Call this a mini-race report: It's my first run at any kind of extended speed since Memphis, nearly three months ago. In three more months, I'll be in Oregon trying to get my BQ. Right now, I'm very pleased with my run this morning, but I haven't gone through the data in my Garmin yet. Let's see how I feel about it in 10 minutes or so.
The goal for today: 17 miles with 10 at GMP. The site: Murray Park with the Crackheads, who are in taper mode for Little Rock in two weeks, thus planned 12. I took their route and basically added 3 miles to the turnaround point. Weather: 40 degrees and very windy. I thought I was back in Memphis for a while, running directly into the wind from miles 3-7 and 11-15. I also thought I was underdressed given the windchill, although things got better once I got warmed up.
Now to the Garmin...
First mile, start slow and gradually build. Average just under 10:00. That's fine, consistent with the plan. Second mile, pick it up, 9:00 pace. Now, put the hammer down. Mile 3: 8:25. Good, but not MP. Mile 4: 8:17. Better, still not MP, and I turned back into the wind during this mile. Mile 5: 8:23. Now I better appreciate what I did in Memphis, holding my pace as well as I did in this kind of wind in the final 10K. It's HARD to run fast with this kind of wind in your face. Mile 6: 8:17. Better. Mile 7: 8:13, and this included the big uphill of the Big Dam Bridge (http://www.bigdambridge.org/).
But now I turn downwind AND get the boost of the downhill ramp off BDB. Mile 8: 8:05. Still not MP. Mile 9: 8:13. Mile 10: 7:56. FINALLY something under 8:00, although I'm really shooting for something in the high-7:40s as GMP. Mile 11: 7:54. Better still, but I'm starting to bonk a bit (should have done a gel back around mile 6). So, after nine miles at speed, I back off at the turnaround and head back into the wind. Jogged through miles 12-13 while my legs recovered, then picked up the pace a bit. Decided now my goal is to put the hammer down again in mile 17, taking advantage of the BDB downhill on the other side, to get that 10th mile at semi-MP. Mile 14: Faster, at 9:09. Mile 15: 9:02. Mile 16: 8:57, including the BDB uphill. Mile 17: 7:47. A REAL GMP mile, finally (even if I got a bit of help from the BDB designers), plus it was back into the wind. Evidently I went a tad farther before the turnaround than I had envisioned, because I'm still nearly a mile from my car after I backed down from GMP. Although I didn't back down much: 8:07 pace for the last .75.
So I ran three miles at sub-BQ pace, 7.7 at near-BQ pace, and seven miles of GA. Not a perfect MP run, but not bad. Wind didn't help, and I have run more than 150 miles the last two weeks, so the legs are a tad heavy. Next week is a stepdown week, and I think I need one. Pat thinks I'll either get another big PR in Newport or kill myself training for it. He might be right, although I'm going to really try to be alert for my body telling me to back off. Right now is one of those times, so I'm glad Pfitz threw next week's backoff in when he did.
One more thing: My first marathon was 52 weeks ago in Little Rock. One young man, Adam Nickel of Madison, Wis., did not survive that marathon; he crossed the finish line, collapsed in the chute and could not be revived. He was found to have died in part because of hypokalemia and dehydration related to the warm, muggy weather that day. I thought this morning that if we'd had this kind of weather one year ago, Adam Nickel might be alive today. And as I was leaving the park, driving down LaHarpe Blvd. toward the LRM finish in Riverfront Park, I noticed a little sign under the Mile 26 marker: "In memory of Adam Nickel". To Adam's friends and family, please know that we in the Central Arkansas running community are still thinking about him and you are in our prayers.
| 