Monumental Marathon Race Report

Goal: 2:59:59. Secondary goal: BQ (3:15, but probably need around 3:10)

I drove to Indianapolis from Louisville in the morning, but I still only had to get up at 4:00 AM, which would have been probably the case even for an in town race. The two hour drive before the race is not fun, but it's totally doable.

Out of curiosity I measured myself in the morning, and I was 148 lbs. Somehow I gained 4 lbs during taper! I don't how much it counts, but I did have an extra 5 lbs on me for this race. I'm sure it wasn't just water and glycogen, because I even noticed the extra fat on my body.

I had my usual breakfast, coffee, Gatorade, packed my gear, and I was off for the drive. First mistake: I left my gloves at home. No big deal.

I arrived to my prepaid parking spot at 7:00 (start was at 8:00), and after the walk to the start area, bathroom, gear check, and a 5 minute warmup, I comfortably made it to my corral 10-15 minutes before start. I was tempted to do another bathroom stop, but it was too late: I was in the corral, and the bathroom lines were long. This caused a minor problem during the race: I was reluctant to drink much, and I had small urge to pee through the whole race. I think I was overthinking hydration. Fluids were plentiful on the course, and stations were not crowded at all (not at my pace anyway).

I also started with carrying a small bottle of Gatorade. Totally unnecessary. Nevertheless, I had it until mile 5.

After the usual ceremonies, the race started on time. It only took me about 5 seconds to cross the start line from Corral A. I started my watch to show chip time.

Right after the start (mile 0.36) we ran though a tunnel, and the GPS lost signal there. I know that, because it showed 7:30 average pace. The first two miles were in downtown, among tall buildings, and at least one more long tunnel, so my GPS paces are a bit unreliable. Good thing I had my pace chart.

Mile 1, 7:07 (this is certainly wrong)
Mile 2, 6:35
Mile 3, 6:45

I settled into a 6:45-ish pace. It felt fairly comfortable. I kept telling myself: the first 10 miles must feel easy. We had a bit of wind, so I tried to position myself with larger groups of runners, and that made me vary my pace a little.

Mile 4, 6:47
Mile 5, 6:39

The race clock at mile 4 was wrong (by minutes!) so I got a bit confused, and pulled out my pace chart. I'm pretty sure I put it back to my shorts, but whatever way it happened, at mile 5, I noticed that I didn't have it. That was a bit of a blow. My GPS is inaccurate and my pace chart is lost. I'll have to do mental calculations all through the race.

We ran by many Indianapolis landmarks, but I didn't pay any attention to those. On the other hand, the downtown cheering squads were awesome!

After running under I-65, we left downtown, and ran in some nice residential neighborhood to the north. Then some parks, more residential areas, mostly strait roads, and almost totally flat.

Mile 6, 6:37
Mile 7, 6:43

Right after mile 7, the half marathon broke off. The loudspeaker gave us some entertainment: "Half marathon left, full marathon right. If you take the wrong path, you will be shot!"

Mile 8, 6:47
Mile 9, 6:45

Suburban neighborhoods, some nice parks, lots of trees. I ran relaxed with a small group, which was dynamically changing. Tried to take Gatorade at every aid station where they had it. I had some bonking issues on long training runs, so I wanted to avoid that at all cost.

Mile 10, 6:49
Mile 11, 6:49

I knew that I was a bit ahead of pace, and that made me worried, so I just kept repeating it: it should feel easy.

Mile 12, 6:40
Mile 13, 6:38

There was a gate and a clock at the halfway point. The clock read about 1:28:30. I told myself that I only need a 1:30 half marathon now to finish under 3 hours. It didn't sound reassuring... running didn't feel easy any more. I had to push a bit to keep the pace. I started to tell myself: it's OK to lose a minute by mile 20: I would still be 30 seconds ahead. I kept focusing on conserving energy.

Mile 14, 6:49
Mile 15, 6:53

We turned south, and the hills started. I think the hardest feature of this otherwise easy course that the only hills come between miles 15 and 19. They are not high enough to slow you down much, but they kind of sap your energy.

Mile 16, 6:37
Mile 17, 7:01
Mile 18, 6:44

Now I felt really tired. My legs hurt. Even just to pick up drinks from aid stations felt hard. I did some quick computations, and I realized that I only need to run 7 minutes miles at this point to get in within 3 hours. However, now I wasn't sure I could do even just that.

Mile 19, 6:51
Mile 20, 6:51

Only 10K left, and I had more than 44 minutes. I switched to 2-1 breathing, and I didn't hold back anything any more. We ran a very nice section by a river. I was already improving my place through the race, but here I really started to pass people. Some of them were really slow.

Mile 21, 6:55
Mile 22, 6:57

I felt like I was pushing very hard, and I was passing people, but I was very disappointed to see that I was only running a 7-minute pace. I also realized that another 30 minutes of suffering is left. "I can't do this for another 30 minutes!" I told myself. "Just shut up and keep going," responded my other voice.

Mile 23, 6:52

At every mile marker, I computed how fast I had to go, and how much was left. Every piece of my body started to hurt. I drank some water at an aid station, which slowed me down a bit, and it was very hard to pick up the pace again. "No more drinking," I said to myself. "Just finish it."

Mile 24, 7:01

We were back in downtown, and reunited with the half marathoners, though they were kept in a separate lane. Of course these were 3+ hour half marathoners, so they were mostly walking. Every piece of my body was hurting, and I wanted nothing more than just stop running. It felt as bad, or worse than the last mile of a 5K, but I still had to do it for another 15 minutes! "I'll just finish this race, and then I'll never run again," I thought.

Mile 25, 7:02

OK, now I can run the remaining at 8-minute pace. Even that seemed hard. I ran next to a small woman, and we kept pacing each other. She offered some words of encouragements, and all I said "I'm dying." If she happens to read it, I'm sorry for being so pessimistic and sorry for not being able to offer any encouragements... I think her pacing and talking help meant an extra 10-15 seconds for me. Thank you!

Mile 26, 7:02

I knew I had it. The finish line magic still worked amazingly: once I saw where it was, I could speed up again. Unbelievable, but I ran the last portion at 6:14 pace.

Last 0.3 mile, 1:50

Total time, 2:59:03. Overall 106/3999. Age group: 15/398.

I told the volunteer who gave me the medal that this was the hardest race I've ever done. I hung around a bit, had some food (they had chili!), and rested a bit in the sun. I chatted with some other runners. After quite a bit of time, I felt enough strength in me to start to walk to my car (0.7 mile). It was interesting to see the marathon runners finishing with 3:50-ish times. That was me 6 years ago! Back then, I could not have imagined how it would be possible to run a 3 hour marathon. I smiled...

This is my last blog post before the big race. Two weeks taper went fine, but somehow with the decreased mileage, my legs started to hurt everywhere, and they never really felt rested. I hope this is just a side effect of actual musculoskeletal recovery. We will see tomorrow.

After the 17-miler I was blogging about, I only had one workout: 3 x 1600 m on windy day, in 5:45, 5:50, 5:52 (800 m recoveries). It was hard, and the last repetition ended in the paincave. I had to throw down a 1:23 last lap even for this 5:52 interval. My goal was 5:48, as it was supposed to be current 5K pace. After that workout, only one 13-miler other than all easy runs.

I finished this week with a 17-miler after the race yesterday. My legs were a bit heavy, but cardio-wise it felt very easy. This is the end of the first taper week, which is still 56 miles and with a race; from next week on taper is in full effect.

Furthermore, I'll have to skip a day, because the goal race one day early. I kept schedule until now so that I can run some tune-up races (only one, as it turned out), and it fit better with real life. But now I have to switch back. So I'm skipping Tuesday's GA run. That will give me effectively two rest days next week: Monday and Sunday, and only 36 miles. It's been a long time that I had such little running in a given week.

This cycle has been probably the closest to perfect that I've ever done. My winter 5K/10K was close, until I had that stupid knee injury from the fall. But even in that one I skipped a few days around new years day, and maybe some others. This time, I think I skipped only two runs in the whole cycle (one was actually a tune-up race, which is important, but still).

I will also risk it that despite the dismal 10K performance yesterday, I am in the best shape of my life. An evidence for that is that In 2013, before my half marathon PR I had a 5x1200 workout similar to the one that I had a week and a half ago. My paces were slower and the run felt harder back then.

My endurance also seems to be there. When one can run 17 miles at 7:33 pace after a 10K race and it feels pretty easy, that is a good sign.

Wellbrooke Fall Classic 10K Race Report

Goal: 6:00-6:15 pace, depending feel and racing situation. Dream goal: PR (37:52).

This was a tune-up race for the marathon two weeks from today, but I originally I was hoping that maybe I can threaten my PR. However, it was warm (65-67 F) this morning with strong winds and very high humidity, so I knew a PR (on marathon training with no taper) was unlikely.

This turned out to be an extremely small race, which is not what I thought based on the website. The 10K had only 25 participants altogether. Another reason not to hope for a great time. But of course it had the advantage that a bathroom was available 5 minutes before the start.

The organization was excellent, and the only thing I didn't like about the race was that every participants received a medal. A total waste of money and natural resources. The course ran entirely on bike paths in a nice park; there was a 5K and a 10K, and the 10K ran two laps on the 5K course. Unfortunately as a consequence, we had curvy roads and many turns, which makes my GPS notoriously inaccurate (showing short). So I'll give some adjusted paces for each GPS mile, which, in reality, were probably a bit more than a mile each.

We started right on time with the firing of a cool cannon! We started on a slight downhill and strong tailwind. I started to get worried, because my pace dipped below 6 minutes/mile. Also, I quickly left the other runners behind, and I found myself leading alone by a big margin.

Mile 1: 6:01 (adjusted: 5:53)

After mile 1, I decided to slow my pace to LT effort. Nobody was around, and I wasn't going to push my body into the paincave for nothing. Also, even if victory comes easy, running is sport fought primarily for position. So if I'm winning, it is not smart to risk it.

Mile 2: 6:20 (6:12)

By this time, I was running a time trial. I couldn't see the second place runner any more when I glanced back. A (gas operated) golf cart was leading me ahead.

Mile 3: 6:14 (6:06)

I arrived to the finish, circled it, as instructed, and headed back to the course. The headwind was occasionally quite brutal.

Mile 4: 6:15 (6:07)

This was the back part of the course, and the volunteers left after the last 5K walker passed them. The golf cart didn't set out to the second lap, so I was totally, entirely alone. I could cut the course, take a nap, whatever I wanted. It was no different than a crappy morning LT run.

Mile 5: 6:20 (adj: 6:12)

I caught up with the back of the pack 5K walkers, so I had to dodge some of them. At the end of this mile, I turned into a headwind so strong that it stopped me in my track. The course was also a bit uphill here.

Mile 6: 6:26 (6:18)

I turned to the finish straight, and sprinted down to the finish line. I did a courtesy clinch, but I felt more like "meh..".

Final time: 38:12. First overall out of 25.

My 5K split was 18:52, so it seems like I faded quite a bit. Not so surprising though given the lack of  competition, and the worsening weather. The 5K winner was a 13 year old girl, who ran 21:16 (that's a pretty good time for her age and gender). I should be more careful selecting races. It was too much driving, too much money, and I really could have just run an LT run. Well, at least I got a trophy.

On the other hand, with all the issues, it's only 20 seconds off of my PR. Maybe I should try to spend another winter on 5K/10K preparation?

Training is finished for the week, except for a 10K tune-up race tomorrow. The weather won't be ideal: 65 temp/ 60 dp, 50% of rain. Race plan: go out at 6:00 to 6:15 pace depending on feeling, and race situation. I.e. I don't want to be alone, especially not in the lead (in case it's a very small race -  I have no idea), but if the lead pack is slower than 6:15, then I'll go. On the other hand, a sub-6 mile in the race would almost certainly result in an epic blow-up.

My PR pace is 6:06, and a PR would certainly be nice, and maybe I have the fitness for that, but I'm not peaking for this race, neither the weather will cooperate, so it seems unlikely.

Essentially perfect week finished today with my last 20-mile run. It didn't feel too hard. I managed to run the last few miles faster, accelerating close to marathon race pace for the last mile.

Now it's taper time. The hay is in the barn, as they say it.

The next workout was today: 5 x 1200 m at 5K pace. I determined that considering a 5:50 5K pace, I would have to run 1200's in 4:21. At then end my splits were 4:23, 4:15, 4:19, 4:19, 4:16 (rounded) for an average of 4:18.33. All this without ever feeling oxygen debt or pain.

As for discomfort, and a bit of burnout: yes. When I started my last interval, at around 300 m into the fast run (so 900 m left), I thought: "This is not fun. In fact I'm fed up. I really want to quit now." But of course I didn't.

So it does look like I'm in pretty good shape. I'm wondering if I could break my shorter distance PRs. Also, it is very temping to attempt ton go out faster than 3-hour pace. (Which I will not.)

Training update.

Last week was finished with 61 miles; sounds low, but it was as planned with plenty of hard workouts. All went fine.

Tuesday I did 5x600 at 5K pace, and I nailed it. (5K pace at this point is 5:50/mile.) As it was fall break, I finally managed to do this outside (on the Waggener High School track, which is an asphalt quarter mile track).

On Saturday, I visited the track again for an LT session: 6 miles at 6:11/mile. This is quite a bit faster than my supposed LT pace (6:20/mile), but the training plan wanted me to run a race, so I assumed it was fine to go a bit faster. I think one of the points here to run a race is that approaching the end of the training cycle, your ideal training paces may have changed, and the race gives you the option of run faster. Indeed, after the initial 6:11 mile, I settled into a 6:13-6:14 pace, and it subjectively felt it was my current lactate threshold. I was able to run a 6:01 closing mile and it still wasn't race effort.

Sunday morning I managed a decent 17-mile run, roughly 16 hours after my LT run, and I felt pretty strong, in fact I felt stronger later into the run, and I got quicker, too. Then I got home, and painted rooms all day. Not bad for an old man. :)

Training update:

Week of September 21 went OK, but due to the weekend conference I had to skip the all-important tune-up race on Saturday. I didn't much try to make it up: all I did was a strong (marathon-paced) effort for he last 10 miles of the 18-mile long run in the weekend. I finished the week with 56 miles.

Then the week of September 28 was better. Even though I was forced to do the Tuesday intervals on the treadmill, I feel it was a decent workout with 6 x 1000 meters at 5K pace. I also ran a decent long run of 18 miles with the last 14 at marathon pace. In fact it was even a little faster: averaged 6:41/mile. I finished the week with 70 miles.

Two more hard weeks left before taper. I'm feeling good, I am where I should be. The training cycle wasn't perfect, but it never is, and so far this one was as close to perfect as training cycles have ever been.

The 70-mile week is successfully finished! It had a 12-mile run with a 7-mile LT portion on Friday, and a 22-miler on Sunday. Done both. Unfortunately the LT run was on the treadmill, so it's less valuable, but I ran 6:18 pace (as opposed to 6:20), and it was just too hot outside. Then, today, 22 miles at 7:43 pace at ~75 F, sunny. Both were hard, but not unreasonably so. My hip was bothering me at the end of the long run. I hope it will hold up for my race.

Some "records" this week: largest week ever (a tie, I think); second longest run ever (after my marathon); longest LT run ever, strongest LT run ever, PR on 20 miles, 21 miles, 22 miles. In fact since I finished the 22 miles in 2:50, I could walk the last 4.2 of a marathon and still PR! I shouldn't get complacent though: at 22 miles I was ready to stop.

Recovery week goes well so far, though I had too little sleep almost every night, except for the last one. I did my first VO2 max workout, 6 x half-mile with quarter-mile recoveries, with splits of 2:52, 2:56, 2:53, 2:56, 2:55. This was 5K pace, quite well executed. GA run with strides today dipped under 7:30/mile on average.

I changed to weeks starting on Monday by inserting an extra rest day on Labor Day after Sunday. I wanted to change due to real life schedules, and this thing worked well, because we had a long bike ride with the family on Monday, and this is recovery week anyway. I will have to tweak the last week or two to accommodate for the race that is one day early now.

Here is how the rest of training cycle looks like.
Week -7: 9/14 (70 miles)
Week -6: 9/21 (65-69 miles, race on 9/26)

Week -5: 9/28 (70 miles)

Week -4: 10/5 (60-64 miles, race on 10/10)

Week -3: 10/12 (68 miles)

Week -2: 10/19 (55-57 miles, race 10/24)

Week -1: 10/26 (43 miles)

Race week: 11/2 (28 miles)

The races won't necessarily happen, especially the one on 9/26, because I'll be travelling. No races nearby anyway. So that will probably be a Saturday morning time trial in Ohio. On 10/10 there is an ideal 10K in Louisville (Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 10K), so that is a likely option. On 10/25 I'll be probably running the Urban Bourbon half marathon (racing the last 10K only), so no race on 10/24 in that case.

Happy to report that I've had decent training recently: no skipped or blown runs, despite some really awfully hot weather and bad air quality. I was forced on a treadmill 3 times this week (must be a record for me). I had one decent run outside, which was my 13 miler, for which I set out at 9:30pm (shirtless, too).

My Saturday run (4 easy + 12 marathon paced on TM) was my first halfway decent marathon paced run, though I still had to interrupt it 3 times: twice for water, and once to tie my shoe. Also, I had a bathroom break (5 minutes or so) between the 4 easy at the beginning and the GMP portion. But it is still a lot better than any other recent GMP run of mine. GMP pace was set to 9 mph on the treadmill which is 6:40/mile, and in fact I set the last mile to 9.1 (6:36/mile).

All in all, I finished the week with 67 miles and this is after 68, 65 mile weeks, as planned. Probably the most miles I've ever run in three weeks. I hope it will pay off on race day.

I'm happy to report that I aced the 6-mile tempo today. Running outside, temps around 76 at the beginning, around 70 by the end (nice and cool), I ran 3 easy + 6 LT + 2 easy. LT splits were 6:09, 6:15, 6:21, 6:18, 6:25, 6:16. This is a 6:17 average for 6 miles! The goal was 6:20, but even this faster pace didn't feel too hard. After mile 4 I started to get some side stitches, so I eased the pace a bit and tried to relax. That was the 6:25 mile. I felt strong again for the last mile, and I'm positive I could have done at least one or two more.

I'm pretty sure this was my best tempo ever. I will look back onto this for years to come, being jealous of my former shape! :)

One more note on the 21-mile long run yesterday. Since I had some troubles with some of the longer runs lately (see failed 14-miler and 18-miler with marathon paced portion), I decided to take particular care of hydration. I took 5 bottles of Gatorade with me, 4 of them are 8 oz (but I overfill them to 9), and the last one is a bit larger, probably about 10 oz. I knew I would have access to a water fountain at mile 7.5 and then again at 14.5.

I had to drink the 10 oz bottle first, because it refused to stay in my belt. For the same reason, I didn't want to refill that one. I haven't finished a single 8 oz bottle by the time I ran by fountain for the first time, but by the second time, I had two empty 8 oz bottles, and I refilled both with water. By the time I got home, I was completely out of fluid. I followed no hydration plan; I just drank to thirst, and I allowed my cravings to dictate when to take water and when to take Gatorade. I downed the last sip of fluid 2.5 miles from home.

The summary is that I drank ~46 oz = 1.36 L of Gatorade, and 18 oz = 0.53 L of water. And it wasn't even that hot. That suggests that I may need a liter of fluid per 10 miles on some of my long runs. That is quite a bit more than I brought with me on my failed runs. I tried to complete my 14-miler on 0.8 L water, and I think for the 18-miler I had 1.36 L of water. Either the amount, or the sugar or salt, or multiple factors of these was insufficient.

It's a bit embarrassing that I still need to learn the need for proper hydration after over 6 years as a runner, but it is just so counterintuitive that I can run 13-14 miles on no fluid in the winter, and I need a water tower for the same distance in the summer.

I finished this monster of a week (68 miles) with a 21-mile long run. Pace was fine, and I felt OK. Note that this has been my second longest run ever; for my first marathon cycle I only completed 20-mile long runs (and one out of the two ended with a death march). I also ran those at 9 min/mile, and the marathon was just a bit faster than that. This time I managed 7:47/mile (or 7:45 if we count moving time only). So all is fine.

I'm starting some doubles next week. Then toward the end of the week, a 6-mile tempo on Thursday, and a 20-mile long run on Saturday. The real scary one is in two weeks: 16 miles with 12 at marathon pace...

The cutback week was more of a cutback than intended. Saturday was supposed to be a 15-mile run, but I had my firefighter test out on that morning from 9 am to 2 pm. It was so exhausting that I decided to skip the run altogether. So I finished the week with 40 miles.

Some redemption of all the setbacks happened today. On a 10-mile run, I executed a 5-mile LT portion with mile splits 6:14, 6:19, 6:27, 6:27, 6:13, a 6:20 average. Spot on. But this time, it was not treadmill: it was road, 81 F with some sunny portions, traffic, and some small amount of elevation change. It does seem like I have the fitness, I just lack the endurance.

Last week was a disaster. After my first long run fiasco on Tuesday, I had a much worse. It was the Saturday long run. It was supposed to be 8 miles easy + 10 miles at marathon pace. Intimidating, yes. But I was OK after the 8 miles, and I set out at the normal 6:40-6:50 pace. After not quite 3 miles at that pace, I got very bad side stitches, and the run was effectively over. A 7-mile death march. I tried to speed up maybe once or twice after that, but it was hopeless. I had to stop or slow to a walk many times in the last 3 miles and my side stitches only changed between "quite painful" and "extremely painful".

I haven't experienced anything like this for years. Dehydration? I did lose 4-5 pounds, which is 3-4% of my body weight, but that's not extreme, I'm sure it happened to me before. I did not feel thirsty when the pain came. (Gebrselassie lost 9.8% of his body weight during his marathon World record). It wasn't even that hot (80-85F). On top of everything, I felt just fine minutes (or actually seconds) before I blew up.

Both Pfitzinger and Daniels say that marathon paced runs are mostly of psychological benefit: practising your marathon pace and increasing your confidence. It doesn't seem to work for me...

No chance for redemption this week. It is a recovery week with no real workouts or even long runs. Longest is 15 miles.

A bad day followed a good day on Tuesday. I got dehydrated on my 14-miler and I gave up after 13. I was so done, I had to walk home, even though I was only 0.1 mile from home. I couldn't go another step. This is despite having 3 bottles of water with me that I drank in regular intervals. It was just too hot, I guess.

Today was the first time that I ran a continuous tempo run (as opposed to intervals) since (I think) last fall. Though this was actually treadmill. Still, managed 6:18 pace for 5 miles. The most incredible thing was that it felt fairly easy! Never in the pain cave, and what's more, stayed with a 2-2 breathing pattern all the way.

These are good quality treadmills, so hopefully they are correctly calibrated. I couldn't do this workout outside, because it was over 90 degrees, and at this time of the year in this part of the country it's very hot until very late (it is still 82 F as of this writing).

If this is correct, this must be the best tempo I've ever run by far. The fastest 5-mile tempo I've found in my blog is 2013 Spring, and it was at 6:25/mile. Last fall (outside, in warm weather) I ran tempos at 6:30/mile on a good day, and I still managed a sub-1:25 hilly half marathon.

I'm ambivalent about running the Urban Bourbon Half Marathon all out two weeks before my marathon. My team counts on me, even if I just run a slow-7 fast-10K combination (say, in 1:35), as per my training plan. But it feels wrong not to give 100%.

I finished the fourth week of training with only one missed 5-mile recovery run: I got a stomach virus that made that day a misery, and even on the following day's 11-miler I had a few issues (stomach cramps). The highlight of the week was the 18-mile long run today at 7:47. I got mildly dehydrated and quite exhausted. I thought I was done at mile 15, but managed to rally and put in a strong last mile (7:13). I'm happy I have a rest day tomorrow.

The paper on the clinical study that I participated in over the winter is being written, and got a sneak peek into it (read most of the thesis written about the study). I was in the placebo group. No surprise I felt zero effect of the supplement. But even people who took the real supplement showed no improvement (neither worsening) of running performance or quality of life.

Mostly successful LT run today. I felt like crap when I was heading out in the evening at around 6:00pm; it was still 83 F and sunny, and my legs felt heavy. I ran the warmup miles at around 8 min/mile, and they didn't feel super easy. Despite all of this, I managed 6:15, 6:21, 6:27, 6:18 mile splits. I was tired, but not unreasonably. I finished with 1.5 miles of cooldown.

I finished my second week of training mostly successfully... My last run today was an epic meltdown. I was supposed to run 16 miles with 8 at marathon pace (6:43). Pfitzinger specifically wants you to run the last 8 at marathon pace. So I did. Sort of. After 6:41, 6:37, 6:44, 6:44, 6:48, I was unable to keep the pace, and finished with 6:59, 6:56, 6:53. Average is 6:48, which is not so bad, considering that I was tired, hot, and the first 16 miler in a long time, but I don't like the way it went down. OK, just one, run I'll take it.

After some solid weeks in Hungary, I'm back in the USA. Last week I turned my ankle on a trail in Hungary, and I didn't run for a week. It wasn't terribly hurt (I still hiked over 10 kilometers on two days each), but I didn't want to risk more injury, and then I was flying back. I'm actually up to 148 pounds. My (low) peak weight was 141. That's fine. It's hard to maintain weight with high mileage, but apparently good Hungarian food does it. I'm glad I will have something to lose from.

I ran on the TM today, and I might just do the same tomorrow. It's hard to get up early, and it's too hot during the day. Today I needed an LT run, and I'm sure I couldn't have done it outside in the heat. I managed 6:20 pace for 4 miles. Not bad for fat old man. :)

Futórózsa Félmaraton Race Report

Goal: 6:45 pace by GPS. Secondary goal: 7:00 pace by GPS.

After two weeks of serious base building (60 miles per week), which followed very low mileage, I ran this "half marathon" today, because it was a friendly race organized by a very old friend of mine, and it is also nice to introduce myself to the running community of the Southern Great Plain of Hungary. This was a race ran on hard pavement (50%) and dirt roads, and even some wooded trails, so it was expected to have some difficult terrain, but no real elevation. Temperatures were in the low 70s, but most of the course was in full sun and we had some wind. I didn't make up a time goal, because the distance was already admittedly longer than a half marathon, and the terrain made it difficult to make goals. The 6:45 pace goal was to be adjusted by terrain difficulty.

I arrived about an hour before the start, and I needed it for sure. Packet pick-up was in the morning, and I needed the warmup. There were about 140 runners, plus the relay, plus the shorter races. I picked up my packet, dropped it off in my car, warmed up, and I was ready to run. I felt a bit tired at warmup - clearly my legs felt the two 60-mile weeks. Alright. We'll see what we can do today.

The race started on time, and I jumped out a bit, especially because the first mile was slight downhill (only about 20 feet for the mile), and this was the only "significant" elevation change of the course. (And of course coming back up at the end.) Runners shuffled around for the first mile, and it was probably the end of the mile when I settled behind a red shirt runner, who passed me at 1/2 mile, but I caught up by the end of the mile. (The course was marked in kilometers, but since this was no exact distance, I will just go by my Garmin mile splits.)

Mile 1: 6:37

We were still going south on blacktop, and the full sun was not pleasant. Especially after we left town, and there was no shade, and some side wind. I kept pacing by the red shirt. We passed a few jackrabbit runners.

Mile 2: 6:45

Not long after the mile marker we took a turn to a dirt road between farmlands. We had a strong headwind, so I tried to tuck myself behind my "pacer". He used lower cadence, and he was tall, so his running style is more suitable for uneven dirt roads than mine. I had to exert myself to keep up. He also pushed a bit harder here. More unpleasantness was that the front runners kicked up the dirt, so I was swallowing dirt left and right. But we passed another runner here. This setup was obviously working for me. We turned south again (side wind).

Mile 3: 6:45

(Despite the dirt road and headwind portion.) Not much happened here. I paced off the red shirt on the dirt roads. Mostly side wind, turning into the wind again at the end.

Mile 4: 6:46

Tucked behind the red shirt, we ran a headwind portion. We arrived to an aid station (I think the second one - I skipped the first that was too early). I slowed to chug a cup of water (from a plastic cup - ouch), and I seriously thought I lost my pacer, but I was able to catch up again to him within 100 meters. In fact he was slowing! Some trees were blocking the wind almost entirely; what I didn't know is that very soon we are turning into the wind again. In any case, I decided to pass my pacer. I ran around him, I said "Thanks!" (He seemed to have been puzzled - I don't think he understood why I thanked him.)

Mile 5: 6:53

I started to push hard. I wanted to gap my former pacer. I knew I was probably in the top 10, so positions mattered. Except we hit some bad headwind, so I couldn't run too fast. I still gapped the red shirt guy, and I picked out another runner about 100-200 meters ahead. I thought if I could catch him, I had another pacer/windbreaker. We reached a paved section, and then we ran into the village of Tiszasziget. Mostly older villagers cheered us on.

Mile 6: 6:42

We took a left turn in the center of the village, and we were heading to the relay exchange zone. The guy up front had only about 30 meters on me. I heard the loudspeaker at the relay zone announcing names and numbers, so I knew the guy ahead was also an individual runner. Good thing. That meant I wasn't going to loose him in the exchange zone. I kept slowly reeling him in. I skipped the aid station at the exchange zone (the volunteers were busy and did not offer anything), and I caught my new pacer.

Mile 7: 6:34

We were still in Tiszasziget, but heading out. We were following some signs directing us to the (supposedly) lowest elevation point of Hungary. I think we had headwind, or partial headwind. We passed a very sweaty guy in a black singlet. Then later two more runners, but they may have been relay runners. The pavement ended, when we arrived to another aid station (at the low point), where I drank a full cup of water, as my pacer also stopped to drink. In fact he seemed pretty hesitant to get up to pace again. "Had enough of running in front?" I asked him (of course all conversations were in Hungarian). He said he had some breathing problems. We chatted briefly about our pace while running side by side on the dirt road.

Mile 8: 6:56

The guy was slow, so I had to leave him. I didn't kick too hard, but I just slowly pulled away. Since I had nobody ahead in sight, I knew that if I leave him, I would be alone. Still, I had to. In fact I gave him by several minutes by the end. I was passed by a very cheerful relay racer soon, which was somewhat nice, because at least I could run after somebody. Even though he was pulling away.

Mile 9: 6:35

We reached pavement before the mile marker. We ran by some fields and irrigation canals where people with tractors were pumping water from the canal. Soon we reached a town. I thought we were back to Szőreg, but in fact this was just Újszentiván.

Mile 10: 6:48

It was hard to stay focused being all by myself. I glanced back several times but I saw nobody. I took water at an aid station, and then ran alone on the bike trail next to houses. Almost at the end of this mile, we left the town and we were on a dirt road again.

Mile 11: 6:43

This was where I saw the only rose field. I'm sure there were many, but I didn't focus on them. (The theme of the race was supposed to be "rose fields".) We had strong headwind, and I saw nobody - neither ahead, nor behind. I was hurting. I arrived to an aid station, where I picked up a cup from a table. I chose some kind of orange colored sweet drink this time. I knew I only had about 2 miles left. Then I wanted to continue on the dirt road, when the volunteer said: "No, the other way." What other way? I could barely see the grown in jeep road/trail in the woods on the right. Wow.

Mile 12: 7:14

This was slow. Tall grasses in the woods, and the road underneath was very rugged. I gave my best, but I didn't want to risk all what I have done on a turned ankle. After a while we were out of the woods and reached the edge of Szőreg. By this time, I saw a runner ahead who was (probably) not the relay runner who passed me. I was guessing he was maybe 30 seconds ahead. Can I catch him? I was getting a bit closer.

Mile 13: 7:02

The last portion was only 0.6 miles. Even if I had a full mile, 30 seconds is a tall order. Barring a meltdown, my position was fixed. We had to climb up the 20 feet we lost at the beginning.

Last portion: 4:01 (6:41 pace)

Total time: 1:32:16 (6:47 pace)

This race was executed close to perfection. Certainly the best position I could get, and probably close to optimal time. The fact that I was slower than 6:45 is fine - harder terrain, some weather effects (sun, wind). This is not bad at all during base building. I'm looking forward to hitting 60 miles this week again (probably a rest day tomorrow though), and to the marathon training in July.

I got 5th place out of 138. There were only two age groups: over 40 and under 40, and I got 4th place in the under 40 age group (I missed the age group cut by a few months). The third place of the age group was the guy who I was approaching close to the finish. He beat me only by 25 seconds. And only the first three were awarded so I barely missed out on awards... anyway, one can't be too greedy. I deserve it for letting myself beat by an over 40 guy, LOL.

Sunday race is on. I have run 14 miles on Sunday, and 8 miles on Monday and Tuesday each. The plan is to continue with 8 miles a day until Saturday, when I just jog for 30 minutes and then race on Sunday. Again, given that I am in the base building phase, and I just upped my mileage suddenly, the best expectation is running this at marathon pace (6:43). I will try to keep my pace between 6:40 and 6:45 at the beginning, then adjust accordingly.

My weekly mileage goes like this (beginning May 3): 0, 0, 16, 16.1, 45.8, 60. Pretty aggressive buildup, but my body seems to be holding up well.

I found the "Northwest Passage" I blogged about last year. It does actually exist. In fact it wasn't all that hard to find. I don't know if I was aware last year that my GPS is capable of following a pre-programmed course. So I pre-programmed something by Google Maps that I wanted to follow, and even though not all roads on the maps matched up with roads in real life (we are talking about jeep roads here), it was sufficient information to find the Passage. In fact the Passage is a lot of fun to run, and I've done it several times now. The disadvantage is that I haven't made it to the Óvári kilátó in Balatonalmádi.

I'm running a race this Sunday, so doing less than 60 miles week is forgivable. Still, I have to front load the week. I've done 22 miles so far in two days, so 4 x 8 miles should work well, even less, if necessary. Rest (or very easy 4 miles) on Saturday should prepare me well (for the circumstances) for a good Sunday race. I still hope I can race at 6:45/mile.

While I haven't posted much, I do train, and after a few introductory weeks, I'm on my way to about 60 miles this week. I plan to maintain the volume until July 5 with no increase, mostly to play safe, but also due to possible time issues later in the year.

I'll run a half marathon in 10 days, and I'm definitely racing it, but due to the lack of any fast training runs, I will play it safe and go out at 6:45-ish pace (if I feel good). This will be a mixed road/trail race, but no elevation change. It's also a bit over 14 miles, so it's not really a half marathon. So I might expect a 1:35 time, if things go well.

I skipped almost a full months of running (3 1/2 weeks). Now getting back on planning, the tentative plan is to run the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon on November 7th. That may include the Urban Bourbon Half marathon as a tune-up race on October 25. If I follow a 18 week plan, here is the week table (start dates - Sundays - are noted):

I have to build up to about at least 60 miles by the start.

Week -17: July 5
Week -16: July 12
Week -15: July 19
Week -14: July 26
Week -13: August 2
Week -12: August 9
Week -11: August 16
Week -10: August 23
Week -9: August 30
Week -8: September 6
Week -7: September 13
Week -6: September 20
Week -5: September 27
Week -4: October 4
Week -3: October 11
Week -2: October 18
Week -1: October 25
Race week: November 1

Run for the Ivy 5K Race Report

Goal: 17:59-18:30

With the disruption in training in the last few weeks, I wasn't sure what to expect, so I decided that I keep my goal flexible for the last race of my spring season. I knew I may have a chance of placing, and placing was more important than time, especially because I felt I wasn't capable running sub-18.

The course was pancake flat. The weather was great: 50 F, cloudy, but there was strong wind. That surely cost me some time, but not a whole lot. I had to drive a little over an hour to this small town of Indiana (Columbus), so I had to get up at 5AM in the morning. Nothing too unusual on a race day. My preparation and drive was uneventful; I was on site at 8AM, registered, did an extensive and relaxed warmup, and lined up at the front. The race started at 9AM.

The 5K and 10K started together, but it was a very small event, so it almost felt like a friendly group run. I hadn't realized it was such a small race. I talked to a fast-looking 10K runner before the start, who said he was about to run a 6:30 pace, so I told him I would probably be faster.

We were off, and the this 10K runner followed me. We were leading the race by a good margin after a half of a mile. I looked at my watch, I saw we were doing a 5:45 pace, so I told him ``This is not a 6:30 pace, more like 5:45.'' He said ``It will be fine.'' We ran together, and I only left him just before the first mile marker. (He finished third in the 10K.) I controlled my pace, because I didn't want to give up a potential victory for an epic blowup in a PR attempt. So the first mile felt fairly comfortable.

Mile 1: 5:52 (GPS), ~5:56 (mile marker)

I was alone, and the sidewind caught me. Then a tailwind leg, a turnaround, and an headwind portion that slowed me to a pace that was slightly over 6 minute/mile. At the turnaround I saw that the second place 5K runner (I could tell by the bib numbers) was already at least a minute behind me. I knew I had the race in the pocket, and that, and the headwind took away some of my willingness to suffer...

Mile 2: 5:58 (GPS), ~6:02 (mile marker)

I had some bad headwinds right after the mile marker. I ran conservatively until about mile 2.5, and then pressed a bit harder. Completely alone, just following the lead cyclist. I still didn't suffer too much.

Mile 3: 5:57 (GPS), (didn't look at my watch at the mile marker, but based on the rest of the course, probably ~6:00)

I ran by some cheering people, and kicked my way down to the finish line, clearly winning the race.

Finish: 18:36. Last portion ~0:38 (5:56 pace per mile markers).

(It seems like it wasn't a very strong kick after all.)

It seems like the time is weak, though the lack of competition and the missed training certainly didn't help. But in retrospect: this was a USATF certified course, and neither my 18:11 PR, nor my 18:32 previous PR was certified. (Actually this might have been the first certified 5K course I ran.) In my 18:11, my GPS ended with 3.06 miles, and this time my GPS showed 3.14 miles. The GPS paces were faster for this race. There is a reason to believe that my 18:11 race was short, and there is also a possibility that I didn't run the tangents on this one. (In fact I know that after the turnaround I didn't run the tangent in a wide sweeping left turn, because runners were coming from the other direction in the inside of the turn.)

The point is, one way or another, I don't think this race was weaker than my previous 5K. Breaking 18 minutes is very tough, and this effort was very far from it, but maybe I *am* getting closer. I would also like to point out, that probably the first time in my life, I ran mile 3 faster than mile 2. That probably means that I did leave something on the course.

Now I just don't know what I should do for fall racing. Probably a marathon effort, and next spring a 5K PR (at the age of 40). It would be nice to come back to the same race and do a sub-18.

I didn't run on Tuesday apart from the firefighting training, which is pretty hard cardio, but not running. I did 8 miles easy today, and I'll probably do 4 and 4 for the rest two days if I feel like it.

Well, I might salvage some of this cycle. My knee is mostly healed. I still feel it just a tiny bit, but it doesn't bother my running.

Last week was a pathetic 20 miles with only one quality workout, which was light LT training (3 x 1 mile with 2 minutes rests). My knee was hurting for the whole week. I did not run on Friday and skipped my race on Saturday.

Then Sunday, my knee felt fine, and I ran 12 miles. Then today, I did 6 x 4 minutes of hard running with 3 minutes jogs. Tomorrow I might do a light LT training. Very unorthodox, I know, almost 3 quality workouts on consecutive days, but I must improvise. Because I decided to not skip my next Saturday race (on April 25). We'll see what I can do then.

I'm injured. My right knee. Probably bursitis. I train a little, but not nearly enough. My season is probably over.

Week 4 of Phase IV is going fine. I had to rest on Sunday due to travel, so I ran long on Monday, and I did my threshold run today on the road. It was 3 + 2 miles with 2 minutes rest. Paces were very good at 6:16/mile average. Almost 10 miles per day is necessary though to finish on 60 miles for the week, and there is one more hard run.

Week 3 of Phase IV:

Sun: 15 L
Mon: 8 E
Tue: 2 E + 3 x 2 T w/ 2 min rests + 2 E = 10 miles
Wed: 9 E
Thu: 9 E
Fri: 2 E + 6 x 4 min H w/ 3 min jg + 1 E = 9 miles
Sat: Rest

Hammertime Hustle 5K Race Report

Goal: 18:15. Dream goal: 17:59. Minimum goal: PR (18:31).

Preparation for this race was less than perfect. After the good 10K last Saturday, I developed a toothache. I could still run 15 miles on Sunday, but Monday and Tuesday were out. (By Tuesday my tooth was fine, but I was too tired from work and stress to do the prescribed hard workout, and I ended up resting another day.) I did my hard workout a day later, on Wednesday, which was one day too close to race day. Perhaps I also ran it a bit harder than I should have. Then I ran 10 miles on Thursday, 4 on Friday, and here I was, Saturday morning, ready to race. It was way too cold (25F), but at least the sun was out. Too bad we ran most of the race in shade.

It was a very low key race, and church fundraiser. The advantage is that there was a free bathroom in the church even 7 minutes before the start. By that time I warmed up with two easy miles. I got to the start area 5 minutes before start, and did a few strides. I felt strong, but less adrenaline than usual.

After some short speeches, the race started. A few people darted out from the start line, and I was at 6th place for the first few hundred meters, after which I passed two people, who didn't think this pace seriously. I settled into 4th place, maintaining a 5:45-ish pace. At around 1/2 mile, the kid at 3rd place slowed a lot, and I passed him, keeping the first two runners within 50 meters.

This race had a gzillion turns; so many that they affected the pace, and the GPS readings. I got 3.06 miles at the end, but the course was probably of the correct length. My GPS readings show me cutting corners through buildings. So I'll adjust my GPS splits by proportionally dividing them out by 3.11/3.06.

I managed my pace to keep it around 5:45/mile, but in reality, it was probably a bit faster. It did feel pretty hard. The first mile was net downhill, but only by about 10 ft, so pretty flat.

Mile 1: 5:43 (adjusted pace: 5:38)

By this time, I was solidly in 3rd place. The first two had about 50 meters on me, and I saw nobody glancing back. I knew I slowed a bit. I tried to keep the effort hard, but manageable. I had some entertainment as I watched the two leaders battling for first place. The 2nd place runner pulled up to the leader, and they ran together for a while. They increased their distance to about 100 meters by the time we hit the second mile marker.

Mile 2: 5:59 (adjusted pace: 5:54)

I knew that unless something radical happens, I'll finish this race in third place. I was in pain, of course, but maybe I could have pushed harder... it's just pretty hard when running alone. The original leader pulled away again, so much so that I lost sight of him, but I still saw the 2nd place runner most of the time. At around 2.6 mile I accelerated, but it was actually quite pathetic.

Mile 3: 6:10 (adjusted pace: 6:04)

Just put down the hammer for the last portion and covered it at about 5 min/mile pace.

Final time: 18:11. Placing: 3/66.

Not too bad for the temperature, and for a "B" race. There were no real awards: the first few places could pick a prize from a table, and I picked up a gift card. I also picked up a banana, met up with my family briefly, and then I ran a 5-mile cooldown. Very long, I know, but I wanted to get in some mileage after this short week. Legs felt fine, and cooldown pace was 7:30-ish.

Just in case the course was short, I should break this time in 2-3 weeks when I run some (probably) certified 5Ks in (probably) Indiana.

5K tomorrow. Nervous. Last year's winner was 18 minutes, so if he's there, victory is unlikely. Planning to go out at 5:45, and see what I can do from there. Might be epic blowup. If fighting for position, tactics may change.

Bad toothache incapacitated me for two days until I got my emergency root canal done. I've done my Sunday long run, then Monday and Tuesday out. I've done some fairly hard workout today: 3 x 1 mile at LT pace with 10 miles total. Not ideal, because it is one day closer to race day than it should have been. I plan to run an easy 8 on Thursday, and an easy 4 on Friday, and hope for the best on Saturday. I will be also be way too cold to race: 28 F. I may need to moderate my pace.

Rodes City Run 10 K

Goal: sub-38 min. Dream goal: PR (sub-37:54). Minimum goal: sub-39.

I wasn't sure what to expect going into this race. I haven't run a 10K for a long time, and this would be the first race after winter training. My 37:54 PR was run in a probably short course with net downhill, so the dream was to kill that semi-fake PR, and replace it with a real one, on a certified, record eligible course. But my training wasn't that great, in particular my 5K time trials, and I thought even any sub-38 would be great. And I also thought it was certainly possible that I just can't do that; but I told my fire chief (at the station I volunteer at) that I will run "38:xx something", so I definitely wanted to run at least sub-39.

I started to have a bad toothache on Friday, at a tooth that I got worked on a few weeks ago. I do have a dentist appointment for next week, but it is of course way too late to do anything about it on Friday at noon, except taking some Ibuprofen. That did work, but I didn't want to overdo it, because Ibuprofen and running don't go well together (despite the myths).

I got up at 5:30 for the 8:00 start. Had my usual egg breakfast, bathroom, coffee, and I left home before 7:00. I arrived to the campus parking lot (about 1.7 miles from the start line) at 7:15. Waited a bit, then I jogged to start line. I met up with my fellow firefighters, who volunteered at the race. Did a few strides, and lined up in the "fast" corral (one needed only a 40-minute 10K to be eligible). I talked with some friends there, and before I knew, we were off.

Here is the elevation profile that I got from the satellite elevation maps combined with the GPS data.

It's not as bad as it looks, but there is that 70 feet difference between the low point and the high point of the course, and the rest is also somewhat hilly. You could call it "rolling hills" I guess, and it is mostly representative of the terrain of Louisville.

I knew the first mile was net downhill and straight, so I pushed it a bit. I wanted to get it under 6 minutes, so that I would bank a little time for the hills. I pushed hard, but controlled. I let a bunch of people pass me after my usual jackrabbit start.

Mile 1: 5:51

(All splits are Garmin auto splits. In reality, they may be a few seconds slower, because I got 6.24 miles as the course length.)

We started to climb at the mile marker. I took the first, steep part pretty hard, then I settled back to a more manageable pace. I just wanted to arrive to the second mile marker at 12:20, so that I needed a 6:29-mile here.

Mile 2: 6:10

This was a great split, but I was starting to run out of energy. I wasn't sure how long I could manage this pace. But I was on the top of the hill, and my plan was to have a "conservative" mile next. There were always plenty of people around me, and I was barely conscious of them. Some spectators, waters stations, but I didn't care. I just focused on running.

Mile 3: 6:03

Not a bad split. Mile 3 was net downhill, but plenty of climbing.

We were running around Cave Hill Cemetery. Lots of small rolling hills. I focused on running the tangents. Still taking things conservatively, because I didn't feel great. I felt I was over my lactate threshold (that's OK in a 10K), but more importantly, we were only at halfway.

Another little climb just started at the mile marker.

Mile 4: 6:08

Every mile marker was a few seconds after my auto splits. That means that my Garmin showed 24:11 at the autosplit, when I passed the actual marker, it showed 24:20. Trusting the mile markers more than Garmin, I was convinced that I was barely on pace for 38 minutes. And I knew there was one more steep hill. We were about to start it.

I powered up the hill, because it was relatively short (1/2-mile). In fact it felt easier than in my course preview training run. Trying to recover on the downhill, I got passed by an older guy. I tried to hang with him, but he was too fast.

Mile 5: 6:14

I was now alone. And tired. Still on pace for 38 minutes, but I have to ace the last mile+.

We turned onto the mile-long finish line. I was clearly fading some in the second half of this race, and one more couple was approaching from behind. Then I heard my name. It turned out it was the leader of the clinical trial I have participated in for the last 3 months. I tried to stay ahead of him, I felt a bit of a second wind, but he and a girl with him passed me slowly. I saw the finish line, but I was at my limits.

Mile 6: 6:09

Pushing hard to the finish, I saw the clock at 37:30. I knew I had my sub-38, and maybe a PR. I pushed it hard, and even in the finish line, I wasn't sure I got the PR. I had to wait until I got home to find out my time.

Last 0.24 mile: 1:18, 5:25 pace.

It took me about 10 seconds until I was sure I wouldn't pass out. I greeted my firefighter friends, who told me that I beat the chief (I knew that I would, of course). I was already pretty happy with the result, because I knew I made a sub-38 with no peaking and no taper for this race. I had no issue with my stomach or my tooth during the race.

I picked up a banana, some sweet tea, and cheered on some slower runners. I wanted to see the awards. The winner, a Kenyan looking and sounding guy, ran 29:xx. The first five male and female runners were announced, but I was 2 minutes slower than even the 5th place female. A very competitive race indeed.

I jogged back to my car, and drove home. I was really happy to see that my

time was 37:52,

a new PR by two seconds. Not only that, but this time on a real, certified, not even flat course.

This was a race, where nothing was quite perfect, but everything was 8 out of 10. I'm sure I got a good 5K training session out of it, if nothing more. But what am I talking about? This is a PR, and unless I'm willing to work on my 10K PR specifically, it is unlikely that I will ever run faster.

An equivalent 5K is 18:15-ish. I will try that, or better, next weekend.

Yesterday I've done close to 10 miles in two runs. I felt a bit beaten up, but I had to frontload the week, and I have had a long streak, so I have a good explanation.

No running today, just lots of work. I'm getting a bit nervous. I have no idea what to expect tomorrow. My firefighter colleagues will see me running so, I can't totally blow it.

Here is the elevation profile from the website.


This is more elevation change than I thought... The first mile should be very close to/slightly over 6 minutes, then maybe I can afford a 6:20, mile 3 should be very fast, and mile 4 and 5 about 6:10 to have a chance at sub-38 minutes. The only time I can be behind schedule is at mile 2, and not by much. And remember, when reaching the top of the hill at 4.5, there is no more holding back.

I ran my last workout before the 10K yesterday: a somewhat haphazard workout as there was a track meet at the high school track I run! Fortunately they were still only preparing for it, and I only needed about 22 minutes. 3 fast miles at 6:18/1600 with 2 minutes of rests. I asked an organizer if I still have time to do that, and he said yes; so I was doing the workout while teams were doing their warmup.

The workout went fine and felt quite easy (as it should). Today I don't feel like I had a hard workout yesterday, although I'll see it better in my run. I think I'll try 10 miles.

Sun: 15 miles long
Mon: 10 E
Tue: 2 E + 3 x 1 T w/2 min rest + 3 E = 8 miles
Wed: 9 E
Thu: 8 E
Fri: Rest
Sat: Rodes City 10K;  with warmup and cooldown, this will be easily 10 miles.

No real taper for now. This race is not an "A" race.

Nice threshold work today in the rain: 4 x 1 mile + 2 miles. At least it wasn't cold (50-some degrees). Average pace was 6:17/1600 meter (one second too fast), but I had to constantly focus on keeping it slow. I wish I could run fast when it actually counts.

I was debating doing this on the treadmill, because of the relentless rain all day, but I'm glad I didn't. Rain doesn't matter all that much for running. That of course takes away an excuse from my poor performance on Tuesday.

By the way, the clinical trial is over. No more stupid pills and blood draw, yeah! And of course $400 in my pocket.

Marathon paced on Sunday was fine, though my legs felt not quite recovered. Then I ran  an easy 4 on Monday, and finally the 5K time trial this morning. I ran 18:49, which is not too bad, but not too good either. The usual hard circumstances: very little sleep, middle of the night (getting up at 4:15, racing at 5:50), blood draws, and fasting. This time we had some light rain, but at least it wasn't cold (47 F). 1600 splits were 5:58, 6:04, 6:06, and I closed in 40 seconds. My goal was to run 1:30 laps, which was reasonably accomplished with a little slowdown.

This is a far cry from 18 minutes, and I'm not sure how much faster I could be in a race. I feel like I could probably get under 18:30, but not under 18 minutes at this point. The 10K will be a better indicator. Also, it is worth it to remember that my training is putting my body into maximum stress: I'm finishing up Phase III of Daniels', and I had quality workouts on Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, and now Tuesday. I have also had a long running streak. No wonder I feel a bit beaten up.

I finished the week quite well. Recall that I ran my long run on Saturday, instead of Sunday, but I decided to still aim for 60 miles on the Sunday-to-Saturday week without the long run. My Monday time trial was canceled, due to ice, and it was shifted to Wednesday, when it was canceled again, because the weather was exactly as predicted (don't ask): 37 F and rain. It's all good except that I did show up at the lab at 5:00am.

I did easy runs on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, then 7 x 3 min on Wednesday afternoon. By the time I ran it was snowing hard, and I barely managed to finish the workout.

It was snowing all night, and we had cold and snow on Thursday. I managed to squeeze out an easy run, but I had another quality (2 x 3 T) coming up on Friday. I found a friendly gym for that, and they let me work out for free for the first time, even though I admitted that I'm unlikely to sign up.

This workout (2E + 3T + 4x200 + 3T + 2E) is really hard, though it felt fine at the time. In any case, Saturday 7 easy didn't feel quite so easy, and I still feel beat up on Sunday. It may be due to the week and a half without rest day though. I do have a marathon paced run today. We'll see how it goes.

I ran the course of the Rodes City 10K yesterday. Well, I think it might qualify for the ugliest course in Louisville. It's like "big ugly road - big road by a cemetery - bigger uglier road by the cemetery - by some factories and empty lots - under railroad tracks - big ugly road by some industrial complexes or factories - back to the big ugly road in downtown". It has about three hills, but they aren't too hard.

This morning the 5K was cancelled due to serious ice on the track. Rescheduled for Wednesday, and I'm almost sure it *will* happen then. Just to be more negative: we were already out on the track when we heard the news - that is, after fasting, getting there at 5:00 am, doing the paperwork, blood draw, and warmup. On a positive note, we'll be paid an extra $100.

This is screwing up my training - again. So let's run easy until then, and have the LT training on Friday.

The weather somewhat normalized in the latter half of the weekend. It is still freezing most of the time, but at least temperatures are over 20 F. The snow is still on the ground, but at least the roads are clean (sidewalks, paths are not). I got in some good easy runs in the latter half of the week (one treadmill for being very cold), and finished this week with 47 miles. That included a Saturday long run of 15 miles, which will be counted toward the next week. I just can't do it on Sunday, because we are running the last time trial of the clinical study on Monday morning. So here is the new plan:

Sat: 15 miles (done, included)
March 1, Sun: 6.6 E (just one lap around the neighborhood)
Mon: 5 km in the morning (show up at 5:00 AM). Round out the day to 8 miles.
Tue: 8 E
Wed: 9 E
Thu: 2 E + 3 T + 4 x 200 R w/200 jg + 3T + 2 E = 11 miles
Fri: 9 E
Sat: 9 E or whatever to get to 60 miles.

March 8, Sun: 1 E + 10 M + 2 E = 13 miles
Mon: 8 E
Tue: 4 E
Wed: 2 E + 2 x 4 min H w/3 min jg + 3 x 3 min H w/ 2 min jg +  4 x 2 min H w/ 1 min jg + 2 E = 10 miles
Thu: 2 E + 4 x 1 T w/1 min rest + 2 T + 1 E = 9 miles
Fri: 8 E
Sat: 8 E

March 15: begin Phase IV.

March 21: Rodes City 10K.

The last couple of days totally sucked.

On Friday, I had a fairly good quality workout, except I ran short on time and had to wrap up the workout early. I ran on the treadmill of the campus gym, 3 T + 2.75 T with some short jog between.

I did manage some halfway decent outdoor running on Saturday, but on Sunday, when I set out to run my 15 mile long run, I couldn't do more than 8. I felt awfully tired. I thought it was still the snow on the ground that made running harder, but a few hours later I came down badly with a stomach virus. Fever, diarrhoea. I was quite sick on Monday (I still taught my class, but it was the hardest for me in a long time), then I went home and slept from 4pm to 7:30am on Tuesday morning, only getting up to eat a bit of dinner. Tuesday was better, but I was still too weak to run.

I will try an easy run today. My training is messed up. I also have a time trial next Monday, so now workouts on the weekend. I'll decide what to after my easy today.

Yesterday even the campus gym was closed due to freezing and snow, so I had to find another place. The subfreezing temperatures are relentless (it was -8 F, or -22 C tonight), so the snow is still on the ground, which makes running outside almost impossible.

We have an LA fitness in my neighborhood, so I thought I would use a 3-day trial membership to try it out. It's actually not that expensive anyway, and in winter months I might need some place to work out. The problem with the campus gym, that it will be closed exactly on the days I need it the most. I have access to the treadmill at the fire station I volunteer at, but I thought I would still try this actual gym. Especially because they told me on the phone that they have a 200 meter indoor track.

Well, I got to the gym, and I had to talk to a sales rep (who also claimed to be the brand new general manager), and when he realized that I probably won't be a cash cow, he just arbitrarily pulled the plug on the trial membership, and said that he will have to charge $15 for the day use of the gym. That's the complimentary trial they advertise. Seriously? The "risk free" trial is only given to you, if you will sign up? What a dirty sales tactics?

When I said I'm not paying, he said he could let me work out for free if I give him the contact info of a bunch of my friends, so they can spam them. It's getting worse, right? Well, they showed how customer friendly they are at least, so I know what gym *not* to choose.

I went to the fire station and ran 8 easy miles on the treadmill (ugh). It's funny that the mill turned itself off after one hour. :) I thought about my second quality workout, but I was actually more sore than I expected after Wednesday, so I postponed it. Also, the campus gym treadmills are nicer than the fire station ones. So that workout will come today - in the gym, because tracks are roads are still useless.

Weather wrecked havoc on my training this week after the skipped run on Sunday. We got a foot of snow on Monday (life stopped in Louisville), and it was very cold, so I decided to slack out and skip the run. (Even the campus gym was closed.) Then Tuesday, honest to god, I did attempt to run, but it didn't work in the snow.

So come, Wednesday, the roads are still unusable, I went to the gym, and bit the bullet: ran 7 x 3 min intervals on the treadmill. It wasn't too hard. So tomorrow, in the very likely event that the roads are still bad, I'll do my other quality workout in the gym: threshold run this time. I'll probably skip the 4 x 200, because that sounds like a recipe for getting thrown off the back of the treadmill.

By the weather forecast freezing remains until Saturday, so I might need to do two more days on the mill. But it's not as bad as I remembered.

Let me just summarize Week 6 for myself in case I'm returning the ebook.

Sun: 1 E + 10 M + 2 E = 13 miles
Mon: 8 E
Tue: 4 E
Wed: 2 E + 2 x 4 min H w/3 min jg + 3 x 3 min H w/ 2 min jg +  4 x 2 min H w/ 1 min jg + 2 E = 10 miles
Thu: 2 E + 4 x 1 T w/1 min rest + 2 T + 1 E = 9 miles
Fri: 8 E
Sat: 8 E

The only feasible solution to running yesterday would have been the treadmill at the fire station I volunteer at - but I decided against it. So Sunday and Monday is out. If road conditions permit (and I think they will), I'll run my Monday workout today (9 miles easy), and pick it up from there without making up the Sunday long run. There may be more disruptions due to very low temperatures (Thursday is 10 F high, -10 low), and likely snow and ice on tracks. We'll play it by ear. I don't think I can do quality workouts on the treadmill.

I'll repeat the week in any case.

I had some discomfort in my left big toe yesterday, and it was low 20s temperature yesterday, so I decided to take a rest day yesterday instead of a long run. My toe is much better today, but now it's 15 F, and we are snowed in. I can't even get to a treadmill without dangering myself. Contemplating what to do...

I tried to do my workout in 30 mph winds today (gusting to 35 mph). After the LT intervals, I just called it quits. Paces were of course quite a bit slower that they would have been on a windless day. I hope the training effects are the same.

I have a sharp pain in my left big toe. It only hurts occasionally. I hope it's not broken.

I managed to mess up my mileage so bad this week that I only need 6.5 miles tomorrow for 60 miles, but the workout itself is 11 miles. Even if I give up some warmup and cooldown (which I will, by feel), I'll still be quite a bit over 60 miles.

Week 5, Phase III:

Sun: 15 L (this will be after LT run on Saturday)
Mon: 9 E
Tue: Rest
Wed: 2 E + 7 x 3 min H/w 2 min jg + 2 E = 9 miles
Thu: 2 E + 3 T + 4 x 200 R w/200 jg + 3T + 2 E = 11 miles
Fri: 8 E
Sat: 8 E

If too tired on Monday, shift some small mileage to Tuesday. Thursday run may be shifted to Friday. Paces as before.

This week doesn't seem all that hard. Thursday is probably the hardest single workout, but I seem to be OK with T runs. Sunday will be hard, because of tired legs, but it is allowed to be slow.

The biggest difficulty will be the frigid temperatures. Current forecast predicts almost constant freeze.

Somewhat weird workout today: 5 x 1200. Average paces were fine at 4:20 (1 second too fast, but I'm not worried about that at all). But paces were very mixed, and I don't seem to have a good feel for the correct pace. The workout felt relatively easy, it was just the damn cold wind, still...

An addition to this marathon paced workout today is that I broke my 10-mile PR again. The last 10 miles of this workout was in 1:06:28.

I ran a marathon paced longish run today: it was supposed to be 1 mile easy, followed mile 8 miles at marathon pace, then 1 mile at threshold pace, and then back for 2 more miles at marathon pace. I ran the whole workout a bit too fast at 6:41.4 average pace for the marathon workouts (6:43 was the goal), and an incredible 6:08.8 for the threshold mile. My whole workout was about trying to slow myself down. By the end, my legs were tired, but my cardio system was not working hard at all. The threshold mile was run by effort, because I had no pace information during the mile. It was slightly net downhill, but I've still probably overdone it.

I'm guessing my VDOT is now at least 56, might be close to 57. Weak point is still my VO2 max. But by the end of Phase III it seems like I'll have a realistic chance of a sub-18 5K.

I felt some heavy legs today on my final 7 miler of the week... that workout yesterday did tire me out after all.

Week 4 of Phase III

Sun: 1 E + 8 M + 1 T + 2 M = 12 miles
Mon: 8 E
Tue: 7 E
Wed: 2 E + 5 x 1200 w/3 min jog + 2 E = 9 miles
Thu: 8 E
Fri: 8 E
Sat: 2 E + 3 x 2 T w/2 min rests + 4 x 200 R w/200 jg + 2 E = 8 miles (Edit: yes, this was badly miscalculated; it should be 11 miles.)

Paces: M: 6:43/mile, T: 6:20/mile or 6:18/1600 m, 1200 m: 4:21 or 87 sec/lap, 200 m: 40 sec

Notes:

1. Sunday's workout sounds brutal. After 8 miles at marathon pace, 9 miles total, I have to accelerate to LT pace for a mile, and then drop back to marathon pace for the last 2 miles.

2. I can't afford any rest days. If I rest a day, the average easy day will be over 10 miles, because the workouts are relatively low mileage (but high intensity) this week.

3. Saturday's workout will be followed by a 15 mile long run on Sunday in Week 5. More fun!

6 x 1 mile at LT pace and then 4 x 200 fast. Absolutely nailed the paces. Needless to say I guess.

At least is seems like Daniels has reasonable enough workouts that I can always complete them. We'll see if they have any good training effect.

I'm not sure about this timed "hard running" workout. My VO2 max pace is 5:49/mile, according to the Daniels tables, but on the road I can rarely do that pace. It may be the Garmin, the accelerations, the terrain, or whatever. I'm usually happy to just have my intervals under 6 minute pace.

LT workout today: 4800 meters threshold pace, 4 x 200, and then 3200 meters LT pace again. Nailed the paces, as usual. It felt rather easy actually. I seem to do well in LT workouts. I was born to run long distances.

I kind of zoned out during warmup and cooldown, and as a result, I ran them at 7:31/7:32 pace. The whole workout average was 6:57/mile, though it included some waiting before and after the track portion. But not much; I just reset my watch and used the bathroom after the workout.

I'm essentially done for the week. 7.3 easy miles tomorrow to finish it. And on the evening of my hard day, I don't feel exhausted.

The only things I *don't* do from the training plan are strides, and back-to-back workouts. I don't like strides, and my schedule won't let me do back-to-back workouts. But I hope I'm still doing fine.

Sun: 15 L
Mon: 8.2 E
Tue: Rest
Wed: 2 E + 8 x 3 min H w/2 min jg + 3 E = 10.5 miles or so
Thu: 2 E + 6 x 1 T w/1 min rests + 4 x 200 R w/200 jg + 1 E = 10 miles
Fri: 8.2 E
Sat: 8.2 E

We may play around with the exact days of the workouts. and they won't have to be back-to-back.

I ran 6 x 1000 today at 3:38/interval. I nailed the paces, even though I stopped the first interval after 600 meters. So I lost a few seconds, and when I realized the mistake, I started to sprint again, finishing the interval on time. Maybe this is the reason why by the 5th and 6th, they felt very hard - indeed, this was my hardest workout in a long time. I had to seriously sprint the final 200 meters of the last interval to get in on time, and it hurt.

Here is the week schedule from now by the end of February. We are working with Sunday to Monday weeks.

Phase III

01/25: Week 2
02/01: Week 3
02/08: Week 4
02/15: Week 5
02/22: Week 6

Phase IV starts on March 1.

Daniels is great.

I didn't believe that marathon-paced runs are not much harder than easy runs. Yet, today, I ran a very scary sounding workout: 4 miles easy followed by 10 miles at marathon pace (6:43/mile), and I wasn't more tired at the end than after last week's 15 miler.

I've grown to like these workouts. They don't hurt, and I like running rather fast rather far.

6 x 1 mile today at threshold pace. It was supposed to be 6:20/mile, but I ran a bit faster: averaging 6:18/mile. I got quite tired by the end, though I was not entirely spent. I only need 7.5 miles tomorrow to successfully finish the week.

Phase III, Week 2 plan

Sun: 4 E + 10 M = 14 miles
Mon: 9 E
Tue: Rest.
Wed: 2 E + 6 x 1000 w/400 jg + 2 E = 9 miles
Thu: 2 E + 3 T + 4 x 200 w/200 jg + 2 T + 2 E = 10 miles
Fri: 9 E
Sat: 9 E

Paces: M = 6:43/mile, 1000 m = 3:37 (3:38 on imperial track) = 87 s/lap, T = 6:20/mile (6:18/1600 m) = 95 s/lap, 200 m = 40 s

6 x 1200 intervals done! It wasn't even that hard. Nailed the paces with 4:21 average per interval.

The only thing that made this slightly easier is that I ran on the track, and the 3 minute recovery makes an awkward distance on the track. It's more than 400 meters, but less than 600, unless I'm willing to push them a little, which didn't sound like a good advice. So I only ran 400 recoveries, typically finishing them at around 2:15, so I just rested another 45 seconds before going on the next hard bout.

On the other hand I messed up the timing of the second interval after the first lap, so I stopped, rested a minute, and started over. This way I ran an extra 400 meters hard (1:24 in fact).

There supposed to be another hard workout tomorrow; physically I think it wouldn't be a problem, but there is too much work tomorrow, so I might be fed up by the evening.

Due to some nagging pains/burnout/too cold/too busy schedule last week, I skipped three days of training finishing the week way short. The only workout was the long run. So I think I'll redo the week properly now.

This is just fine. I'll be entering Phase IV on March 1st. That's kind of perfect timing.

Probably a record cold run yesterday in 15 F with windchill at 7 F. It was also a little over 10 miles, in 1 hour and 19 minutes. That's a long time to be out there running in the cold. I was happy to be done.

Phase III is supposed to start next week. Even though I'm running hard today, it would be nice to have the long run on Sunday, because I'll be very busy on Monday.

Sun: 15 L
Mon: 8 E
Tue: Rest
Wed: 2 E + 6 x 1200 I/w 3 min jg + 3 E = 11 miles
Thu: 2 E + 6 x 1 T w/1 min rests + 2 E = 10 miles
Fri: 8 E
Sat: 8 E

The Thursday quality workout may be moved to Friday or Saturday, if necessary.

Paces: 1200 I: 4:21, 1 T: 6:20. Wednesday sounds insanely hard. That pace is 87 seconds/lap, and I'll have to do it 18 times altogether.

Another really miserable workout today late at night, in cold, 25 F, strong, cold winds at the track: 12 x 400 m. It is so many that after the first few, there are still hopelessly many left. Anyway, I got it done, and my splits were spot on (81.5 seconds average on the imperial track). I'm happy I did it.

I ran my marathon paced workout tonight: 10 miles aimed at 6:43/mile. It was quite cold (25 F), and my pace was all over the place. I finished the 10-mile portion at 6:40/mile average. It's a bit fast, because it corresponds to 55.5 VDOT value, but it's not a huge difference, so I'll take it.

Note that I ran this 10-miler faster than my 10-mile PR. I crossed the 10-mile line at 1:06:37 (my PR is 1:06:49), and this was not race effort. That PR is soft; it makes me want to run the Papa John's 10-miler in the spring.

I'll take my rest day on Wednesday, and shift the workouts by one day. It's because high temp on Wednesday is predicted to be 17 F. And that's for 7AM, after which it will be steadily falling.

Because the first week of the year didn't work out as planned (no surprise though), let's repeat Week 6 of Phase II of Daniels. This time for real. This week is essentially 6 x 10 miles with some of them run harder.

Sun: 10 E
Mon: 1 E + 10 M = 11 miles
Tue: 10 E
Wed: 2 E + 12 x 400 R w/400 jg + 2 E = 10 miles
Thu: 10 E
Fri: 2 E + 2 x 4 min H w/3 min jg + 3 x 3 min H w/2 min jg + 2 x 2 min H w/1 min jg + 2 E = 9 miles
Sat: 10 E

...except that one of the easy 10-milers should be a rest day instead. Or if another day 10 miles is proven to be too much, add enough miles on the rest day to make up for the deficiency.