Half Marathon PR

Today I ran the Grape Stomp Half Marathon. I finished with a time of 1:26:46, PR’ing by almost a full minute (previous PR was 1:27:42), but that’s really the only good thing I can say about my race. I just did not run a smart race. I made three mistakes that cost me my goal of sub-1:25:00. The first is that I ran the first mile in 6:07 (goal pace was 6:29). The other two mistakes were going off the course. The first time I went off course it was totally my fault. There was a turn right at or just after the seven-mile marker. I was looking at my watch trying to figure out how far behind pace I was, and I ran right past a well-marked turn. I figured it out rather quickly and backtracked, but it still cost me at least 20 seconds. The other time, the trail forked and it wasn’t marked. I went left instead of straight. Both paths joined back together with a third path forming sort of a triangle, but I ran the long way around. Plus I slowed way down at the split trying to figure out which direction to go.

Even though I'm disappointed in my race execution, there are some postives that I can take away from this race. The main one being that I am in pretty good shape. In the future I need more race pace and tempo runs. I also need to run more without my Garmin. I did not wear it today and never felt comfortable with my pace. I just could never tell if I was ahead or behind pace. Another positive is that I pushed through some painful miles at the the end of this race. With three miles to go, it was clear that I wouldn't hit 1:25, so I basically ran for a PR and to not get passed. I was successful on both accounts.

I think if I run this race again, I'll only run the 10K. The 5K, 10K, and half marathon are all out and back courses; but after the 10K turnaround, the course goes out of a nice tree-lined asphalt path and is run on a bike path next to a busy street with basically no shade.

The end result is that I finished 7th overall (out of 158), 4th in the 40-49 age group.

It's Almost Race Day!

Mostly I’ve been taking it easy since Sunday. I ran five miles on Monday and an easy double on Tuesday (four miles in the a.m. and five in the p.m.). On Wednesday, I ran seven miles, including two miles at half marathon pace. I actually ran a bit slower than goal pace for the second mile. I ran at lunch and ended up running the faster miles in an area where I don’t normally run. By the way, a mile sure seems longer when there are no familiar landmarks. Where I usually run I can estimate fairly accurately where the next mile mark will be, but yesterday I had to just run until I heard the beep. I could have just looked down at my Garmin, but I’m trying to learn the pace by feel, so I only check the pace every half mile. Anyway, I checked the pace when I knew I had run more than a half a mile, and I was running at 6:16 pace (goal pace is 6:29). I ended up adjusting my pace too much. I finished the first mile at 6:27, but had slowed to 6:34 for the second mile. I’ll finish my week with five easy miles today, no running on Friday, and a very easy 2 miles on Saturday.

My legs have felt heavy since yesterday, but that’s pretty normal for me the week before a race. Yesterday, I was fine after a short warm-up. I’m confident that I’ll be ready to race on Sunday.

Half Marathon Pace Run

I had a fairly good run on Sunday. My plan was to run a mile and half warm-up, run five miles at half marathon goal pace and then have an easy run back home for a total of 13 miles. I did well on the warm-up and finished the pace miles okay. However, as I started the run back home, I started having some pretty intense GI distress. Not being near a public restroom, I ran just far enough to reach the 8-mile mark for my total and then walked home via a shortcut.

It wasn’t the way I had hoped to end my run, but the good news is that I ran the five pace miles without too much difficulty. As usual I was just a bit slow when running into the wind and was a bit fast with the wind at my back. If I remember correctly my splits were 6:32, 6:26, 6:25:6:30, and 6:28. The goal for each mile was 6:29. I don’t think I could have held the pace for 8 more miles, but add another easy week and some race-day excitement to the mix, and I should be able to make a strong run at a sub-1:25 half marathon. The best part is that there doesn’t seem to be any noticeable carryover from donating blood last week.

I was watching the highlights of Ironman Lake Placid yesterday. During the run, I was trying to estimate the pace of the leaders. They looked like they were running pretty well; they were up on their feet (as opposed to the shuffle you sometimes see during the second half of an Ironman marathon) but didn’t look like they were striding out like you see at the front of most marathons (as opposed to triathlons). It looked like they were running 8-minute miles, but since these are among the best triathletes I the world, I figured they were probably running close to a 3-hour marathon pace (low 7 minutes/high 6 minutes per mile). I was blown away when the announcer said they were at a 6:00 mile pace. However, after looking up the times on the web, the truth is in the middle. The leader ran 2:48:20, which if my calculations are correct is a 6:25 pace. Even though this isn’t a six-minute pace, it’s still an amazing time considering the swim and bike that came first.

Weekly Recap

There's not much to report since my last post. Since giving blood on Tuesday, I've done nothing but easy running. Here's how my week played out.

Sunday - 15 miles, including 8 at 6:29 (half marathon pace)
Monday - off day
Tuesday - 8 miles, including 5 at 6:29
Wednesday - 5 easy miles
Thursday - 8 easy miles
Friday - 5 easy miles
Saturday - 9 easy miles
TOTAL: 50 miles

Since giving blood on Tuesday, I've done nothing but easy running. I feel pretty good right now, with no noticeable effects of donating. I'll run a few faster miles tomorrow to sort of test myself.

Tough Choice

I may have killed any chance of running up to my potential on October 29. I decided to give blood today. I was on the fence about whether or not to donate. I trained hard and want to race well. On the other hand, it’s possible that my blood donation could save someone’s life. I’m a big believer in giving blood, so I decided to donate and take my chances with the race. Usually donating doesn’t noticeable effect me for more than a few days. However, I’ve never donated this close to a race before, so I’m not sure what the effect will be. I’m doing what I can to recover as quickly as possible (lots of fluid, big meal tonight, and rest). I’ll run my miles at an easy pace the rest of this week, on Sunday I’ll run a few miles at half marathon pace and see how I feel, and then just continue my taper and hope for the best. There’s not much else I can do.

Before giving blood I ran at lunch. Since the next few days will be at a recovery or an easy pace, I ran hard today. I ended up with eight miles, including 5 x 1 mile at a 6:09 target pace. My times for each mile were 6:11, 5:59, 5:57, 6:11 and 6:21. The first and last miles were into the wind, the second and third were with the wind, and the fourth mile was pretty much out of the wind (blocked by trees). The fourth mile was my best effort. It was really the only mile where I kept a consistent pace throughout the full mile. The first mile I ran too hard. I was close with the time, but considering the wind, I would have been slower if I had run at the proper effort. The second and third miles, I ran the first half mile too fast and then tried to slow to the proper pace/effort. By the last mile, I was done. The wind had picked up a little, and I didn’t have the strength to fight through it. Going too hard in mile one and in the first halves of miles two and three didn’t leave me with much in the tank. Overall it was a good workout coming after a hard run and a lot of walking on Sunday. I did basically nothing on Monday and got a good night’s sleep last night.

A Great Sunday

This morning I ran my scheduled workout - 15 miles, including eight miles at half marathon race pace (6:29). I ran the eight pace miles after a two-mile warmup. I was able to keep at or below 6:29 on all but one mile, which was run into a decent wind. Still that mile was at 6:32, so I was close. Overall, I finished the eight faster miles close to 30 seconds below my goal pace. The last five miles were an easy run home. I'm very pleased with this workout. The effort was fairly consistent. I ran a bit faster than I was wanted on about half of the faster miles, but those miles were mostly run into the wind, so I was pretty close effort-wise.

After finishing my run, I had to shower and eat pretty quickly because the family spent the afternoon and evening at Six Flags Marine World. My legs and feet got pretty sore from walking so much after a hard workout, but I had a great time. Marine World has a bit of everything, roller coasters, sea mammals (walruses, dolphins, sea lions, a killer whale), penguins, and land animals (camels, elephants, lions and a few others). My wife and I rode a few rides, but mostly we walked around looking at the animals and watching the shows. My daughter and her boyfriend spent almost the entire time on roller coasters. To make the day even better, I got the tickets from a guy at work for free!

Back to running. The completion of today's run marked the beginning of my taper. I'm going to try to stick to my schedule over these last couple of weeks. My bigger challenge will be to reduce my caloric intake to match my reduced mileage.

Weekly Recap and Training Thoughts

Weekly Recap

Sunday – 17 miles, including 14 miles at goal marathon pace
Monday – scheduled off day
Tuesday – 6 miles, cut workout short
Wednesday – off day, fell asleep instead of running
Thursday – 10 easy miles
Friday – off day, fell asleep instead of running
Saturday – 7 easy miles
TOTAL: 40 miles

It became clear to me during my run today that I needed to build a bigger base for the training plan I set up. After running the Napa Valley Marathon the first weekend in March, I recovered and ran nothing but easy runs for the rest of the month. In April and May I built my mileage up to the point where I logged three 80 mile weeks. I started a training plan which built up to 80-mile weeks with speed workouts included. I did well during the first two thirds of the plan, when most of the speed work was done in weeks that topped out in the mid-60 mile range, and the 80-mile weeks consisted mostly of slower, longer runs. However, the last two weeks that crossed 80-mile mark included faster runs, and I ended up taking three days off the following week. This past week I was tired all the time. I realize that the mileage from the previous week wasn’t the only reason. I didn’t sleep real well during the first part of the week, and as always I could have done better with my diet. But I think the bottom line is that my training plan is calling for more than my base will allow me to give.

I don’t necessarily think this is a bad thing. Over the last few months I’ve run more miles than I’ve run in preparation for any race in my life. I’ve run a lot of high-quality workouts. I ran a PR in the 10K. And I’m confident that I’m in shape to PR in my race on 29 October. Tomorrow I’m running 8 miles at half marathon pace (or at least that’s the goal), and then I’m starting my taper. Even though I didn’t complete the training as I laid it out, I feel like I pushed the envelope and ran as well as I could based on the fitness level with which I entered the training cycle. If things go well tomorrow, I’ll shoot for sub-1:25 on October 29. If not, I’ll adjust as necessary but will still be shooting for a PR.

I’m looking forward to running hard tomorrow and then refreshing my body over the next couple of weeks. Although I haven’t received official confirmation that I wasn’t selected for the Navy Marathon team, I’ve realized that the writing is on the wall. The race is in two weeks. Surely, if I had been selected, I would have received notification by now. So unless I hear otherwise, my attention is on the Grape Stomp Half Marathon.

Short, Boring Training Update

Bad news for yesterday’s run. Instead of an easy run, I came home from work and fell asleep. Oh well, it happens. Today I ran ten miles, including five miles at half marathon effort. It was cool, windy evening, and I only hit goal pace for one of the miles. Still I feel good about the workout. I got into a pretty good rhythm and ran at a good effort. On a less windy day, I think I would have been at or below goal pace. My miles splits were 6:50, 6:34, 6:29, 6:34, and 6:32. Goal pace is 6:29. The first mile was directly into a strong wind. The other miles were mostly in a cross wind.

Tomorrow I’m going to run an easy ten miles and then run seven miles on Saturday. This should leave me rested for Sunday when I run eight miles at goal half marathon pace. In the past this workout has been a good barometer for me. If I nail this run, I’ll feel ready for the race.

Run Cut Short

After running hard on Sunday, Monday was a rest day. This is my week to concentrate on speed, so I headed out Tuesday with the goal of running 6 x mile repeats at 6:09 pace. I ran the first one into the wind. I ran about as hard as I could run and managed a 6:24 mile. The second repeat (with the wind at my back) was completed in 6:05. I stopped the third repeat after about a 1/4 mile. I just didn't have anything left to give.

I realized that Sunday's run took more out of me than I wanted to admit. I decided to just run the remainder of the run at an easy effort and try to complete the rest of my week as planned. However, after another mile or so, I felt a tightness in my right calf and shortly after that I felt sort of tingling sensation and noticed that I was favoring my right leg. I don't think I was injured or risking injury, but I decided not to take a chance. I turned at the next street and took a shortcut home. I ended up running six miles. I'll continue my week by running an easy 7.5 miles today and then a half marathon race pace run tomorrow.

Last Week Before Taper

The end of last week went as follows. Thursday was a ten miles run, with five miles at half marathon pace. This was a pretty tough run after a couple of hard workouts earlier in the week. On Friday I split my fifteen miles into two, 7.5 mile runs. Both were run at an easy pace. Saturday I was scheduled to run eight miles, but I was beat and had a tough run scheduled for Sunday, so I cut Saturday’s run back to five miles at recovery pace. I ended the week with 80 miles.

Today I started my last training week before tapering with a damn tough workout. I ran the Pfitzinger workout of 17 miles with 14 miles at marathon pace. I’m shooting for a sub-three hour marathon, but am using 6:50 as my training pace, mostly because it makes the math easier when I’m calculating race pace for multiple miles. Plus I figure training for a couple of seconds faster can’t hurt. Here’s what I said about this same workout when I ran it before the Napa Valley Marathon:

“This past Sunday I ran 17-miles with 14 miles at marathon pace (7:00 m/m). Actually, I probably averaged closer to 6:55 pace for these 14 miles. It was a great run. The weather was perfect; there was almost no wind (for the first time in days), and the temps were in the mid-50s. I had to work to maintain the pace, but not too hard; and I was able to get in a rhythm and run smooth.”

Today’s workout was much tougher, the big difference being that I ran mid-afternoon, and the temps were in the 70s. The good news is that I was able to maintain my pace for the entire 14 miles, actually averaging a few seconds below marathon pace. My big problem is consistent pacing. I ranged between 6:54 and 6:38. I just haven’t got to the point where I can just feel when I’m at race pace. I wasn’t planning on racing with my Garmin, but if I don’t get more comfortable with race pace, I may change my mind. Anyway today I averaged 6:47 for the 14 miles. Like the last time I ran this workout, I’m taking my ability to finish it as a good sign for race day. If I race smart and the weather cooperates, I have a fighting chance at reaching my goal.

I usually taper one-week for a half marathon and three weeks for a full marathon. However, since I’m still not sure which race I’m running, so right now I’m looking at a two-week taper. If I find out this week that I’ve been selected for the Navy Marathon Team, I’ll start the taper that day. Three weeks has worked for me in the past, so I’ll stick with it as much as possible. If I was not selected, I’ll run eight miles at half marathon race pace this Sunday and then start a two week taper for the half marathon. One week has worked for me, but because I’ve been mixing half marathon and full marathon training, I’ve run more miles this time and feel that two weeks will be a good fit.

One last item, the Coast Guard Sports rep either did not follow through and contact the Navy Sports rep on Thursday or was unable to get an answer. Either way, I obviously still have no idea what distance I’m running this month. It’s pretty frustrating.

Limited Access

Based on an e-mail that I've received from the Coast Guard Sports rep at CG Headquarters, he will call the Navy Sports guy tomorrow and ask about my Navy Marathon application. It would be nice to get an answer one-way or the other so that I can concentrate on whichever race distance I'll be running.

After my good 20-miler on Sunday, I ran a five mile recovery run on Monday, and then had a good run during lunch on Tuesday. I took a longer than allowed lunch break and ran ten miles with five miles (miles 1-6) at half marathon goal pace (6:29). Tonight (Wednesday) I ran 15 miles on a drizzly evening.

For some reason my schedule calls for another 15 miles tomorrow night. I suspect I made an error when I put the schedule together, so I'm going to change it. I'm going to switch Thursday and Friday's scheduled workouts, running 10 miles on Thursday and 15 on Friday (a day I took off from work to give me a four-day weekend), and then whatever I have on the schedule for Saturday. This will give me the same weekly mileage and is probably what my schedule should have read to begin with. I

The IT guys at work have temporary eliminated all non-work related web access, so I've not been online much this week. Hopefully, we'll regain access sometime this week. They do this every once in a while when there is concern about a virus or other potential danger floating around.

Weekly / Monthly Recap

September 24 - 30 Weekly Recap

Sunday - 15 miles, including 10 miles at marathon goal pace (6:50)
Monday - 5.5 miles, easy
Tuesday - 10 miles, including 6 x 1 miles repeats at 6:10 pace
Wednesday - 8 miles, recovery effort
Thursday - 10 miles, including seven miles at half marathon goal pace (6:29)
Friday - 8 miles, at recovery pace
Saturday - 10 easy miles
TOTAL: 66.5 miles

I followed my schedule with one small change. I switched Friday and Saturday's runs. I was beat on Friday, so I cut that run a bit short. I did run all my harder workouts as scheduled and hit my goal pace for each run.

September Monthly Recap

269.3 miles, which is a bit less than I had planned.
26 running days, including three doubles.
4 days of no running, including three off days in the same week.
7:28, average pace for all runs.

October is off to a good start. I ran 20 miles today, and I ran the last five miles at marathon goal pace. I've thought about trying this type of run in the past, but never felt that I'd be able to hold the pace. Usually, at the end of a 20-miler, I'm just hanging on and looking forward to finishing. During yesterday's run I decided to push the pace for the last five miles of today's run. My last five miles were run at 6:36, 6:42, 6:43, 6:51*, and 6:37, so I actually averaged 6:41.8, which is comfortably below my 6:50 goal pace.

I feel pretty good about my fitness now. Sadly I still haven't heard anything about running for the Navy Marathon Team, so I'm going to keep training for both a half marathon and a full marathon. As long as I do some speed work at half marathon pace or faster, I don't think the marathon pace runs will hurt me, and the long runs will only help. The good news is that the Coast Guard Sports guy told me he would call the Navy Sports guy if I didn't hear anything by the end of last week. I was off on Friday, so if there isn't any news waiting for me, I should hear within a day or two.