Detroit Marathon Training - Week 12 - Run #1

After slacking for the past few days, I managed to finally get my first run of the week in this afternoon. After work, I headed downstairs to the gym and hit up the treadmill for an 8 miler (which is about the max for what I can handle on a treadmill before wanting to kill myself out of boredom).

The run actually went pretty good, besides the boredom that is. I started off at an 8:20 pace (again, trying to emulate a realistic marathon pace) and did that for 4 miles before upping it to 8:13 for a couple of miles, and then to 8:06 for mile 6 & 7, and then down under 8 for most of the eighth and final mile.

I did learn one thing today. The gym's treadmill stops after 60 minutes. Fortunately, I was able to get in an extra 5 minutes during the "cooldown" cycle, but my time ran out at the 7.9 mile mark (65 minutes), so I had to stop, restart and finish the last tenth of a mile, which took about 49 seconds (most of which was spent ramping back up to speed). So that was pretty dumb.

So yeah, 8 miles in 65:49, which averages out to a little under an 8:14 per mile average pace (which would be a 3:36 marathon, which I would love, but it's late and I think that is the sign to go to bed because I must have started dreaming).

Detroit Marathon Training - Week 11 - Run #3 (post #100!)

Today was another long run. One which kicked my butt. Hard. Last Sunday's 16 miler was not so bad, so I was hoping to get away with another good run today. No such luck.

I can't blame it on the weather though. While I went to bed fearing that my run would be washed out due to storms that were predicted, I woke up to fairly dry conditions. By the time I started my run (around 10am), it was partly sunny and in the 60s. Not bad for my first official run of the fall.

Things started off pretty well. I tried to stick around the 8:30 pace of last week. Unfortunately during mile 4 or 5, my body let me know that it needed a trip to the boys room (despite having done so before I left). During the next 2 miles, it was a struggle to keep going. Finally, I managed to make it to Peninsula and hit up the public restroom. Were it not for that, today's run would have been a disaster. This was not something that would have been done nicely behind a few bushes.

Once back on track, I made it the 9 miles to my turnaround point, and still felt pretty good. I don't remember exactly, but I think it was around the time I started mile 14 that the wheels started to come off. My legs were just not happy and my head was full of doubt. There were a number of times I wanted to stop, but I knew that would only make next week's run all the more difficult. So I trudged ahead. Just as I started mile 17, a guy passing me on his bike yelled out "How many you doing today?", to which I replied "18". He then asked "How many left?", to which I replied "2!". He then cheered me on and told me to keep going. This is the first time something like that has happened to me, and it was surprisingly uplifting. So I kept on going, and I did manage to finish those last 2 miles without stopping.

18 miles - 2:39:50 (about an 8:53/mi pace). Not as good as last week, but decent. If I ran that pace for the marathon, it would be almost exactly my finishing time from the Flying Pig back in May. Obviously, I want an improvement. But looking back, none of my long runs leading up to the Pig were near the actual pace I finished at. So I guess that is a good sign.

Weekly Total: 32.2 miles
Yearly Total: 661.5 miles

Detroit Marathon Training - Week 11 - Run #2

Today was one of my longer treadmill runs, but not one of my better ones. I actually went to a different rec center today, that my company operates at another location. So it was an interesting change of scenery. However, the run itself was not that good.

Today, during my lunch break, I decided that my goal time for the upcoming Detroit Marathon will be 3:40. In order to do that, I have to run an 8:23 mile pace. So, I decided that today's run should be exactly at that pace. However, since the treadmill doesn't like doing that, I settled for the next best thing, 8:20. Which I did. And it was harder than I thought. I felt more like I was running a 7:20 than an 8:20. But I made it. Through 8 miles! That's almost a personal record distance on a treadmill. Granted I was ready to shoot myself out of boredom by the end.

So 8 miles in 1:06:44. I found out, much to my annoyance, the treadmill stops counting seconds after an hour. So ghetto.

Detroit Marathon Training - Week 11 - Run #1

I surprisingly felt very good yesterday following Sunday's 16 mile run, but I decided to take the planned day of rest anyways. So today was the first run of the week for me. I just finished it up downstairs on the treadmill here at work.

For today's run, I decided to mix in a bit of speedwork, along with the idea of trying to stick closer to a "realistic" marathon pace. So for the first 3 miles, I did 800m speedwork intervals with the first half of each mile at 8:27 pace, and the second half at 6:58 pace. After that, I settled out around an 8:13 pace, with increases during each of the last miles, and gradual increases during the last mile.

In total, I ran 6.2 miles (10 km) today in 48:13, for an average pace of 7:46.6 minutes per mile. Not too bad. It felt good to push myself, but not to the extreme like I have been doing. I think in the long run it's better for me to focus on more realistic paces as long as I keep training for the longer distance races.

Detroit Marathon Training - Week 10 - Run #3

Today was my first normal "long run" in a while, following last weekend's half-marathon race and a few weeks off before though. So I was worried that I might be a bit rusty. Fortunately, things seem to go my way today.

I made it out to the park around 8am today, and it was a bit chilly as temperatures were only in the mid 50s. But after a couple minutes of running, there is no coldness at all. For once, I started off at a slower pace instead of sprinting out the gates like I typically do. I didn't want to start fast and then fade like I typically do. So I did my first mile in 8:30 and tried to keep that pace for most of the run.

At my turnaround point, 8 miles in, my time was about 1:09, which is an 8:37 pace. However, I think that mile 6 is at least .1 miles longer than marked, and I did that "mile" about a minute slower, so I'm going to start trimming a minute off my team each time I run that mile. So a 1:08 time is exactly an 8:30 pace.

I hoped to match or possibly even beat that time on the way back, but it was not meant to be today. During miles 13 & 14 or so, I was starting to fade a bit. I was able to pick things up the last few miles, but it wasn't enough. I ended up finishing the 8 mile route back two minutes slower. So my adjusted final time was 2:18:06 which is an average pace of about 8:38 per mile.

So I was happy with today's performance. I wasn't exhausted those last couple of miles, so I think paying attention to my pace from the beginning is a good idea. Next week I am aiming to do an 18 miler.


Weekly Total: 29 miles
Yearly Total: 629.3 miles

Detroit Marathon Training - Week 10 - Run #2

For the first time in many weeks, I was able to keep to my schedule this week and did my second run of the week today after work. I hit up the treadmill downstairs after work and set out for a 7 mile run.

I was a little overambitious and started off at a 7:30/mi pace for the first two miles, before going down to a 7:24 pace for 3 & 4. During the fourth mile, my lower back started hurting, and I knew that I wasn't going to make it 7 miles if I tried to keep up that pace. So after 4.5 miles, I knocked my pace back to a flat 8:00. That seemed to make things a bit easier, and I gradually increased my pace from there over the last couple of miles, and finished the 7 miles in 53:11 for an average pace of about 7:36 per mile.

I think I need more runs like today where I just slow down a bit. Realistically, my pace for the marathon is going to be around 8:30, so pushing myself at these much faster paces does not seem to make much sense when I sit back and think about it. But whenever I set out to run, it's hard to resist the urge to push myself. So I just need to force myself to do it, and get my body used to running the slower pace.

Detroit Marathon Training - Week 10 - Run #1

Look at that, in the double digits for my training week now. Pretty soon it will be week 16, which is marathon week. After my race this past weekend, I'm now sort of wishing I had a few more weeks of training to do.

Well, today was back to normal. A run downstairs on the treadmill after work. I started off strong, at a 7:41/mi clip, and briefly decided to mix in some speedwork, doing the last 1/4 of the first mile in 6:44 or so. Not a good idea. It tired me out.

I did the second mile at 7:41 also, before kicking it up to 7:35 for miles 3 & 4. For mile 5, I went down to 7:30, and to 7:24 for mile 6, with increases every .2 miles and then even more frequently in the second half of the mile.

All in all, I finished 6 miles in a time of 45:06, for an average pace of 7:31 per mile. One of my better runs, if I do say so myself. The highlight of the evening though was my girlfriend treating me to a delicious salmon dinner that she cooked after I came home (with salmon in hand). That's about the best dinner ever.

Detroit Marathon Training - Week 9 - Run #3 (Half-marathon race)

This morning was the River Run Half Marathon in Berea, OH. It's a pretty popular race here in northeast Ohio, and this is the first time that I did it. It's a pretty scenic run, through the Metroparks from Berea to Rocky River.

Things started off pretty well, though the starting area was very crowded. They used chips for timing, and did not have enough of the chip mats to cover the width of the road, so people had to cram together at the starting line to make it over the map. Things were pretty crowded the first mile or so, and I had to make some tough passes to get around people, but I'm starting to get used to that.

The first mile went by in 7:30, and I sped up a bit as my time after mile 3 was 22:02 (7:20/mi pace), but things started going downhill for me during mile 4. I can't remember very many other splits, but the tough miles for me were 4 and 7...and most everything after that. I won't lie, it was a hard race for me. I don't know why, but it just didn't seem to go well. It could be that I have not done a long run in over 2 weeks. Or that I put on a couple pounds in the past week. But whatever it was, I did not feel in race form.

Despite my troubles, I did manage to make it to the end without stopping even though I really questioned whether or not I would. Also, I did somehow manage to make a PR time, improving my previous best by just under 3 minutes. However, today's race was a bit of a wakeup call that I really need to get back into my training if I want next month's marathon to go well. Today looked good on paper, but I ran it and can tell you that it was not a good run. So there is a lot of work left to do in these next 7 weeks.

Time: 1:40:45
Pace: 7:43/mi
Overall: 149 of 838
Division (Male 25-29): 16 of 35

And here are my updated year-to-date totals:

Weekly Total: 26.1 miles
Yearly Total: 600.3 miles

Detroit Marathon Training - Week 9 - Run #2

Went out for a late run this evening since I wasted my afternoon driving out to the west side (Parma) to pickup my packet for this Sunday's River Run half marathon. They had a packet pickup yesterday at the nearby Fleet Feet Sports, which I totally forgot about until this morning. Unfortunately, there is no race day pickup, so I was forced to go today or else I'd have to drive even further to pick it up Friday or Saturday.

So anyways, I got home, ate dinner, and headed out for a run. I didn't want to do the full distance of my newfound course, so I set out with a general idea of where to turn around. So I headed down pretty far, to the Solon schools intersection, turned around, ran around to the far apartment entrance, around the apartment loop and back to my complex. After a few minutes of drawing on the Gmaps Pedometer website, I calculated my distance to be 5.73 miles in a time of 49:32. That averages out to an 8:38/mi pace which might be true because I was feeling some pain at the beginning and took it kind of easy. With the big race coming up on Sunday, I didn't want to push it too hard.

Detroit Marathon Training - Week 9 - Run #1

Got back in town this evening and headed out for a run on my newfound 7.3 (or so) mile route near home. I thought my pace was really good, but I ended up running a few seconds behind my previous time on this course, finishing in 1:00:52. I felt pretty good after my brief absense from running, so hopefully there won't be any lapse in my training level due to the days off.