Week 15 - Long run

Today was my last big run before the marathon which is a week away. It started off pretty rough, which I believe is because of the heart rate monitor which I decided to dust off and use for the first time in this marathon's training. I tried to keep my rate down and watch my pace, but ended up running the first mile in like 9:25, much slower than I intended. I pushed harder but my lungs were hurting. I finally took the monitor off at 3 miles and things went better from there on out. I guess I have it adjusted too tight or something.

I managed to do 10 miles in about 87 minutes, around an 8:40/mi pace, which is what I'm aiming for at the marathon. Just a couple easy runs coming up this week and the big event on Sunday.


Weekly Total: 19 miles
Yearly Total: 294.7 miles

Week 15 - Run #2

Another medium run today. Went for 5 miles at around an 8:20 pace for most of the time. Finished up in 41:38, thanks to a little push in the last mile to test my legs out. Feeling pretty good right now. Still trying to decide what I'm going to run on Saturday, as it will be my last "long" run. Leaning towards 8-10 miles outside at a race-like pace of around 8:30.

Week 15 - Run #1

Well, I'm no longer calling it a "speed run" because I've stopped doing that. It was more like a tempo run with briefs outbursts of speed. I got on the treadmill and knocked out 4 miles in 31:53 (7:58/mi pace). Nothing too exciting. Trying to keep it light so I can "taper".

Week 14 - Long run (a race)

Today was my last hard run before the marathon, which is now just two weeks away. I got up early and headed downtown for the 2nd annual Hermes Cleveland 10 Miler. Kind of a unique distance, though it's just what I was looking for following last week's 20 miler.

The starting point was the House of Blues in Cleveland. The course took us around Jacobs Field, over a few bridges, past the West Side Market, through Ohio City, down around the Cleveland Browns Stadium, out to Burke Lakefront Airpot and finally back to the House of Blues. Overall the course was interesting and fairly flat. The only part of the course that I did not care for was the run out to Burke. We ran on a service road along I-90, and went about a mile out, turned around, and came the mile back on the other side of the road. So not only was it a very unscenic route, but I am not a big fan of two-way running like that.

I started up near the front, which I should have known better than to do. I'm used to passing people, but today was the day of getting passed. I probably passed less than a dozen people over the course of the race, while getting passed by well over a hundred. Not a good thing for your mentality. I did my best to keep up early on, and over exerted myself the first two miles. My first mile split was 7:14, and my second was 7:13. That's extremely fast for me. But it hurt me, because I was feeling it very shortly after that. There were the usual doubts, thoughts of quitting, and all of the standard mental elements.

I endured though and managed to come in just under my pace from the half marathon a few weeks ago. To be more exact, just a mere second faster, with a 7:54/mi pace. Not bad, but I was hoping to shave more than just a second off that pace. I think if I hadn't started so hard, I could have done better. For the marathon, I know that I'm going to pace myself, so I'm not too concerned about burning out early.

Here are the numbers from the race:

Time: 1:18:58
Pace: 7:54/mile
Overall: 204 of 845
Division: 19 of 53 (Men, 25-29)

Not bad, though I'd like to keep working to break into the top 25% in more races.

Weekly Total: 15 miles
Yearly Total: 275.7 miles

Week 14 - Tempo run

Starting to do my variation of the "taper" (winding down my training before the marathon). I was very sore on Monday & Tuesday, so today was the earliest that I felt I should try running again. It went pretty well. I did 5 miles in a hair under 40 minutes, to stay under an 8 minute per mile pace.

In waiting until today to run, it kind of screws me out of running again before Saturday's 10 mile race. I don't want to run Thursday and not have a rest day after today's run, but I definitely do not want to run on Friday before the race the next day. So it looks like another 2 run week. I'm sure my legs are happy to hear this.

Week 13 - Long run

Well, today was it. The last scheduled long "long run" before the marathon, which is 3 weeks from today. The plan was once again to give a shot at doing 20 miles, and today I was actually able to do it. No, it was not easy, but I kept moving and eventually made it to the finish.

I started on the towpath trail in Brecksville, went down past Pennisula (7 miles) and on another 3 miles before turning around and doing the second half of my run. I checked my split times, but I can't really remember any of them. All I know is that I finished in 3:01:31, a 9:04/mi pace. Just 5 seconds under the pace to achieve the 4 hour mark, my goal for the race. I was pretty wiped out though I felt better than after 16mi last Sunday, and I think I remember coming in a minute or two less for the 16mi this week.

So, I'm going to keep pushing hard this week and this coming Saturday I am running in the Hermes 10 miler in downtown Cleveland. So that will be one last race before the big one. Overall I'm happy with today's run. Not quite the pace I'd hope for, but I got the mileage done, and that's the important thing.

Weekly Total: 25 miles
Yearly Total: 260.7 miles

Week 13 - Tempo run

I finally got back to running today (life interrupted for a few days). Even though it was very nice outside, I stuck to the treadmill and got in 5 miles. I still felt a little sore when running, but I kept it going and finished in 41:17 (an 8:15/mi pace). Might try to get in another run between now and Sunday when I plan to give 20 miles another shot.

Week 12 - Long run

Today was one of the last big warmups to the marathon (which is now less than a month away), and did not go so great. The good news is that I ran 16 miles, the longest run of my training so far. The bad news is that I had planned (hoped, wanted) to run 20 miles.

I had all intentions to run 20 miles. I ran out 10 miles from my starting point before turning around. But on the way back, my legs just got more and more tired. Finally during mile 16, I realized that I just wasn't going to make it any further, even if that meant walking the last 4 miles back to my car. So that is what happened. I stopped running after 16 miles, just as my thighs felt like they each had daggers stuck in them.

As much as I wanted to just lay down and get off my legs, I had no desire to spend the rest of my Sunday in the park. So I journeyed on, trying to mix in the occasional jog (very occasional) to speed things up, only to be rewarded with more pain. Finally I made it back and was able to enjoy the feeling of sitting, which I had not felt in over 3 hours.

The 16 miles took me 2:24:06, exactly at 9:00/mi pace. Not bad, except for the fact that I was 10.2 miles short of marathon distance. So today seems to be the turning point in my training. Unable to achieve 20 miles, I'm realizing that I haven't trained as well as I should have. Unfortunately, I do not think there is time enough left to make up for that. I briefly thought of skipping the upcoming marathon altogether, but I know I can finish. The only question is how long. I'm no longer really shooting for that sub 4 hour marathon. Not this time. I didn't work hard enough for it. But I know I can finish the marathon, even if it takes me 6 hours.

So the new goal for next month's marathon....just finish.

Weekly Total: 25.5 miles
Yearly Total: 235.7 miles

Week 12 - Tempo run

Today's run sucked. I went out too fast and burned myself out and had to stop after 25 minutes (3.18 mi). I then walked for 5 minutes (to prevent my lungs from exploding) and started back up again. I was able to complete 6 miles in total, though I can't remember how long the second part of my run went, though most of it was at a pace in the low 8's.

So it seems that I have once again become preoccupied with speed and not distance. This weekend's long run should be a good indicator as to how many miles my legs are good for, as I'm planning a 20mi outing. If I struggle at that, things don't look good for Cincy.

Week 12 - Speed run

I took it easy today as I did not want to push myself too hard following my race this past Saturday. I did not go in with a formal plan, and ended up doing 3.5 miles using one of the hilly course options on the treadmill. I handled the inclines pretty well, though they weren't much to speak of. I really need to work on my hill running as the Flying Pig is supposed to have a good amount of uphill running.

Week 11 - Long run (a race)

Today I ran in the LaSalle Bank Columbus Distance Classic in Columbus, OH. The distance was a half-marathon, 13.1 miles. It was my 2nd half-marathon I've run, the previous one being last September. My (lofty) goal was to sneak in under an 8:00/mi pace, and I'm happy to report that I was successful!

Here are the numbers:

- Time: 1:43:41
- Pace: 7:55/mi
- Overall Place: 387 out of 2,665
- Division Place (men 25-29): 59 out of 190

So compared to last fall's race, I cut 27 seconds off my pace, which equates to nearly 6 minutes off my time. I can live with that. I've been constantly frustrated by my inability to improve my speed, so it's nice to see some real results. I'm realizing that I'm just impatient and want the speed to come without all the work that it takes to do so. So overall, I'm happy with my performance.

The course was pretty good. We ran through the streets of downtown Columbus and around the Ohio State campus (including a lap around the outside of their stadium, the "horseshoe"). It was pretty flat for the most part, with the occasional slight incline and decline. Overall I think there were more downhill segments than uphill. The only negative was that some of the early segments of the course were narrow, which is bad since that is when people are most packed together.

As for my fellow runners, there were a lot of them. This was by far the biggest race I have run, and I was not used to the crowd. I arrived a bit late and was not able to get as far to the front as I would have liked. I think I got stuck around the 11:00/mi group sign. After the gun sounded, it took me nearly 2 minutes to cross the starting line. For the first 2 miles, I was constantly trying to dart in between people, or run around them, in order to get to the pace I wanted to be at. I started getting concerned when my first mile time was over 8:30. I know I started further back than I should have, but some of those people that were in front of me should have been well behind me at the start. There were some people that were walking by the 2nd mile! Fortunately by the 3rd mile, I passed enough people (probably close to 1,000) that I could run comfortably. Later in the race, there were a couple periods where I was totally alone, with no one within 50 yards of me. That was weird.

The fans were sparser than the Akron Marathon, but there were still a fair amount. It's always nice to see people who aren't there for anyone in particular but just want to cheer everyone on. The water/Gatorade stations were well manned and well placed (almost too many). The only complaint was that there was a gel station that had only 2 girls working at it, and I was unable to get any since the runners in front of me got some.

The post race was alright. I was excited to see that one of the sponsors, Donatos Pizza (my favorite), had pizza for the runners. I loaded up a plate with some pizza & bagels and a big bottle of gatorade and sat around for 20 minutes until I started getting cold.

Overall it was a good time and I can see myself doing it again. It made me a little worried though about my marathon-readiness since I did not feel like I had many more miles left in my legs by the end. I'm hoping to get in some 20 mile long runs these next two weekends. I need to push myself or I'm going to have a rough morning in Cincinnati.

Weekly Total: 27.1 miles
Yearly Total: 210.2 miles