Getting back to Boston

Main side effect of yesterday's activity was not a sore back or sore legs. It was sore abs from last night's little ab session at the AC. Really hard to bend over or cough or anything of the sort until some NSAIDs kicked in in early afternoon. After that, I was fine. Took care of some things that needed to be taken care of this afternoon, like filing FAFSA and my taxes (one refund, one with taxes owed), then went for a 10K recovery run on the riverfront.

The weather was absolutely perfect -- 50 degrees, just a hint of a breeze, not a cloud in the sky. It felt like I was running SO slow -- and I averaged 9:15. I would have been thrilled to average 9:15 in the LRM 51 weeks ago today. If I had, in fact, I might have just checked 26.2 off my bucket list and then moved on to something else... naw, I wouldn't either. I can't be satisfied with that. Now if I'd run a BQ on my first marathon, I might have called it quits after running Boston, but not a 4:02:XX.

Today is my first prescribed day of recovery doubles on Pfitz, so I wrapped up the day tonight with another easy 5 on the TM to get to an even 11.25 for the day. Considering I ran 80 miles last week, my legs feel remarkably good. Knock off 75 this week, then a stepdown week. 

Interesting evening -- and run. First, had to drive an hour away to see a patient in the hospital. Pam joined me out of boredom, I guess. By the time I got there, saw the patient, we drove back, got some dinner and got home, it was nearly 8:15. I had to let dinner digest a while or risk feeding some crickets, so the run couldn't start until 9:15. Both the fitness room and the club close at 10. I went to the fitness center and got through 7.5 miles on the DM before the security guy showed up and kicked me out. So I went outside and finished my run, guessing at the needed mileage, then went back and measured it in my car after I finished.

The run itself was supposed to be a 10-miler with 5 miles at LT. Got through the warmup and four miles of LT before I got booted. So I headed out at LT pace on a route I was pretty sure was close to a mile. Turned out it was 0.9. So my tempo run was a tenth short. Big deal. The rest of the run, the cooldown if you will, was actually 1.8, so I totaled 10.2. I thought the tempo part went really well, better than I had hoped. A 7:20 pace actually felt kind of easy. Even outside after I got booted.

One of those nights where the box labeled "Easy Miles" above is a misnomer. Nothing about tonight's run was easy. My legs were not sore after last night's tempo run, but they kinda felt dead. It really took about 12 miles tonight for them to respond. In the meantime, the sweat glands decided to come back from vacation. It wasn't any warmer in the fitness room, at least it didn't seem any warmer, and I had the fans on full blast, but the sweat just poured off. I had to stop the TM twice to go reload my water bottle, and even that wasn't enough.

But with all that, I persevered, I got in my 15 miles, even ran the last mile at roughly GMP, and I managed to finish before the security guy showed up to toss me out again -- but not by much. Took me about 2:19 to finish 15 miles, including the breaks. I'm pretty sure February is going to be my alltime PR for mileage in a month, even with 2-3 fewer possible running days and some marginal weather.

Easy 8 tonight at the club. Able to commandeer my own fan tonight, so the relatively warm temperature was not as much of an issue. Jus kinda cruised at something like 9:10 pace. No muss, no fuss.

I'm kinda reassessing my training approach for Newport. Emphasize miles over speed, or combine miles AND speed, or back off on the miles and stress speed? The miles/speed combination worked well for me for Memphis, but it also carries the highest risk of injury and/or burnout. I think for now I'll keep doing what I'm doing, but be hypervigilant for signs that I can't maintain the program. Good news is that the base building ends in a couple of weeks, then it switches to more speed-oriented work (although still plenty of miles).

Legs felt DEAD tonight. No snap at all. Stretching didn't help a bit. I was all ready to shut my run down at 8 miles tonight when suddenly at about 7.4, I started to feel some signs of life south of the acetabula. Still not great, but enough to run two more miles at a decent pace before I shut down. Not the scheduled 12-14, but at least a decent run. I'll probably get up early tomorrow for 4 or 5 at the AC before work to try to get the kinks out.

Up early today for a quick 4 to work out some kinks -- and some frustrations. Yesterday was not good from start to finish, and I just needed to try to put it behind me. We'll see if I succeeded. A better night's sleep would have helped.

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.