Buttsweat Towel© season has begun

69F, SSW 17-25 mph.  Hot and windy this morning but I still had a great tempo run.  8 easy, then 6 tempo, followed by 2 cooldown.  You better believe I set myself up for success again, taking out the headwind up front and leaving all tailwind/crosswind for the tempo part.

8 easy - 7:41 AP.

6 tempo - 6:24 AP (6:39, 6:29, 6:30, 6:26, 6:24, 5:57)

2 cooldown - 7:43, 7:36

Overall for 16 miles - 7:12 AP

Pretty excited.  I really clawed my way down to sub-6 on the last mile, pretty hard effort, but sometimes you just need to know you can do it.  The 6:24 average is even inside McMillan's suggested tempo pace range for me, albeit at the slow end.  As warm as it was this morning, I'll take it!

One more 80+ mile week then I will start to throttle back a bit.  In one week, I'll do 22 w/ 12 MP; that'll be my last MP run.

79F, SSE 18-25 mph.  8:28 AP.  Back in OK..

AM - 58F.  10 @ 7:45 AP.  Cool lightning display off to the east after a big storm blew through.

PM - 63F.  4.1 @ 8:31 AP.

51F, NW 10 mph.  7:23 AP today, felt really smooth and finished up with a MP mile.  I think I'm finally adjusting to 80-mile weeks, although this is the last one for quite awhile.  I am going to keep these mid-week 15-milers going after OKC though; I think they have been big endurance builders for me.

AM - 51F, 6 @ 8:38 AP.

PM - 66F, 4 @ 7:53 AP.

51F.  7:40 AP.  Kept it pretty relaxed today, trying to save my legs for the 22 w/ 12 on Sunday.

68F, S 12 mph.  8:28 AP.  Big run tomorrow.  Weird that my last big training run for Houston fell right on Christmas, and now Easter for OKC.

It's been a busy week at work and the family is here in OK this weekend, but I will catch up with everyone Sunday evening.

57F, NE 10 mph.  Happy Easter, everyone.  This was my last long MP run for this training cycle.  I had yet to try a tempo run here at my Oklahoma home - it's pretty hilly here, with basically no flat stretches, so I wasn't sure how it would go.  10 easy, followed by 12 MP.

10 easy - 7:30 AP.

12 MP - 6:45 AP.  Splits were 7:01, 6:50, 6:44, 6:42, 6:46, 6:52, 6:44, 6:44, 6:44, 6:47, 6:34, 6:30.

22 total - 7:05 AP.

Frantic.  That would be the word to describe this run.  I'd push hard uphill to avoid losing too much time, then have to sprint downhill to make up for lost time, then repeat.  So I never got into a groove with it, it was like a 12-mile sprint, but it was still a success.  OKC won't be this hilly, so I think I'm in good shape.  I unwittingly picked a route with 4 miles of gravel, rocky roads.  Here are the rocks I had to pry out of my A5's after my run:

The holes in the bottom of the sole work great keeping your feet dry when it's raining, but it comes at a cost!

And so ends a 5-week, 400+ mile blitz.  I'm not that much faster now than I was before Houston, but I just need a 71-second PR on a slightly tougher course.  No eye-popping workouts this time, just lots of miles.  We'll see if it was enough!

AM - 57F.  8 @ 7:47 AP.  Given the degree-of-difficulty of Sunday's run, I felt pretty decent today.

59F.  7:34 AP.  Felt crappy on the run for some reason, then later in the day I figured out why...I am definitely getting sick.  Timing-wise it could be a lot worse, I guess.  Glad this isn't happening 2 weeks from now anyway.

I actually missed my PM run yesterday, just ran out of time.  Sometimes you just need a 25-hour day to get it all done.  I chose a normal night's sleep over a recovery 4-miler.  I guess if I run a 3:00:01 at OKC I'll know why!

66F, S 12 mph.  7:32 AP.  Still sick.  Sorry I haven't been on the blog much this week, I will catch up with everyone this weekend.  My truck broke down earlier this week and that's been a huge hassle.  Yesterday I even tried to mow the lawn and the lawnmower broke (it is less than a month old).  Not getting in the miles I wanted running-wise, thanks to this cold or whatever it is.  Feel exhausted...  All temporary stuff though, hopefully I can recover this weekend.

69F, SSE 20-25 mph.  8:29 AP.

58F, SW 10 mph.  7:03 AP.  Really felt strong today.  Maybe a little too strong, I don't need to be peaking quite yet.  My purpose for the run was just to get some harder aerobic miles but I got to feeling really good and pushed it into a nice progressive run.

8:02, 7:32, 7:25, 7:26, 7:27, 7:04, 7:04, 7:08, 7:16, 7:10, 7:05, 7:03, 6:40, 6:38, 6:29, 6:25, 6:06.

The last 3 miles, which averaged 6:20, were an overall net uphill of 90 ft.  That about sums it up.  I think I've gotten my fitness to sub-3 standards, it'll just be a matter of getting a decent day on April 29th.  I don't think I have a lot of room to spare for a hot day, high wind, etc.  We shall see!

Speaking of hot days, good luck to everyone running Boston!  I will be watching/tracking...

8:21 AP

73F, SE 10 mph.  PM run, 7:53 AP.  Just regenerating my legs, last workout is Thursday.  Don't think I'll be doing the 3 x 1600 this time.  Maybe just a simple 4-5 mile tempo at HMP.

52F.  7:24 AP.  Brisk pace felt really easy in the cool air.  Hopefully I didn't cut too much mileage last week....paranoid taper thoughts.  One more workout for this cycle - probably 10 w/4 @ HMP tomorrow.

57F, SSE 12 mph.  6:51 AP.  I took today as my last opportunity to get faster before OKC.  Goal was 6 easy, followed by 4 @ HMP.

6 easy - 7:09 AP (7:27, 7:18, 7:08, 7:05, 7:02, 6:51)  Ok, so not exactly "easy."

4 @ HMP - 6:25 AP (6:25, 6:27, 6:24, 6:23)

I'm not going to get into the habit of running warmup miles that fast.  I really just wanted to get moving and have the lactate flowing right away on the tempo portion, which I think happened.  Anyway, the workout was just what I wanted and I even ended up averaging my goal MP for the run as a whole.

First look at OKC on the 10-day forecast shows a low of 60, which probably means a finish near 70.  Not ideal but I wouldn't let it affect my time goal if the forecast holds up there.  I can't really complain too much after seeing what happened in Boston, but I will still be hoping for cooler!

58F NNW 17-24 mph.  8:26 AP.

54F.  7:34 AP.  I am in Abilene this weekend.  A nice stomach virus has taken over this household, and my 5-year-old keeps asking me for hugs and kisses.  Guessing it won't be too long before I am hugging the toilet as well!

55F.  Still haven't caught the stomach bug yet, maybe I will be spared.  7:14 AP this morning.  Amazing what feels easy with low mileage legs.

88F, SSW 13-24 mph.  Short run after work to test the waters.  Felt a little weak, but not bad considering what life was like yesterday at this time.  Couple of throw-up burps but otherwise fine.  8:10 AP.

I'm thinking about going ahead with my 8-miler w/ 2-3 @ MP tomorrow, which was the original plan.  Thursday feels a little too late, though it probably doesn't matter that much.  I'd hate for the MP miles to feel hard tomorrow because of residual stomach bug effects, and then shatter my fragile confidence.  Maybe I'll just do them downhill.

59F, S 10 mph.  7:16 AP.  I went out having decided I would just do this run by feel.  Anything from 5 easy to 8 w/3 @ MP.  The warmup miles felt pretty good, but not quite as good as they did pre-puke-day so I decided on something in the middle -- 6 w/2 MP.  The MP miles felt nice, I just concentrated on relaxing through them - 6:36 (way downhill), 6:46 (slightly uphill).

Seeing a lot of variation in weaher preditions for the race.  48F for a low from weather.com, all the way up to 63F from accuweather and 59F from weather.gov.  The latter usually spots the new trend first (uh oh) but even 59 would be ok if it meant temps would stay in the 60s.  I might still be able to survive sub-3 pace.  The 3 local stations range from 52 and 58.  We'll see how it plays out!

trying to figure out what "washout" means...

67F, ENE 10 mph.  8:35 AP.

I hate you weather.com.

68F, SSE 15 mph.  7:40 AP which included a few pickups.

I did not feel fast today, just haven't regained that spring in my step from last week.  All in all, I just don't have a great feeling about this marathon like I have for the past 3.  The plan will still be to go out at sub-3 pace until I can't hold it anymore.  Possible bonk, but I have nothing to lose with this one so might as well try.

Decided to skip the run today.  We will be heading up to OKC in the afternoon and we're going to do a few things with Danielle's parents this morning.

Weather for the race?  64-68F, 85-90% humidity, possible t-storms, and the best part: a crosswind for the first half of the course that will actually shift in direction and strengthen to a stiff headwind in time for the last 10k (which is uphill).  Can't win em all I guess.  Bib is 420, I'll have a report up Sunday night.

Temp/humidity - 68F, 80% humidity start, 65F, 94% humidity finish.  Weather - overcast + some rain.  Wind - many different directions and speeds, but surprisingly not much of a factor.

The short version of the story is I did not get sub-3, did not PR, but feel pretty good about the race.  I had a really up-and-down journey today, where usually I'm pretty even keel and my performance just goes in one direction.  I don't ever do well over 60 degrees, no matter what I try, so to get close to my 3:01 Houston PR, which was on a much easier course and under much easier conditions, I think this was definitely a higher-quality performance.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Pre-race - got to talk to Preston (IJR) at the expo and again at the starting line.  It was great to finally meet him in person.  No big surprises leading up to the gun.  I just got up near the front since this is not a super fast race and took off feeling fine.

Miles 1-5 - 6:41, 6:42, 6:39, 6:30, 6:47.  By mile 1 I was pouring sweat.  Dammit.  I made up my mind early on that I was going to pretend it wasn't hot and humid, and just go for it.  I had nothing to lose.  I may, may, may have gotten a little carried away in the early miles but under ideal conditions I would venture to say it would have been the correct pace.  I made sure to grab water and gatorade at every aid station and I think that saved me from a more significant bonk in the long run.

Miles 6-10 - 6:36, 6:52, 6:33, 6:59, 6:52.  Still going under the who-cares-if-it's-too-fast plan through mile 8 (mile 7 was "gorilla hill").  Miles 9 and 10 are two of the toughest on the course, climbing about 100' between the two.  I'd remembered that from last year but man, it REALLY felt like it killed me this year.  I got passed by 3 or 4 people in this stretch and felt completely slammed (already).

Miles 11-15 - 7:05, 7:03, 7:09, 7:02, 6:55.  Struggle, struggle, struggle. Unlike last year I did not bounce back on this stretch.  Mile 11 my legs were already tightening up and getting heavy.  This is the sensation I usually get in a marathon 10 miles later!  I was ready to mentally give up and could already picture myself running 8:30 pace the rest of the way.  Now that I look at the splits it doesn't seem quite so bad, but the pain and discomfort were definitely there.  This is the flattest section, so it was what it was.  Crossed the half in 1:29:33.  Hmm, perfect time, but too bad I felt so terrible.  Then, sometime after mile 14, it started raining.  It felt awesome and my pace instantly got better.  I think I had unwittingly recovered a bit and the rain cooled me off enough to start pushing a bit more.

Miles 16-20 - 6:51, 6:59, 7:07, 7:12, 6:48.  So I decided I would get up to sub-3 pace again to see what happened.  It became clear that it was exceeding my speed limit.  Every time I pushed it to sub-7 my legs would turn into bricks.  Oh well, I tried.  I think the damage was done in the first 10k, and so I went back to survival pace.  Don't get too excited about mile 20, it was a 70 foot drop.

Mile 21-finish - 7:06, 7:30, 7:16, 7:22, 6:57, 7:13, 2:16 for 0.36 (6:18 pace).  Damaged goods for the last 10k.  I hate this strech on this race anyway.  Uphill, and the course joins with the half-marathon course for most of it.  I always add a tenth of a mile of bonus running to my race on this part due to weaving around the HM folks.  Still, believe it or not, I passed 3 full marathoners in the last 10k and did not get passed myself.  I think it was a hard day for everyone.  I did manage to put on a pretty nice sprint at the end, having noticed I had a chance to break 3:03.  Almost ashamed that it was that much faster than the miles before it.  I guess I was guilty of cruising a little when my dreams got crushed.

It took Danielle and I forever to find each other after the race, so I missed IJR's finish.  I guzzled a bunch of liquids and we made our way back home.  Nice that it was only an hour's drive for me this year.

So, like I said, I will deem the race a success.  I am pretty sure that I'm faster than the guy who just ran 3:01 at Houston a few months ago.  I can only hope that 3:01 will still get me into Boston since there were a bunch of deferments this year.

Fall marathon - Either Wichita KS in October or Tulsa in November.  Either way, there is no way...absolutely no way at all...that there will be a 3 in front of my time in that race.  I will go ahead and declare that now!  Plan for this summer is to drop back to 65-70 mpw and work on speed more.  I am already disappointed that racing season is over, but I made some great improvements and don't plan to let up too much this summer.  Sorry the report is so long; if you made it to the end, congrats to you as well!