Psalm 91:1 NKJV He who dwells in the secret place

I took the day off today which is normal.  My family and I drove back from Boise today after my daughter won her soccer game today at 8am.  We shopped around Boise for a while, then left and got home a little after 4pm.  It's a little over 3 hours from Boise to Pocatello.  Then we went and ate at a Mexican Restaurant, and I ate a ton.  Probably gaining 5 pounds this weekend, because the day before we ate at Chuck Rama.  But this week I will cut back on the food intake with the taper.  I would like to go into the Marathon under 150.  Anyway, it was a fun weekend with the family, other than I was tired and a little grumpy on the way home.

This morning was beautiful and I was overdressed. I really should have put some shorts on rather than tights. I got 8 hours of sleep last night and felt really fresh waking up.

I ran 9.1 miles at an overall 6:57 easy pace in 1:03. I'll run between 30-35 miles this week, and form roll a lot to get ready for SLC on Saturday.

I didn't get as much sleep as I would have liked last night, but it was my fault.  My wife and I got new Blackberry Smartphones yesterday, because our current cell phones were no longer covered under insurance, and our two year contact at Alltel was expiring.  We purchased the Blackberry 8830 world edition.  Last night I was trying to configure my wife's bluetooth headset up to it and I stayed up late doing so.  My wireless headset paired up fine (different brand of headset than my wife's). Anyway, staying up till 11:30pm only allowed me a little over 6 hours of sleep.

 The weather this morning was 35 degrees with a 20mph wind.  The wind here just will not let up.  According to the weather were suppose to get 50mph wind gusts this afternoon.  SLC is also getting the wind too.

I decided to do two MP miles on the downhill and flat part of the course I was running this morning.  First I had to go up the standard Satterfield hill that I run once a week.  The beginning splits were (7:28, 7:02, 7:02, 7:00, 7:12, 6:55).  This hill makes my quads burn every time once I get to the top. Then the MP miles

Mile 7:  5:41 - All downhill the effort was easy even with the headwind, but it was downhill and it was only one mile.  But it felt good.

Mile 8: 5:38  - Mostly flat and downhill.  If felt pretty comfortable pushing on the flat to keep the average..

 Here's the challenge I have for myself this weekend, can I average below a 6 minute mile pace for the whole 26.2?  Can I consistently hit the mile targets that Adam as set for us, and keep up?  I do feel pressure, but that's good, sometimes you need pressure to see if your capable of working out of a tense situation.

 The next three days I'm going to take it easy and only run around 5 each day, and maybe even take the dog out with me. 


 

This morning it snowed just a bit, but nothing to affect the run. The temperature was 25 degrees, and it felt on the chilly side with the wind blowing.   I took a 30 minute nap yesterday and also got over 8 hours of sleep so I felt really good.

The run this morning I started off with a 3 mile warm-up (7:16, 6:53, 6:52) then I decided to do  6 x 200m strides with a 100m slow down (the slow down was around a 6 minute pace range).  The strides I average between a 5:20 and 5:35 pace.  The finally two miles doing these strides made the mile pace overall at (6:14, 5:48)

7 hours of sleep last night, but not very good sleep.  Woke up kind of tired.  The weather was sunny and the temperature was 30 degrees, and it made it a great morning for an easy run.  I ran 5.5 at an easy 7:00 pace in 38:39 in the shoes that I'll be running the marathon in (Asics Banditos racers, these are the replacement for the discontinued Asics Ohana racers).  The 7 minute pace felt like about a 10 minute pace.  I didn't push much effort into the run.

 I liked at the weather for SLC for Saturday's marathon and it showed a low of 40 with the high of 71 degrees, but also with high winds.
 

Over 8 hours of sleep last night and that felt excellent.  I felt full of energy this morning, and ready to go. The temperature was 40 degrees this morning, but with a 20+ mph wind. The wind made it difficult at times with some major gusts exploding in your face. I ran 4.6 miles at a 6:55 pace in 31.54 minutes.  I ran a few 100m strides mixed in the run, just to get the fast twitch muscles flowing.  Last two miles I ran (6:37, 6:32).

I hope the wind doesn't occur tomorrow for the SLC marathon, but if it does that's okay too.  Adam, Sasha, Dave and I will just have to deal with it.

Going into the Salt Lake Marathon I really was not sure how I would do since I decided to run the full rather than the half. I really wanted to run with Adam Wende (which he did awesome), and that's why I changed my decision. I wanted to really get the training in for the Ogden marathon and prepare big for it. I didn't think I was totally ready to run the Salt Lake Marathon as I would like to be, but I thought that I had some good weeks of training from the Achilles issue. I thought my fitness and health was good going into the marathon, and this could be a good tune-up for the Ogden marathon. First marathon of the year, and this would tell where I was at.

First off Barry (on the blog) and I traveled to Salt Lake City, and we settled our room at the Marriott City Center Hotel. Then we went to the Expo at the Convention Center and picked up our race packets. We talked with Sasha for a bit, and he gave Barry some wonderful advice for the race. It's always great to talk with Sasha his knowledge and course detail is amazing, and he's a great person to be around. Then I met Adam Wende there and talk with him for a bit as he picked up his race packet.

Barry and I left for the Salt Lake Running Store, because I needed to purchase some Injinji toe socks. My other pair had a hole in them and their the only kind of socks that I've found that work for me in long distance runs. The other types cause one of my toes to bleed.

Race Details:

Going into this race I was thinking that 2:40 would be a good goal, but once I knew we were running in a headwind I was doubtful. The first few miles the wind wasn't bad, but I think it was about at my 5 when the wind started really becoming a devil.

Mile 1 - 5:49 Felt really good running with Adam, and was really holding back to not explode out of the gate. Sasha and Dave were up ahead of us too.

Mile 2 - 6:01 Still felt good and holding back, because I knew that I would really need to save some strength for the tough wind miles.

Mile 3 - 6:08 Here's where I started falling back from Adam at mile 3. I dropped the aid station water and it slowed me down because I slowed down to grab another one. I wanted to make sure I was hydrated well.

Mile 4 - 5:29 Good downhill mile, and it felt comfortable and easy.

Mile 5 - 5:37 I really should have picked up the pace here and the mile before, because I the wind that would pick-up from miles 6 -14.

Mile 6 - 6:10 Wind was starting to be a issue and made you push harder, but I felt good here.

Mile 7 - 6:21 Felt decent should again have pushed harder, but I think in the back of my mind I knew a hill was coming up, and I would need to push more there. But it was a foolish mistake being so early in the run.

Mile 8 - 6:27 Starting to ascend upward and the three ladies that chicked me were drafting on me at this point. I was really feeling good and feeling comfortable even though the mile was slower.

Mile 9 - 6:30 I don't know why this was so slow, but lost time in this mile.

Mile 10 - 6:09 I started pushing more into the wind to get a decent pace, but it was so strong. I really should have pushed harder here. Took my first Gel at this point, and I think looking back at the race I should have maybe taken one sooner.

Mile 11 - 6:11 Still maintain a decent pace in the wind, this mile I should have tried to make up more time, but the wind was still very strong.

Mile 12 - 6:22 Wind gusts seems to really pickup on this mile, and it was starting to make my pace inconsistent per mile.

Mile 13 - 6:47 I came in on the half way point right on 1:21:00, and I thought I should be able to easily negative split the second half (wishful thinking). Why so slow... I do remember some heavy wind gusts, because I was still feeling great at this point too.

The next four miles I felt comfortable and things were feeling good, and I took another gel at mile 16.
(6:04 , 5:51, 6:05, 6:07)

Up to this point I was feeling good, but than things started changing. I started feeling the need to do a brown code at mile 18, which slowed me down a bit because of the discomfort, and put negative thoughts in my head. One: I didn't want to lose time, Two: if I stopped how would my legs feel starting again, and trying to get back into a nice flow. I slowed down a bit because of this issue from miles 18 -20 (6:21, 6:21, 6:22). I started to pray and ask the Lord what I should do, stop or just keep pushing through.

Amazingly, after mile 20 the pain went away and I was fine, but my pace was slower and I started feeling fatigued. I don't know if it was the early miles from the wind that started being a factor or the fact that I slowed down, because I needed to brown code.

Mile 21 - 6:39 Terrible just shoot me.  The fatigue factor was beginning to settle in.

Mile 22 - 6:36 Where's the bullets I'll shoot myself.   I was hoping I could drop the last  four miles at least under  6:30 pace.  I remember thinking about this at this point in the race.  This would at least give me a shot at 2:44.

Mile 23 - 6:47 Started weaving in and out of half marathoner's traffic.

The last three miles I really lost my focus and just wanted to finish. I really should have thought more positive here because I really believe your training should come out and help you finish strong. (6:51, 6:58, 6:58).

Maybe I made the mistake of only taking two gels, because after the stomach issues from miles 18 to 20 I thought it might not be the best thing to take another gel. I did drink plenty of water through the course and didn't feel any dehydration. I think you can second guess a lot of things, why didn't you do this or that. I believe the wind took its toll on me early trying to fight through it, and showed the result towards the last few miles.

It is a little upsetting when you have high expectations, but mother nature has it's own plan. But no excuses... I could have been stronger and more positive in the later miles, and that's a big key to success.

I do feel good going into Ogden as long as I take it easy the next three weeks, and have fun and be confident I should do well. I really need to decide how to prepare for Ogden so close. This week of course will be recovery miles and just taking it easy. Not sure what my plan will be for long runs. I know I should at least get one MP long run in even if it's only for 6 miles.

All the splits

Mile 1 - 5:49

Mile 2 - 6:01

Mile 3 - 6:08

Mile 4 - 5:29

Mile 5 - 5:37

Mile 6 - 6:10

Mile 7 - 6:21

Mile 8 - 6:27

Mile 9 - 6:30

Mile 10 - 6:09

Mile 11 - 6:11

Mile 12 - 6:22

Mile 13 - 6:47

Mile 14 - 6:04

Mile 15 - 5:51

Mile 16 - 6:05

Mile 17 - 6:07

Mile 18 - 6:21

Mile 19 - 6:21

Mile 20 - 6:22

Mile 21 - 6:39

mile 22 - 6:36

Mile 23 - 6:47

Mile 24 - 6:51

Mile 25 - 6:58

Mile 26 - 6:58