Rosswog Running Blog

Continuing with my objective from yesterday to mentally prepare myself for this Saturday’s Salt Lake City Marathon, I set out early in the afternoon to run a large segment of the course’s second half.  After jogging down to 4500 South and 700 East, I ran miles 17.5-23.3 of the course the completed a lap around Liberty Park before returning home.  The total distance of this run was 12.8 miles and with the exception of the final full mile that I ran at marathon pace, at an easy pace.  In regards to my right hamstring, it’s still stiff, but no real soreness.  I believe the post-run stretching, icing, and work with the massage-running stick is paying off.

Finally, for my non-running workout, I was able to accomplish 300 sit-ups and 30 push-ups.

I woke up early this morning and went out for a nice 3.4-mile morning run before heading off to work.  My pace was 7:10 minutes per mile and 139 beats per minute; that is, I’ll be tracking my heart rate more especially in an effort to decrease it on early morning runs.  My wakeup workout involved running over to Millcreek Elementary up to 1500 South and back by way of Big Cottonwood Park.

After work I completed 6.7 miles on the treadmill.  In regards to this distance, 2.5 miles was at marathon pace and the remaining 4.2 miles at an easy pace.  Now I will commence four straight days of tapering before my big race on Saturday.

For my non-running workout, I completed my typical 300 sit-ups, 30 push-ups, 130 (30, 40, 50 lbs), and 60 (50 lbs) reverse curls.

Another snowstorm moved through the Valley this morning; however, I still managed to make it out for my sub-6:00-am run.  For this early morning run, I headed over to St. Mark’s Hospital, up to 1300 South and back to home by way of Big Cottonwood Park.  The total distance of this run was 2.2 miles at a relatively easy pace (7:38 miles per minute and 149 bpm).

Since it was a busy day at work, I headed home and out for an evening run.  For this run I ran around the neighborhood and over to Big Cottonwood Park where I completed two-and-a-half laps around the softball complex before heading home.  The total distance of this run was an even 2.0 miles at an easy pace.

In regards to my non-running workout, I completed my typical 300 sit-ups and 30 push-ups.

For my sub 5:00 am run, I headed out and around my neighborhood and over to Big Cottonwood Park where a completed a single lap around the softball complex before heading back.  The total distance of this run was 1.5 miles at a relatively easy pace (7:19 miles per minute and 152 bpm).

Following another busy day at work, I headed home and out and for an evening run.  This workout involved running around the neighborhood and to over to St. Mark’s Hospital, up to 1300 South and back to home by way of Big Cottonwood Park for a total distance of 2.2 miles.

Finally, my daily non-running workout consisted of 300 sit-ups and 30 push-ups.

Today marked my second to last day of tapering before Saturday’s marathon. Following the end of my work week (i.e., I always enjoy taking the day off of work before a marathon), I headed to the Salt Lake City Marathon Expo at the Salt Palace to pickup my race packet before heading home and out for an evening run. For this workout, I ran around my neighborhood and up to the Smith-Kiln Chimney before heading home. The total distance of this run was 4.4 miles at an easy pace.

In regards to my non-running workout, it was just another day of my standard 300 sit-ups and 30 push-ups.

Following an excellent night of sleep, I ate a nice breakfast then went back to bed for a nap before going out for my final day of tapering before the Salt Lake City Marathon. This was an errand run up to REI in which I ran a few miles to and from the bus stop in order to get to the store (i.e., I rode the bus up the major hill from my house to REI in order not to work my legs too much before tomorrow’s race). After I picked out a new backpack and some protein bars, I headed home and called it a day. In total I ran 4.5 miles at a very relaxed pace.

For my marathon-eve non-running workout, I completed 300 sit-ups and 30 push-ups.

Waking up early this morning (i.e., 4:30 am), I packed up my gear, GUs, and water then did some stretches before heading out.  It took 25 minutes to drive up to the starting line at the Olympic Legacy Bridge at the University of Utah.  This gave my just over 30 minutes to do some more stretches and to change out of and drop off my warm-up clothes before heading to the front of the starting line.  Near the front of line, I ran into one of my weekend running buddies from the Salt Lake Running Company group who was participating in the half marathon.

After a stirring rendition of the National Anthem by a member of the Armed Forces, Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon started the 7th annual Salt Lake City Marathon.  Unlike last year’s where I had a pace per minute range on my miles splits of 1:13 (i.e., 6:00 – 7:13), my range was greater this time around at 1:57 (i.e., 5:45-7:42).  This larger range reflects that I got off to a much faster start than last year’s race (i.e., my first four mile splits 5:53, 5:57, 5:45, and 5:51), but my finish was much slower with miles 23-25 being a painful struggle (i.e., 7:11, 7:10, and 7:42).  My theory is that my relatively slow finish was a result of wearing racing flats and the warmer weather.  This was the first marathon in which I wore racing flats and by mile 23, my legs were feeling really tired (especially my quads which were thrashed).  In addition, the weather warmed up significantly during the second half of the race and I don’t believe that I took in enough liquids during the first half when it was nice and cool; therefore, I was pretty dehydrated during these last few miles and at the finish line.

Overall, it was a good experience.  I finished in a time of 2:49:28, which is a minutes-per-mile pace of 6:29.  Even though I was unable to PR (1:53 behind my fastest marathon time), this was my second fastest marathon.  I ran the first half in 1:21:24, which was a 1:06 faster than goal pace; however, I hit the wall at miles 20 (in which I was just seconds behind my 6:17 goal pace) and just bonked at mile 23.  However, I improved my Salt Lake Marathon personal best time by 2:18.  Now I know that I have a lot to work to do in regards to strengthening my legs in order to take advantage of the lightness of wearing racing flats during a marathon.  Plus, I needed to work on getting more consistent with my internal workouts.  Tough races always provide a lot of motivation it improve.

Finally, I completed my non-running workout before and after the race that consisted of 300 sit-ups and 30 push-ups in total.