Reindeer Romp 4K Race Report

Goal: run it at perceived VO2 max.

The main goal of this race was to be a rust-buster after 8 months of no workouts. I ramped up my mileage to 47 miles as of last week, but still no fast running whatsoever. So I just wanted to race it for real, an honest effort.

Almost the whole family signed up! Flora was coming back from her break after the XC season, and Melinda ran her first race! Esther didn't want to race, because she is on her planned break, but she came out to support us.

We arrived at around 8:20, so we were ready for warmup. I jogged two easy miles. I was not feeling the greatest, but I was OK. It was a nice 42 degrees, and after an all night rain, we had high humidity and wet pavement (some puddles), but the rain stopped.

The race started exactly on time. I lined up in the front, Flora a bit behind, and Melinda toward the back.

The first mile was downhill. I went with one of the front groups (not the very front - they were way too fast). After stumbling over the young kids who lined up in the very front, I settled into a pace trying to focus on maximum oxygen consumption, but no oxygen debt. After the slope, a half mile flat section came. I felt the lactate burn in my muscles, but that's fine. It is expected to be over my lactate threshold.

Mile 1: 5:50

We hit the first uphill, and my pace dropped like a stone. This where I went much slower than two years ago, when I was in much better shape. I let some people pass me. I did not want to go over my VO2 max.

After the hill, I accelerated again. I started to feel the real pain. I glanced at my watch and we were at 1.8, so roughly 0.7 left. Esther was standing by course here cheering me on. There was a lady behind me; she said:

"Oh, first I thought it was your wife."
"No, she's my daughter. I'm 44."
"Well, I'm 42. Definitely older than these people around us."

Then after a pause "It is so nice that she came out to cheer you on."

I couldn't really respond. I was too out of breath. She definitely had more in tank than me. We circled the statue of Daniel Boone. Esther was there again, telling me that I only had a 1/2 mile left.

Mile 2: 6:57

But what a half mile! In includes a 1/4 mile uphill, going up the same hill as the one we ran down from at the start. It's the easier of the two on the course, but it still kills you, because it is so close to the end. It felt like I slowed way down, but looking at my paces, in fact I went a bit faster than on the other hill, and also a bit faster than two years ago, when my overall time was 44 seconds faster. Pretty much all of that was lost in mile 2 on the second hill.

The lady from behind passed me. I yelled "Go, youngster!" She did beat me by a few seconds in the the finish.

Last 0.5: 3:34 (~7:08 pace)

Total: 16:21. 11/483, 1st in AG. But only because a 40 year old male took the Masters win, and he wasn't counted. I also got beaten by a 55 year old guy. He ran 15:02.

I stayed to cheer on Flora, and then Melinda. Everyone did great! Flora won her age group, and Melinda ran much better than she expected!

I went for my cooldown lap after Melinda finished, and they started the awards while I was away. But I did arrive on time to hear the important results.

I actually took no after-race snack. 4 kilometers is still way too short for me. It doesn't really exhaust me - it just hurts a whole lot for 16-some minutes.

Now back to base building. Plan is to run long tomorrow, and then increase my mileage to 60 before the next race.

Base building is all fine: I'm up to 46.7 miles as of last week with a 13.4 mile long run. I'll do a cutback/mini taper next week before the first race of the PBGP.

Mon: Rest
Tue: 7 miles
Wed: 5 miles
Thu: 3 miles
Fri: Rest
Sat: 4K race, with a total of ~6 miles.
Sun: 10 miles

The weeks after that I jump back to base building.

Dec 16: 50 miles
Dec 23: 55 miles
Dec 30: 60 miles
Jan 6: cutback/mini taper for 5K

Jan 13: add some quality for the next two weeks, but start marathon training on February 3. The last race on the PBGP will be while on marathon training cycle.

April 25: Kentucky Derby Marathon!

A month went by and so far so good. I've been consistent and my body is holding up. I've increased my mileage to 42 miles per week as of this week. I can be close to 50 by the PBGP race 1, as I predicted.

I ran my long run of 12 miles today and it felt great. Despite the increasing mileage, I don't feel tired today.

Well, that's been a long pause, wasn't it? Here is the story in short form (and won't write the long form).

I ran Boston. I wasn't quite in perfect shape, just shy of a 3-hour marathon in that course, and it wasn't the perfect day (is it ever?), so I ended up bonking *really* bad, and I ran a 3:11:xx something. I got so discouraged, that I never wrote a race report, and I never will. Enough to be said that it was a death march after the Newton hills.

Then, I wasn't training for anything, and I had a busy summer, as always, with lots of travel. I kept in shape though, and I did some great hiking in Colorado. I did have my share of disappointment there, too, when I made an unsuccessful attack of Longs Peak (*not* the Keyhole Route). My whole summer I averaged 20-ish miles a week, with large variance between 40-50 and 0.

Then the usual fall struggle started, back on, and then off, because mostly being very busy. Right now my Strava profile says that I ran an average of 20 MPW in the last four week. This includes a 9-day pause, in which I did a bunch of firefighting, and then I had oral surgery (gum graft) that sidelined me for a few days.

I started back this week with great plans! This year's Polar Bear Grand Prix will be a good excuse to get back into shape. I really want to run just one more 3-hour marathon on a somewhat challenging course, if nothing else. It is probably not realistic to expect this next spring, but I want to run a marathon next spring. So here are the detailed plans.

I run base mileage until Race 1 of the PBGC. That is December 14, and it's a 4K. I might get back to around 50 miles by then, if all goes well. That race may work as a benchmark, unless the weather is terrible. But in any case, the plan is that I will have a baseline by that race.

Then add some quality (probably keeping the mileage) and do a 5K training to prepare for the 2nd race, which is a 5K on January 11. Then I'll figure out if extra mileage is appropriate, but just train well for the third race, a 4-miler.

Once that training is over, I can do a short cycle for a sprig marathon, hopefully the Derby Marathon. 3 hours is not realistic, but I can try to BQ my current age group, which is now around 3:05 for me. Keep training until July, when I'll do some crazy hiking and climbing. Then off to a fall season - a short cycle to run a challenging fall marathon in 3 hours. By that time I'll be 45, and that would probably earn me Wave 1 qualification in Boston.

Week -3 is finished, so I'm officially tapering. I'm almost surprised that I made it this far. My total alcohol consumption in 2019 was like 3 beers and 2 glasses of wine, all in early January. I ran 743 miles in less than three months. I don't know if this made me ready, but I can honestly say that I put in the work. I also increased my VDOT by quite a bit, and theoretically, on a good day, it may be enough for a 3-hour marathon in Boston.

The week was alright, if not spectacular. I ran a 5 x 1200 on Wednesday. My legs felt tired, and it was a somewhat windy evening, and the workout was OK, but not great. Splits were 4:19, 4:20, 4:23, 4:23, 4:21, and it was rather hard, especially the last two reps. (The goal was 4:21, which corresponds to Daniels's 55 VDOT.) I think the main difficulty with this workout is its position in the training plan. I was playing catch-up with recovery... Lots of miles, then a 10K on Saturday, a 17-miler on Sunday (legs are done), the I get a rest day on Monday, and I can "recover" with 6 + 4 miles on Tuesday. Just rested enough to do the workout on Wednesday, but not rested enough to do it easily. Plus a 5 x 1200 is probably the hardest VO2max workout in existence. Oh, and do finish 11 miles for the day. Oh, and the following day you go and run 14 miles.

After two easier days the last 20-miler was waiting for me on Sunday. The weather was good and I felt great. I pushed it a bit and finished it at 7:23 pace with a 6:55 last mile.

I read yesterday that to be well-prepared for a marathon, one necessary condition is that the sum of your longest five runs should total 100 miles. (I'm sure this is just an arbitrary metric, but I was curious what coaches think about the number of length of long runs.) I added up mine: 22+ 21 + 20 + 20 + 18 = 101. But I think what counts more is the many 18-17 milers I had that I didn't count here, and those many freaking 13-15-mile midweek runs. I hope they do they magic on race day!

Week -4:

On Tuesday I started with 5x600 at the track. I accidentally messed up the second interval, running 700 meters instead (this is what happens when one tries to run 300 meters recoveries), so I ran only 500 for the next one. Altogether, the splits were 2:09, 2:27 (700), 1:50 (500), 2:11, 2:10, for a 2:09/600 meter average. That's actually slightly fast: correct pace would have been 2:10-2:11. I took it as a good sign just two days after the 14 miles at marathon pace. My legs were definitely tired for this workout.

Wednesday I ran a 14-miler, which I managed just fine, but my legs were trashed from cumulative fatigue. I was trying madly to recover on following two days, though I had a brutal fire training on Thursday. I was full of doubt for my Saturday tune-up race, but it went well, though due to the nature of the race I got no indication on my fitness.

I finished the week with a 17-miler, where I got dehydrated again... Why does this keep happening? I run like newbie. I still finished the run with a decent average pace, but I slowed a lot for the last three miles.

I'm ready for my last hard week. I have 5x1200 today. Not looking forward to the pain...

On a different note, there will be not tune-up race two weeks out. I'll be at a workshop in Michigan. I'll try to get in a 6-mile LT run on Saturday instead. If it doesn't work out, I might shift the days there. (It may actually be a good idea to do the day shift there, regardless.)

E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park: 27th Irish Classic 10K Race Report

Goal: Just race hard, for position, if possible.

This race looked like the perfect tune-up 10K for this weekend. Pfitzinger's 18/70 marathon plan includes three tune-up races, 6 weeks out, 4 weeks out, and 2 weeks out. I never ran all three, because in my busy life it is hard to even get in one or two tune-up races, so usually the race must be near, and there must be no family program that day; the race must be the right distance and preferably similar style to the marathon.

Well, this was announced as "mixed surface", including asphalt, gravel, trail, and grass field. The asphalt portion was about 1/4 of the distance, and the rest (especially the trail and grass) was quite treacherous this morning: frosty, slippery grass, deep mud, puddles. That is especially fun going uphill! So the style of the race didn't match after all, but the other variables were present: all-in-all I'm happy I ran it. However, that explains why time goals would not have been appropriate.

It was a small race, and thank god, they started at 9am, not 8. It was cold: about 30 F, but coming out of winter this is perfect racing temperature. I had some trouble starting the car in the morning, so I was 12 minutes "late" arriving at 8:12. I picked up my packet, put on my racing gear, went to the bathroom, and started warming up at 8:34. I did two miles of jogging checking out early parts of the course. I stepped into a deep puddle right away that soaked my shoes, but it didn't really bother me later. I felt rather tired during the warmup. In fact cumulative fatigue has been bothering me for some days, and on top of that, we had a pretty brutal fire training on Thursday that left me with aching muscles all over my body.

Just ten minutes after I finished my warmup, I lined up in the front and we started the race right on time at 9:00.

Four people got away immediately. Somebody (I think) in a blue shirt, shorts, quite fast, started to lead. Another guy (his name is Mike) in a white shirt saying "Team Mubea" on it. I noticed him before the race: he had quite a ritual, e.g. he greased his legs (or put some kind of cream on them). Good or bad, he obviously took the race pretty seriously. In the third place, another guy who wore the race shirt. That usually means less serious runner, but sometimes they can surprise you. I settled in fourth place.

I tried to be a bit conservative knowing the treacherous trails and hills ahead, but those four started quite fast, so I decided to follow them. Right after the start (like in 50 meters) we went from the asphalt parking lot to the gravel. After running maybe 0.2 miles on the gravel, we changed to grass, and that slowed us down quite a bit. The top three started to pull apart, but I was right behind the third place guy. We ran like this for a while. His pace was just fine for me: maybe just a bit faster than lactate threshold. He was more muscular than me, and we were climbing a bit, plus add the race shirt: I figured I should be able to beat him later for a podium finish.

Mile 1: 6:44

We reached the top of that gentle slope at around the mile marker (though no real markers were on the course). On the gentle downhill, I started to feel that he was slowing. This is the age old question: how much are you willing to slow, risking that somebody behind you is catching up. I didn't wait very long. We arrived to an asphalt road and I put in a strong attack (on a slight downhill). I left him in no time. Fortunately Mike was not very far ahead, and not excessively fast either, so I could "pace" after him, following him at a distance of 50-100 yards.

We left the asphalt quickly and we were back on the muddy trails: a downhill portion that you can't enjoy because of the surface. Soon I noticed that I was starting to catch up to Mike. I didn't mind that at all, of course. I caught him at around 1.8 miles. I deliberately didn't pass him. I think he expected that I would, so he looked a bit confused. His breathing sounded very labored, while I was still relatively relaxed.

Mile 2: 6:33

The next portion was quite hilly (up and down). I could have used some cross country spikes, but then what do you do on the asphalt? I followed Mike, and I noticed that it felt easy to do that. He did a good job though pacing the uphills (I may have overexerted myself without him), and when we reached another top at mile 2.6, I had to change into a 2-1 breathing, and I kept to that until the end. At 2.7, we hit another asphalt portion. We had to slow to find the course signs. The leading golf cart was in front of the leader of the race, who was now too far to be seen, and we got the "runner-up treatment". :) Even the asphalt was very muddy and full of puddles. At one place, we actually had to run on the grass by the road, because the road had a little pond on it. :)

I didn't really want to attack Mike before the turnaround point, because I wanted to see where the #4 runner was. But he felt slow, I felt relaxed, so it just happened. I slowly pulled away from him, willing to let him back in the lead any time, but he didn't seem to want or to be able to do that.

Mile 3: 6:59

I hit the turnaround point right at 3.1 miles on my GPS, so I knew I can rely on it for the distance. This was an out and back course, so I looked at the positions. The top four was the same people, except that I went from 4th to 2nd. Mike was right behind me, close enough so that I could hear his breathing. The 4th place was almost 2 minutes behind me, so that distance seemed safe.

Mike's breathing got quieter. We're back on the trail. I was pushing hard. By the time I hit the mile marker, I didn't hear Mike any more.

Mile 4: 6:38

The next mile was probably the most difficult part of the course. All uphill, and the first part is on trails. I knew this was coming, because I ran this portion during my warmup jog. I also knew I needed more energy for the last mile, and I wasn't going to lose my 2nd place. So I ran the hill conservatively. Made it to the gravel, then the asphalt, still uphill. I almost took the wrong turn, but fortunately I stopped myself.

Mile 5: 7:03

When we turned on the trail again, I looked back. I saw Mike not too far back. I can still lose this. I knew I had to keep pushing, so I did. This was still uphill, until about mile 5.4. I kept myself on that sweet spot that is "almost blowup", but you feel you can still finish. This mile was entirely trail/grass.

Mile 6: 6:49

Right at the mile marker another switchback to the gravel. I saw Mike at a safe distance (~200 yards). You can't erase that lead in ~400 yards. So I was happy, but it isn't a time to slow down. I pushed the last gravel bit at around 6:15 pace for a 42:29 finish. Second place overall is great, and I was happy with my effort. The time is meaningless. I'm sure this was good training. Before the race the constant fatigue I felt made me think that I might be overtraining, but based on this race, I think this is not the case.

I had a great chat with Mike after the race. We ran the cooldown together. He is from Germany, working here in Florence, KY (Mubea is the name of his company).

Postrace food was fine: I had a banana and a bottle of water. I got a medal for my age group win, but nothing for 2nd place overall. The winner was a 46 year old guy! I had a get a jump to start for the car going home, but I got lucky, and the guy who parked next to me was able to help me, so I didn't even get delayed. Now I'm off to battery shopping.

Training report for week -5. The most demanding part of marathon training.

As always, you get a rest day on Monday, but it's hardly enough after that tough week. Then hit it hard on Tuesday with a 6 x 1000 meter workout. I did it on the treadmill, because of multitude of reasons, but mostly I didn't find any time to seek out a track. I alternated 10.3 mph (5:50/mile) 1000's with 6 mph (10:00/mile) 400's for recovery. Even on the treadmill, this is the kind of workout when I have to plead with myself to do it. Like even after the 2nd or 3rd, I would tell myself that if I can only do 4 or 5 that's OK. But then I do the whole thing.

So after a workout, you get an easy day, right? Yeah, sure. 15 miles. It was still cold, dark by the end, and I didn't enjoy it, especially not the end. I definitely was not recovered.

On Thursday, you finally get some recovery runs: 6 miles + 4 miles. I ran the four at 10pm after firefighting training. Definitely wasn't fun, and I really just slogged through these.

On Friday, a 12-miler. I felt just well enough to finish it at the decent pace (7:39).

Then a 5-miler on Saturday, when I felt tired again. And what was especially frightening was that I knew what was coming on Sunday. An 18-miler with 14 at marathon pace.

At last the weather got nice: sunny, 59 degrees with wind. It is a bit warmer than ideal (after having cold weather all week long), and the wind is not great, but still pretty close to ideal weather. In my previous two cycles, I made this workout as easy as possible: treadmill for the first one, and neighborhood run for the second one. But I paid for my insufficient hill training in Bowling Green, so I decided to go the Parklands this time. Not the crazy hilly southern part, but the northern side, which had some small hills, and one long and steep that I had to climb twice.

I did finish the run with 6:50 average pace, but the last mile was brutally hard (I ran 7:12 for that). I tried to conserve energy and time (kind of contradictory) for the second climb of the big hill, and though I did slow quite a bit on climbing it, I had enough energy to accelerate back at the top, and push myself on the other side. The downhill is a series of narrow switchbacks, which is impossible to run fast, because you virtually have to stop in the corners. The switching of directions hurts, too. But even that wasn't the hard part.

I still had two miles to go, the first of which was OK. But then I had to climb a bridge, and loop under it. I charged up the bridge, and when going down, I felt like I was done for. I stopped for a second, and then I needed all my willpower to cover the last mile - which included another bridge. Again, this felt like the last mile of a marathon... When I finished I felt nauseous.

So what did I learn? About my prospect for the 3-hour Boston Marathon? Not much, really. I did successfully finish this run, but it was hard and it was only 14 miles. I know this training plan is designed so that this should feel like the last 14 miles of a marathon: and it truly did. I probably started a bit too fast banking a bit too much time. If I banked 30 seconds less, I probably would have had easier time in the last mile, probably gaining it back. On the other hand I'm so happy that despite the steep hills, I was able to run 3-hour pace. This workout was the real deal. I hope I'll be much more ready for hills than I was in Bowling Green.

One thing is very clear: I definitely should not overrun the first half of Boston. I want to feel still pretty good when I make it to the Newton hills.

Week -6 is finished. These weeks are pretty hard!

5 x 600 on Tuesday, and remember, I had a 22-miler on Sunday. It was OK, though it didn't feel particularly easy. I was aiming for 2:12/split, and ran 2:09, 2:13, 2:12, 2:11, 2:11. There were soccer players warming up on the high school track, and they were total assholes. Jogging 3-4 abreast with no regard of faster runners. I ran with Flora, and she probably did the longest run of her life!

Medium long (14) on Wednesday where my legs were still (or again) tired. Then two recovery days, and there was supposed to be a tune-up race on Saturday.

I wasn't able to find any appropriate race at a reasonable distance. So I decided to run a 6-mile threshold run. Since I had to take Esther to the gym anyway, I ran on the treadmill. I started with a setting of 9.5 mph (6:18/mile), and felt surprisingly easy. So much so that I cranked it up to 9.6 (6:15/mile) for the next two miles or so, meanwhile deciding to run 10K instead of just 6 miles. When I still felt great, I kept increasing the speed bit by bit, until I hit 9.9 mph (6:03/mile), where the treadmill maxed out. I ran the last ~0.5 mile at that pace. I finished the 10K in about 39 minutes.

So, yeah, it's treadmill, so it's easier, maybe even it was incorrectly calibrated, but if not, it's fair to say that I hit 55 VDOT. Which means that I do have a pretty good chance of a 3-hour marathon if the weather cooperates and I don't mess it up.

I ran 18 miles today, the day after the workout. I felt my legs at the start, but at the end it felt reasonably easy. I didn't push the pace hard, but still finished with 7:41/mile average (with heavy snow at the beginning), and three strong miles at the end. It's amazing that in perspective, 18 miles doesn't seem that long.

Possible tune-up races:

3/16: E.P. "Tom" Sawyer Irish Classic 10K. Register by 3/13. $35

This is pretty much a no-brainer. Right in town, right distance, cheap registration, somewhat familiar course. It has some grass, dirt, gravel, as well as asphalt, but nothing wrong with that.

3/30: Carmel Marathon Weekend 10K. Register by 3/24. $45

This seems to be the best choice. Alternatives are Caracole's Run/Walk for AIDS 10K in Cincinnati ($40 on Sunday, no deadline posted), or RunTheBluegrass 7 mile race ($100). The former is on Sunday - it might be good, if I shift my training by the required one day. The latter is very unlikely: it is outrageously expensive, and what an odd distance!

Week -7 went much better than expected. After the appalling start of the training cycle, it seems like my hopes of a sub-3 marathon are restored. (Not saying likely, though, but there is a positive probability!)

Here is the roundup: After the rest and recovery runs, I had a rather miserable 15-miler in heavy rain on Wednesday. But the most dreaded run came on Friday: 7 miles of lactate threshold. I went to the track to do it, and I wasn't sure at all if I could. I was aiming for between 6:25-6:30 for the first few miles (1600 to be exact), but it went better than expected, and I was bale to run my perceived threshold at a bit faster pace. I ended up running my 1600's in 6:19, 6:23, 6:21, 6:23, 6:21, 6:23, 6:22. The last mile got a bit hard (not surprisingly), but for about 10 kms I felt fairly comfortable.

It did trash my legs a bit, and I still felt it on Sunday, when I had a 22-mile run on the plan. This epic distance is the longest in the whole plan, and this week is arguably one of the hardest with the brutal threshold workout and 70 miles total. Nevertheless I chose to run the 22 in the southern end of The Parklands, so I could get some good elevation training (over 1000 ft). In windy weather I managed to run 22 miles. I was very tired by the end: it felt like the last miles of a marathon. But it was like the last miles of a good marathon: tired, but still in control, and able to run some fast last miles. I managed 7:31 average with a 7:04 last mile.

Now, on Monday, I feel quite beat up, but happy with the monster week. Phase 3 (race preparation) starts next week with tune-up races. Unfortunately there is no appropriate race for me within 2 hours of driving this weekend, so I'll just train: probably doing 10K of lactate threshold.

Week -8 was supposed to be recovery, and I think I've slightly overdone it.

I ran 6 x 800 VO2 max intervals of Wednesday on the high school track. It went well enough: 2:55, 2:56, 2:56, 2:57, 2:58, 2:59. It clearly got harder toward the end, but that was expected: my fitness has still ways to improve. It was painful for the last 200 meters, but I pushed it a bit to get under 3 minutes. My goal pace was originally 3:00/interval, but when the first four went under without trying too hard, I decide that I should put the last two under 3 minutes as well.

I ran 11 miles on Friday, and I went to Iroquois Park and back to put in some elevation; then on Sunday, I ran in rural Indiana putting in lots of elevation: 1125 ft in 15 miles. This is actually slightly more than the whole Bowling Green Marathon! My most elevation in a single run since November 25, 2017. Now, on Monday, my body feels it!

The next few weeks will be hard. High mileage and lots of workouts. Based on my recent runs, I think my shape is right around 3 hours for a flat course and 50 degrees, which is not the Boston Marathon. But I still have two months. There is some hope.

Further schedule:

Week -8: 2/11
Week -7: 2/18
Week -6: 2/25
Week -5: 3/4
Week -4: 3/11
Week -3: 3/18
Week -2: 3/25
Week -1: 4/1
Race week: 4/8

In reality I have an extra day, because the marathon is on Monday, but it is easier to have a Monday-Sunday schedule, and the timing of the long runs and workouts works much better this way for my work schedule.

Tune-up races:
3/2, 3/16, 3/30

Probably no chance of racing in March 2-3: the map of the US has big hole for that weekend for races between 8K and 15K!

After about two months of silence, it is time to post. I'm halfway through the training that had its ups and downs. Here is the summary.

Week -16: Planned 55 miles with a single marathon paced run: 16 miles with 8 at marathon pace. I skipped that run altogether, because I replaced the clutch of my car, which was incredibly tiring and time consuming. There was no way I could do that run. The rest of the week was fine, but I only ran 39 miles.

Week -15: 58 miles with a 4/9 LT run (4 miles at LT pace out of 9 miles). We were out of town and I ran this on crazy hills by just effort. Splits are almost meaningless, but I managed 7:08, 7:01, 6:59, 7:03, which I though were OK for the hills. Maybe it was good that I didn't have a good measure how much (or little) it sucked. :) Just two days after this workout I ran a 15-mile long run at 7:32/mile.

Week -14: 62 miles with no real workout except the first 18-miler on Sunday. I ran a good 7:30 pace.

Week -13: 63 miles with a 5/9 LT run on Tuesday and 10/18 marathon paced on Sunday. The LT run still sucked: 6:28, 6:44, 6:46, 6:45, 6:32. At least it was better than the last one, and it was in some strong wind. The MP run went very well: I ran an average of 6:49 pace for the 10 miles. Kind of ridiculous that my marathon paced run is not much slower than my LT paced run. My endurance is probably fine, just my fitness sucks.

Week -12: Travel to a conference in Baltimore, so I missed a lot. I only ran 23 miles to stave off withdrawal. This would have been a cutback week anyway with 55 miles planned.

Week -11: 68 miles with 5/10 LT run on Tuesday, and the first 21-miler on Sunday. The LT runs are getting slowly better: 6:21, 6:38, 6:43, 6:37, 6:32. Still not good, but more and more acceptable. The long run went well. Three laps in the neighborhood for a 7:32 pace. It was flat though.

Week -10: Planned 66 miles with 6/11 LT run on Friday, and a 20-miler on Sunday. I took the LT run to the treadmill this time. (Somehow I didn't feel like running outside. There were some brutal cold runs this week.) I ran a constant 6:31 pace for the LT portion. If I could duplicate that outside, it would put my VDOT to ~53, which would correspond to a 3:01-3:02 marathon. Lots of hypotheticals. Worse yet, two days later I failed my 20-miler. I made many mistakes: sauerkraut (with possibly spoiled meat) for lunch, terrible diarrhea, running one way through the Parklands in constant headwind, sudden 67 F after training in freezing temps, carrying too much water in a Camelbak, stopping like 5 times for just phone calls... I hit the wall at mile 16 and I had to hike out to my car. Finished the week 4 miles and a long run short.

Week -9: This week originally had a 16-mile long run with 12 miles at marathon pace; no real workouts except a 15-mile and a 13-mile midweek long run to get to 67 miles. But after last week's failed long run, I decided it would benefit me more if I ran a 20-miler in the weekend. MP runs don't have much extra physiological benefit over slower long runs (according to Daniels). I cut 1 mile from the Saturday recovery, and ended up with 70 miles for the week. The first time since September 2017. I ran my 20-miler at 7:38 pace, finishing it pretty strong.