Buttsweat Towel© season has begun

38F, NW 12 mph.  7:37 AP.  Felt pretty good again today, good run to start the new year.  Went out to the wind farms and back...a perfectly clear, cool day.  Time to taper now.

Also, time to point out that I am on top of the 2012 mileage board.  Enjoying it now since it will never happen again.

Day off today, great way to start a taper!  I will update my blog with 2012 goals and stuff after Houston; obviously a lot is contingent on how I do there.

As far as my racing schedule, that is completely up in the air.  I am separating from the military in a couple months and don't have a job yet (despite my best efforts), so I have no idea where we'll even be living.  Mostly looking in TX, but I am chasing a couple opportunities in OK and KS too.  We'll see what happens over the next couple months.

34F.  7:46/mile.

42F, NNW 12 mph.  8:36 AP.  Easy today, last workout of the cycle is tomorrow.

29F, calm.  7:28 AP.  I had the track to myself for this last workout this morning.  Pfitz says that 10 days is the amount of time you need to fully recover and reap the benefits of a workout, and I'm 10 days out now.  The workout that he has in every one of his plans is 3 x 1600 @ 5K pace (800m recoveries).  I have no idea why that would be the last workout before a marathon but figure he's a lot smarter than me about training, so I did it.  Hard workout.  The only saving grace (and probably the only reason it's even an achieveable workout for me) is that you get 800m to recover, and there's only 3 repeats.  So, 5K pace is 6:00 for me, which means I needed 5:58 per 1600 repeat.  First, about a 3 mile warmup, then:

5:59 (91, 90, 89, 89)

4:14 recovery

5:58 (86, 89, 91, 92)

4:26 recovery

5:58 (89, 90, 91, 88)

Finished with a 2 mile cooldown.  So, just a fraction of a second slow on the first repeat.  Tough workout for me, probably means I needed it.  I hated every minute of it, especially having to make up time on that last 400.  But it's done!  Now I get to do easy/moderate runs the rest of the way...

43F, 8:38 AP.  early.

41F, N 11 mph.  7:42 AP, which included 5 or 6 strides.

36F, 7:38 AP.  Felt good, I gave myself a speed limit again at 7:30 pace.  Good sign that I kept having to slow down, I think.  Taper might be starting to work a little.

30 min on the TM (had to stay by my phone and email) in the evening was all I could fit in.  Probably all I needed too, so it worked out.

Weather is looking scary good for Houston right now.  Low 40s, cloudy, 6 mph wind.  In both my other 2 marathons it was pouring rain the whole time and either hot or windy; I might be in uncharted territory here.

40F, WNW 11 mph.  7:52 AP.  Felt pretty hard actually.  Weird, probably just a sleep defecit.  No more long, late nights at work though, I've babysat my last overseas mission and now someone else gets the late night stress!  "Dress rehearsal" run is tomorrow (8 w/ 2).

39F...yet there was definite frost hardened on windshields and roofs.  After this marathon I will be publishing my research paper revealing the new freezing temperature of water.

7:25 AP.  Today was the dress rehearsal run, but my marathon clothes were dirty so I guess that didn't work out.  I did wear the shoes though.  4 easy, then 2 sub-MP miles in the high 6:40s, followed by 2 easy.  Felt really good and light on my feet.  Hopefully I feel like this on Sunday, and not like I did yesterday.

Weather is looking ridiculously good for the race.  Maybe a slight (5-6 mph) headwind on the last 5 miles going back downtown but that is hardly enough to even notice.

28F, NNW 11 mph, w/c 19F.  8:45 AP with a few strides.  Taking tomorrow off, then a short run on Saturday.

Went downtown to meet Flatlander for some inspiration at the olympic trials.  We got to watch a couple loops and it was pretty cool.  I yelled for Paul a couple times and got a confused stare, like "who are you...?"  Then I had to bail to get in my own little shakeout run.  I ran from my parents' house to Allen Parkway and the timing worked out to where I got to stop and see the women leaders come flying by around mile 23.  There was a definite top 3 - Davila, Flanagan and Goucher, I think, with no one really that close.  Then I jogged home after 5th place came by.

Weather for tomorrow - looking good.  46F to start, 56F at the finish, but cloudy.  Shouldn't be too hot.

Goals for tomorrow:

A+ stretch goal:  sub-3.  Not planning on going out fast enough to make this happen, but you never know.

A goal:  3:05 and a BQ

B goal:  there is no B goal.  Sink or swim!

Bib # is 1772.  I think there's a way to track here if anyone is interested.

BQ!

50F to start, 58F at the finish, clear.

Miles 1-5: 6:59, 6:44, 6:51, 6:46, 6:51.  At the starting line I found myself right between the 3:00 and 3:10 pace groups, which is where I wanted to be.  Crowded for the first mile, but managed to get myself right on pace (looking for 7:00/mile to ensure BQ).  Then I started to get just a little carried away.  I let myself turn in a few 6:40s, but as long as it still just felt like a trot, I was ok with it.  21:19 at the 5K.  There was a huge group running with the 3:00 pacers.  I thought about going up there to draft, but then watched the chaos when they went through the aid stations and backed off.

Miles 6-10: 6:50, 6:49, 6:52, 6:56, 6:57.  After passing through the 10k in 42:40, and still 50-100m behind the 3-hr group, I started to wise up.  It still felt very easy, but it needs to feel very easy at that point, so I backed off just a little bit.  After 10 miles, the pace still felt like a trot, so I was very encouraged.

Miles 11-15: 6:47, 6:54, 6:52, 6:52, 6:54.  Just feeling great through this stretch.  I hit the half in 1:30:16, still keeping my eye on the 3:00 group.  I really was not that interested in sub-3 compared to getting the BQ, so there was a lot of back and forth in my brain about whether to step it out and go for the sub-3.  I kept deciding to save my energy and not blow the BQ by getting greedy.

Miles 16-20: 6:53, 6:53, 6:54, 6:45, 6:51.  Aerobically, I was sailing through this section, still barely breathing.  However, it no longer felt like an easy trot on my legs.  I was definitely having to push off a lot more to maintain the same pace.  I also started passing people here, and almost never got passed myself, which was a big mental boost.  At mile 20 my time was right around 2:18 and it was time to make a decision.  The sun was coming out and it was getting a bit warmer; there was also a 5-7 mph east wind (headwind) all the way to the finish.  I just felt there was no way I could bang out a 42-min 10k the way my legs were losing steam.  So, I stuck with the pace I was at, and it was the right call.

Miles 21-26.2: 6:53, 6:54, 6:54, 6:56, 7:00, 7:37, 1:54 for 0.25 (7:27).  Still banging out some great miles on the underpasses on the home stretch.  Saw the family right at mile 23; they took this shot.

I'll post some better pictures next week!  Anyway, I kept doing the math, seeing how slow I could run and still BQ.  With about 2 miles to go I was just passing people left and right, making what probably sounded like animal noises as I grunted my way past.  I hit the wall (again, 2 marathons in a row) in the last mile.  It didn’t help that the buildings downtown really funneled the headwind at us.  I really picked up the effort and kept seeing a slower and slower pace.  It felt like I was sprinting, yet I could only throw down a 7:37 final mile.  Finally, after about 26.1 miles, I stopped concentrating on my race and it hit me what I was about to do.  I did some celebratory fist pumps as the emotion finally caught up to me and crossed the line in 3:01:10.  Very close to even-splitting (1:30:16/1:30:54).  Pacing could not have been better.

I hung out with my sister and ate a huge bacon burger after finishing.  Waited for Danielle, who did not PR, but finished despite a couple ailments that had her almost deciding not to run at all.

Well, I am going to Boston in 2013.  I first got the idea to try and reach this goal 2 years ago, soon after I first started running.  I thought it would probably take 5 years to get to 3:10, which was a BQ at the time.  I have been so lucky that I’ve remained mostly uninjured and have had just about everything go right for me with my training.  Also lucky that there’s so much support here on FRB.  Thanks everyone.

Not sure what races will be next for me; chances are we’re moving to Oklahoma soon.  What I do know is that I will take a shot a sub-3 somewhere, hopefully before summer hits.  And I have a good 15 months to train for Boston, so expecting good things there.

Ok, time to bask a bit.

My legs are trashed.  I think running on all the concrete in my lightest pair of flats is going to make for a long recovery - my first 2 marathons were in trainers.  But, who cares?

Now the obligatory post-marathon analysis and thoughts, before I have to start looking forward again.

Here are the 5K splits:

Ok, I thought my watch was acting funky as we were going through downtown at the end.  This tells me that the last mile could not have been as slow as Garmin thought, as I actually maintained basically the same pace for the final 2.195K (7:07/mile if you do the math).  Same effort given the headwind, I think.  Garmin just shortchanged me there at the end as we went through the tall buildings.  Makes sense because I was carrying an extra tenth of a mile on my watch (compared to the mile markers) and then somehow lost it in the last mile.  So, the good news is I don't think I ever hit any wall.  That is good to know.

Before I figured that out just now, I was thinking there was nothing I could have done to get sub-3, since I thought I was in the process of bonking at the end (stupid Garmin).  Now I wonder if maybe if I had stayed and drafted with the pace group, it would've been a different story.  But in the end I don't care.  Now that the monkey is off my back, I can go for broke trying to crack 3 hours next time.

This was the most fun part of the marathon:

I guess it is not the norm to run even-paced splits, although you would never know that with all the awesome runners that do it on FRB.

Looking ahead to the next marathon before I get depressed about this one being over, I am thinking about a few possibilites for this Spring, including Big D (Dallas in April - hot?), Oklahoma city in late April, Arbuckles to Ardmore (Oklahoma, April 1st), and Eisenhower (Kansas, mid-April) since we will probably live closest to those 4.  Will probably decide a lot later.  Gotta run another one before summer hits.  Then, I will probably run a different Fall marathon (not Houston) to give me a nice full training period before Boston.  Maybe Route 66 or White Rock...

Finally, here's the finish line video for a little entertainment (gun time 3:01:26).  I was a little excited.

evening "run," 8:54 AP.  Still not ready to run though, wow.  Afterward my calf and hammy on the right leg were all sore.  I think the calf may have even been mildly strained at the marathon; it was making me walk funny until Wednesday.  Feels ok now, but I'm skipping the Friday run and will try to plod through a few on Saturday.  This is definitely my toughest marathon recovery of the 3 I have done.  I think it's because of the flats, but it was definitely worth the extra minute or two that they probably saved me.

 whoops, moved this entry to Sat.  Fri was a day off

31F, N 14 mph.  Yesterday the high was 82, and we got a low of 29 this morning.  That's a pretty big drop.

8:13 AP on this run.  Still feeling pretty beat up everywhere, but today was a little better than Thursday.  Amazing how long the soreness is lasting, I really tore my poor leg muscles to shreds out there.  I'll add a few more tomorrow then another rest day.

55F, SSW 20-28 mph.  8:16 AP.  Legs are less sore but still quite dead.   I did get a sub-8 mile on the way home with a tailwind though!

I'll take another day off tomorrow and we'll see what that does.

49F, SE 13 mph.  8:06/mile today.  Heavy legs, easily out of breath....but better.  2 sub-8 miles today.  Yes, 2.

45F, N 15-20 mph, wet.  7:52 AP.  Sluggish, but managed to pick up the pace just a little on the way home.

48F. Evening run in Lawton, OK.  I ran from my hotel, which apparently is not in a good part of town...whoops.  Kinda shady, but I just needed a short recovery run.

38F.  7:51 AP.  Back in TX, will try 15+ tomorrow.  My legs are starting to feel right again, but just feel out of shape cardio-wise.

41F, S 14 mph.  7:33 AP.  I pushed it up to a more moderate pace finally, kinda trying to force my cardio to come back.  I got a little tired at the end though, still recovering I guess.  Maybe next week I'll push out a tempo to see where I'm at.  Time to stop puttering around and get back at it if I'm going to run an April marathon.

55F, SSW 17-29 mph.  7:38/mile today - I felt as good as I have yet since the marathon.  I was hitting 8:00 pace going into the south wind -- definitely a good sign that I am close to recovered.  The tailwind coming home was fun - one of those that lifts you up with each step and carries you along.