi – 1:29:32 (6:50 avg) Had to battle a nasty headwind out in the open for a while, but then entered an older residential section, which provided ample protection from the wind.  Almost felt as if the wind was gone completely or we had a tailwind during this part.  I did notice that the Garmin showed me running long by about 0.2 mi and that worried me a bit.  I don’t know why, because I was working the tangents.  Hopefully I can bring that difference down.  I took in a GU packet at mile 8.

20mi – 2:17:57 (6:54 avg) The last seven miles were a battle and I knew the party was just getting started.  Of course, the winds were still howling and it felt like every time I took a turn a head wind was there to greet me.  Let’s just say I winced plenty of choice words every time I took a turn, but really was grateful for the turns at times.  I was also still long by 0.2 mi according to the Garmin and my legs were really tired.  I was thinking to myself “I didn’t need the extra distance today and why didn’t I do more 20+ miles in training?”  Negatives were spinning in my head and some anger was building in my gut.  Not good because I should be feeling confident that I can still break 3 hrs.  I took in some GU somewhere during this stretch.  Krista said they tried to get my attention at mile 15, but I was in a total zone and didn’t see them.

Final 10K – 47:35 (7:40 avg) As usual, I lost my sub-3 during the last 10K.  I never saw sub-7 pace the rest of the way as the legs would just not go.  I took in another GU, but think I needed a much bigger sugar boost and mentally was still plagued with negative thoughts.  A couple younger runners passed me up during this time, but nobody older than me (a small goal I have as I get older!).  Actually, I didn't run slower than a 7:30 mile during this last stretch because I ended up running over by 0.2mi.  I asked a couple other runners if they came out long for the course and they did as well.  Bound to happen since it’s fairly new race, but plan to give the RD a heads up to double check. I would have come in around 3:04 at the finish.

My final placing was:

Overall  58/1885

Gender  53/1184

Age  4/172

So I ended up attaining my B goal with a PR and will have to wait for that sub-3.  I’m turning 40 this week so I’m glad to be still improving, albeit slowly, and I still have a fire in the gut to improve some more.  I was called out as “big guy” several times during the race, which might be a big hint that I need to lose some more weight.  Anyway, the race organizers put together a good race and the volunteer support was excellent.  I hope they can keep this going since, Lord willing, I plan to run it again.