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.

Week -17 is done without much trouble. As I mentioned previously, I did fail my LT workout on Tuesday, but after that, thing were fine. I ran good paces all week long (except for my recovery runs, when I ran over 8 min/mile - as I should). In particular I felt so good on my 9-mile GA on Friday that I ended up running the last 7 miles at 7:13 pace, and it didn't feel hard. Then I topped the week off with a strong 15-miler at 7:36 average, with some hills included.

That's an important point for me to do: I will not neglect hills this cycle, like I did for Bowling Green. I want to be ready for the Newton Hills. I especially like the 15-miler: I had a 110 ft hill in mile 10 with an especially steep last part (it is hard to keep jogging).

Week 16 is easy first, but there is a hard long run at the end: 16 miles with 8 miles at marathon pace. I'm not sure what pace I will follow, but I will probably start out aiming to be just below 7 min/mile.

M: Rest
T: 8 GA w/ 10 ST
W: 12 MLR
T: 5 E
F: 9 GA
S: 5 E
S: 16 L w/ 8 @ MP

After my last post, I just ran another 60-mile week. It was totally fine with a strong, hilly 15-miler. I was excited to start early training on Tuesday, December 4.

Well, it didn't work the way I hoped. For one reason or another, I didn't feel good, and I bombed the first LT run. I ran the first mile at 6:37 and it felt hard, which discouraged me so bad that I aborted the workout (turned it into a kind of a fartlek), and I did a whole week of soul searching, only running a total of 22 miles.

Then I decided that I still want to run Boston, and there is no magic, so I better start training. After my last week I assumed that my LT max was around 6:45, so that was my goal pace today. I failed again, but it was a very weird run, and at least I got in some good training.

I ran the first mile in 6:19, and the second in 6:32, and I felt pretty good. In fact it felt that my speed was oxygen limited, not lactate. Is it possible that your LT and your VO2 max are equal? By the third mile, I was out of breath, and I was totally incapable to push my pace to LT territory. I slowed to 7:45 pace, and I had to stop after the finishing the third mile to catch my breath. After about a minute of rest, I ran a decent 4th mile in 6:35.

So I think the 6:30-6:35 LT might be correct, but my VO2 max is so low that I can't sustain that pace for the duration of an LT run. I'll have to figure something out to solve this. This is a very nonstandard problem - it is probably due to my age, my experience, and the fact that I did no workout (but some decent mileage) in the last 6 months.

Anyway, training is now officially on, and here my week plan:

Mon: Rest
Tue: 9 w/ 4 LT
Wed: 11 MLR
Thu: 5 E
Fri: 9 GA
Sat: 5 E
Sun: 15 L

I got sick right after my previous post and I had to skip almost a full week of running. But I did come for the November 12 week at full force: 60 miles. Same for the week of November 19: Despite traveling to the coast and back, I managed to run 60 miles, the last bit of which I ran Sunday night at around midnight in cold rain, after I drove all day. "This is the training that wins races" I told myself, "not the ones on pretty, sunny days."

I was very busy on Monday, so I took a rest day, and in the morning rush on Tuesday, I messed up a bit and I thought that this week would be the early start of the marathon training (in fact it is December 3, or maybe even December 4, if I consider that the goal race is on a Monday). So I quickly looked at the plan, and it started with an LT run: 9 miles with 4 at LT pace. It was brutally cold outside, so I just picked up my gym clothes and I went to gym in the afternoon.

2 miles of warmup at 8:30-ish pace, and then I set the treadmill at 9.5 mph (6:18 pace). I was OK for about a mile. Then I realized that this wasn't going to happen: so I steadily slowed the TM down to 9.3 mph (6:27 pace) until I reached mile 3. I was already pretty exhausted, so I decided to slow even more - I computed that even with the slow start of the treadmill from 0 mph I would average 6:30 pace if I slowed the TM to 9.1 (6:36 pace), so I did that in two steps. I ended up finishing the 4 miles in 25:55 (6:29 average). I finished the workout with an excruciating 3 miles of cooldown.

From all of this I'm guessing that my LT pace may be around 6:30, or a bit slower: VDOT of 53. Better than a few weeks ago, but it's not enough for a 3 hour marathon. But that's fine, I guess. I have several months to go.

One issue is my weight. I still weigh about 155 pounds, which is about 10 pounds over my ideal racing weight.

Bottom line is that I'm not actually starting the hard training this week, so I'll just run easy 9's and and 15 in the weekend. Then I'll still have to make the decision if I should start on December 10 (or even 11) or December 3 (or 4).

60-mile week is finished! The first since February! I actually felt OK even after the 15-miler yesterday (and with some cold I caught).

Time to add some small amount of quality. I have 4 or 5 weeks (depending on when I start, depending on if we go to Florida in December) of fitness training. I'll decide tonight what I'll do, but I'll keep myself at 60 MPW. That way this cycle will be on solid base, and since it's 18 weeks, it won't be rushed. I have good feelings.

One more thing to consider is to run the Polar Bear Grand Prix again this year. Esther is into it, and maybe the rest of the family, too. First race for that is December 8.

Training is as planned for now. I'm on the way to my first 60-mile week. It's not easy. The 10% increase in mileage every week is taking a toll on me, and I'm constantly tired. My paces are typically 7:30-8:15, which is fine, but I feel like I couldn't go much faster. Patience! Once I'm comfortable at 60 MPW, I can try to measure my VDOT. Though by then it'll about time to start the 18-week plan for Boston.

Maybe it's actually good this way. I might just peak at the right time. Dreaming of a 3-hour Boston...

I've finished my 46-mile week with no problem. My 13.5-mile long run was hard: it was a hot day on the gravel path of Tom Sawyer State Park, which also has some elevation change, and I ran the mile loop 13 and a half times. But I recovered well by the end of the week, and my Sunday 6-miler felt easy, even a bit hungover.

Now onto the 50-mile week. I'll bump up the long run to 15 miles, and my weekday runs to 7.

Finished my week with 42 miles, with a 12-mile long run and an 8-mile run in the Parklands at Esther's M pace. That was 7:20/mile in 86 degrees from 10:30 to 12 with lots of solar radiation. It was tiring, but entirely doable. It doesn't reveal too much about my fitness, only that it is not horrible. The hardest part was the heat.

Now on to a 46-mile week, which will be accomplished by 5 x 6.5 and a 13.5-mile long run. Slowly getting there... 60-mile weeks are in shooting distance.

38.3 miles this week is done. Next week is 42. My age. But by the end of next week, it'll be even more than that.

I'll run five times 6 miles plus a 12-mile long run.

So far so good. 2 x 15 mile hike with a heavy backpack on the difficult Knobstone Trail. Check. 35 miles in the week of 9/17. Check. Week of 9/24 started.

Six months went by since my last post. As any reader would guess: it isn't because I was too busy running my greatest races...

In fact after the setback in the spring I had trouble bouncing back. It started well in March and early April, but then I got busy, and my training in May was terrible (MPW: 16, 31, 8, 33). Then more work in the summer with travel, and I didn't focus on running very much. I kept up with exercise somewhat (hiking in Colorado was quite strenuous) but not much running at all. July was a bit more consistent (regular running is summer camp), but low mileage: MPW's of 28, 34, 29, 18. Granted, the 18 mile week had some crazy mountain biking adventure in it.

August was again about struggling to get back to training. MPW's of 20, 15, 21, 16, with pretty uniformly 5-mile runs, and large breaks of not running during the weeks.

And now it's September. I managed 31 and 35 miles for the last two weeks with some 10-mile "long" runs. This week I'll be down to 25, but we do some good hiking this weekend on the Knobstone Trail. And why am I writing today? Because this morning I registered for Boston.

Once we're back next week, I'll try to build up my base again. I'll go for another 35 mile week next week, and then try a 10% rule until I reach 60. If all goes well, it would look like this:

Week of 9/17: 35
9/24: 38
10/1: 42
10/8: 46
10/15: 50
10/22: 55
10/29: 60

Boston 18-week training starts on December 10, so I'll have more than a month to maintain 60 MPW and add some quality work. One thing to consider is to start a week earlier in anticipation for winter vacation.

I've been silent for two weeks here, and the reason is that I got injured. This is probably the worst running in jury I've ever had. Fortunately, I've rarely ever had any injury, and if I have, it was nothing serious, but this one will have sidelined me for about two weeks (hopefully not more).

I've finished my Monday and Tuesday long runs. They went fine: aerobically I felt great, but I overexerted my right knee. I did some recovery running, and an LT max workout (treadmill) on Thursday. The workout went well, and in fact I was pain free once I was warmed up. However, by Saturday my knee got much worse and I did not want to risk a long run on it. Then the following week, it seemed like I wasn't getting any better. So I decided to scrap my marathon plans and heal up.

By Thursday, I felt some improvement, and by the end of the week, I was mostly pain free. As of Monday, I still feel mild discomfort in the knee. I will not restart training until I'm well enough to that without risking a setback. I'll be travelling from Wednesday - maybe I can start my way back with a short easy run on Wednesday. I hope to do  moderately long run or hike in the Smokies on Saturday.

Then next week, I'll ease back into general fitness training, starting again the painstaking effort to build back to 60 miles per week and 55 VDOT. I may run some shorter (or longer) races in the summer, but the goal for now is just keep up a general fitness level. I also want to challenge the CPAT again this summer to keep up my hiring eligibility as a firefighter in Kentucky (just in case I want to get a part time position).

Then, in the fall, I probably should race a marathon. Maybe even Bowling Green.

Week 9 went down well. The 14-miler on Tuesday was incredibly hard for some reason: I'm guessing mostly due to hot temperatures (80 degrees or so) and very strong headwinds for the second half of the run. I was completely exhausted. Then I had a great 12-miler on Thursday, running it at a 7:25 pace, which felt easy (and this was the Iroquois Park loop, which is hilly).

But the icing on the cake was the long run on Saturday. 17 miles with 10 at marathon pace. I ran the 10 miles at 6:40 average, and pretty even splits (except for the first mile, which was 6:29). Even without the first mile, the average pace was 6:41. The weather was pretty good, though it was raining the whole time.

This suggests that I should be capable of running a 3-hour marathon, and probably keep training at VDOT 55. Though I should run my marathon paced runs at more like 6:50. This is because the goal of a marathon paced run is to practice the pace, and gain some confidence, not anything physiological.

Week 8:
M: 13 MLR
T: 15 MLR
W: 5 R
T: 10 w/ 5 LT
F: 5 R
S: 18 L
Total: 66 miles

Everything went fine until Friday. I did my medium long runs, and my 4 mile LT run on Wednesday (on treadmill) went fine. It was hard, as usual, but it was doable, never painful, and I ran at 6:18/mile.

Then I had oral surgery on Friday, so I had to skip my Friday and Saturday runs, and the dentist didn't seem very eager to let me run anything on Sunday either. So I decided to make some changes. After skipping the rest of the week, I'll start Week 9 of Pfitzinger's 55-70 in 12 plan on Sunday.

S: Rest
M: 9 GA
T: 14 ML
W: 5 R
T: 12 ML
F: 5 R
S: 17 w/ 10@MP

This last day will be hard, and it will determine the rest of the training. If I can do it, I'll try to go on, if not I'll rethink my plans.

Possible tune-up races:

03/31: Run the Bluegrass 7 miler. It's a very fancy race (and expensive!), but it may be a lot of fun. 700 runners, hilly. Register by 2/28.

04/14: Trooper Cameron Ponder Memorial 10K: Typical small southern race, not much in awards, probably slow, small field. Register by 4/6.

Training like I'm running the Derby Marathon. Since the race is on Saturday, we will start weeks on Sunday. Tuesday should be easy or rest. So here we go:

S: 5E
M: 12ML
T: R
W: 9 w/ 4LT
T: 11ML
F: 5E
S: 17L

Snowman Shuffle 4 Miler Race Report

Goal: Win the master division, both in this race and more importantly, the overall in the Polar Bear Grand Prix.

This was the third race in the series, and by far the longest - also my first ever 4-mile race. Given the drizzle, the hills at the end, my lack of experience in 4-mile races, and less than perfect shape, I didn't really know what to expect. I was leading the master division coming into this race, and I googled the second place to see how the guy looked like, so that I would know who I had to beat. (His name is Marc.) I recognized him at the start, and walked up to him, telling him about our standing in the race. I thought it is just fair he also knows who he is racing against.

Again, we ran the race with Esther: she was also running to win her age group. We arrived to the park about 45 minutes early. I had time for a good warmup, and a bathroom break, but I didn't feel very good. I was hoping I would feel better during the race.

The race started with a downhill of about a 1/2 mile long, then flat until mile 2.7. In the last 1.3 mile there are two decent hills: the first peaks at around mile 3.0, flat until 3.2, down to 3.7, and then up for the rest. My plan was to go out strong and they try to hang onto my position: go out at sub-6 pace for the downhill, then slow down a bit, but try to reach 2.7 with an average pace around or just over 6:00/mile. Conserve energy on the first hill in case I need to race the last hill - unless Marc would try to pass me on the first hill.

At exactly 9 am, we were off. I was pushing hard the downhill, so much so that I was doing a 5:30-ish pace. My race position got established very early at my usual 10th place. I was breathing hard, and I knew I couldn't sustain this effort, but it was all according to plans.

Mile 1: 5:36

Crazy first mile but with net elevation loss of 71 ft (22 meters). The second mile was basically the symmetric tail and of an out-and-back portion of the course, so after about a 1/2 mile, I was able to see the runners coming from the other direction. Most importantly I realized that Marc was not far behind: maybe 100 meters. That meant I could come down to the line, so I can't blow up before the end. I slowed a bit to conserve energy. Unfortunately I missed Esther as she was running out. I did meet another friend though, who shouted out some encouragements at me.

Mile 2: 6:16

Mile pace was swinging a bit and I'm not exactly sure why. I know I had to run around a group of dogwalkers who cut in front of me as I approached, and there were a few turns where I slowed down a bit either due to slippery roads or traffic. I averaged around 6:30 pace here, which is a bit pathetic. Maybe I also tried to run slower deliberately, knowing the hills were coming.

Then we started to climb, and pace pace dropped like a stone. A woman passed me uphill. I let her go, because I had zero chance following her: she was fast (beat me by 31 seconds and she gained that in a little over a mile).

Mile 3: 6:53

I pushed the downhill a bit, and I got a little surprise at mile 3.4: the rest of my family came out to cheer us along! It gave me a lot of motivation, and I pushed harder, even though the last hill started. I looked back and I saw nobody, so I didn't run too hard. But when I glanced back again 100 meters later, I saw a woman approaching quite close to me. Even though she was clearly not a danger to my master division position, I wasn't about to let her pass me. I pushed hard up the hill, to the finish line.

Mile 4: 6:40

Total time: 25:24, 9/295, 1st in master division.

I slowed a bit more than I should have, and I did struggle at the end, but I've never been good on hills, right? (Well, I did have some success on hilly races, but some bad disappointments, too.) Job is done, master division has been won both in the race and in the Grand Prix. Esther came in at 42nd place in 30:16, which is a great time for her.

The timing company messed up again. Not my time or place this time, but they awarded 3rd place overall trophy in the PBGP to a 9 year old boy, who was beaten by dozens of people. It was quite obvious fr everyone that he could not have been 3rd place, and he was embarrassed and reluctant to take the trophy. What a mess-up! I used to have high opinion about River City Races, who organized this race, but out of the last four races I ran with them, they messed up the results badly at least three times! (I was involved twice: see reports on White Mills 5K and the Reindeer Romp 4K.) And these are the people who are now running the triple crown! Those are high profile races. If they continue the way are operating now, there will be scandal!

Note that I'm not actually sure that I deserved the master win either, because a 53-year old man beat me in all three races by a good margin. My luck is that they cut off the master division at age 49: over that it is "grandmaster". That doesn't seem logical to me. In fact if a master or a grandmaster wins in overall, they should always be awarded the "better" trophy. Anyway, at least these peculiarities seem to be in the rules (though they were never got published).

It makes me want to organize my own races, so that at least they would be run well!

I take a rest today, and then almost surely start to prepare for the KY Derby marathon. I have 11 weeks. Can I run 3 hours? (It does have a few hills.)

Another week of training went fairly well. I did a strong long run of 15 miles on Sunday, and then 9 miles each day after that. The one on Tuesday was a treadmill workout with 3 LT miles with 2 minutes of rests. It felt pretty easy (6:19/mile pace), as it should with 2 minutes rests and only 3 of them. I rested on Friday to be ready for the 4-mile race on Saturday.

I finished the full week without much trouble, though the LT max workout was less than perfect. The goal was to run 3 miles at threshold pace, rest for 2 minutes, and the run another 2 miles at threshold pace. Ideally, my threshold pace should be around 6:20/mile (55 VDOT), though I figured it would be more like 6:25 on the day. But I ran on gravel/dirt, some elevation, and it was cold (in the 30's) - or for whatever reason but I only managed to run 6:32, 6:33, 6:35 splits. Then, in the second bout, I ran a 6:14 mile, but I had to stop during the second mile for a bathroom break (probably 2-3 minutes), and I ran the second mile in 6:23 (without the break, of course). Realistically, the first bout was probably the LT effort, and the second bout was too fast. Though it is hard to know that with the circumstances, what VDOT that corresponds to.

For the second workout, on Friday, I ran 8x3 minutes VO2 max intervals on the treadmill with 2 minutes of jogging breaks. I ran the intervals at 10.3 mph (5:49/mile), and the jogs at 6 mph (10:00/mile). I managed to finish the workout, and it did feel that the fast pace was my true VO2 max (not faster). That would put into the 55 VDOT value. It might be that I have 55 fitness, but my stamina (LT) lags behind.

Here is the plan for race week:

Su: 15L
Mo: 9E
Tu: 3E + 3 x 1T w/2 min rests + 3E
We: 9E
Th: 9E
Fr: Rest
Sa: Race

I finished my partial week (got parked for a few days by Achilles tendon injury) with one hard workout: a 6 x 1000 meters on Friday. I ran on the track in perfect running weather, so the only negative factor was that I started it at 7pm, which means it was already dark

It went OK: the splits were 3:36, 3:36, 3:38, 3:35, 3:43, 3:39. My goal was to keep the average below 3:40, which I succeeded in, but the workout became pretty hard by the end. I ran the first 3-4 repeats in the usual way: digging a bit deep in the straights, coasting in the curves, pushing the last 100 meters. When I realized that I'm a but faster than what I wanted, I cut back for the 4th repeat by keeping myself deliberately out of any oxygen debt, even for the last 100 meters. Then I pushed the last one, maybe even harder than the first 3, but by that time, I was exhausted, so I only managed 3:39. I deduced that my VDOT is a bit under 55, which is not too surprising given that I did limited mileage and not many workouts since early November. I also need to improve my LT max next, because the relative ease of the first few repeats, and the difficulty of the last one suggests deficiency in that department.

I'll try to get a full good week in next week, and then do whatever is necessary to win the PBGP master division. Even though I realized that final standings are not based on time, but on positions in age groups. Then, hopefully, off to marathon training.

As I wrote in the previous posts, I pulled my Achilles tendon last week on a snowy run. Then I raced on it, and although it didn't affect my race performance, it aggravated the injury. So when I tried to run on it on Sunday (planned to do a 15-mile long run), I decided to quit after 3.5 miles, because it hurt, and it didn't get any better as the run progressed.

I skipped Monday and Tuesday, and my Achilles appreciated it: today I still felt it a bit in the morning, but after that, I couldn't tell by walking that I had any injury. So I tried a 9-miler, and it went fine. I felt a minor discomfort at some point, but I think (hope) I'm over it.

So I just jump back to training. I planned to do week 2, 4, and 6 of Phase IV, so I'll just jump back to the middle of week 2. Fortunately both today and tomorrow are easy days for an easy comeback. So here is the plan:

Th: 9 E
Fr: 2 E + 6 x 4 min H w/ 3 min jg + 1 E
Sa: 9 E

Next week:

Su: 15 L
Mo: 9 E + 6 ST
Tu: 3 E + 3 T + 2 min rest + 2 T + 1 E
We: 9 E
Th: Rest
Fr: 2 E + 8 x 3 min H w/ 2 min jg + 2 E
Sa: Whatever is needed to round out 60 miles for the week. Shouldn't be more than 9 miles.

Frostbite 5k Race Report

Goal: Run by feel. Preserve or increase overall lead in age group and/or master category.

The preparation for this was the usual, less than perfect, winter training, in which I got sick for about a week, and the usual busy schedule derailed my training a few times. The race got postponed by week, because last Friday night it started to snow, and very cold temperatures (~15 F) were expected for Saturday morning. This time, it was not too cold: just a few degrees above freezing, but this Friday was the first time in a week that the temperature rose above freezing, so the ice and snow didn't completely melt. Even worse: some parts of the race course was in a cold depression, and the melted ice froze back on the road during the night, and didn't melt again by the morning, so we had a half a mile of very slippery road.

Esther and I arrived to the park about an hour before the start. We warmed up, by jogging to the start line from the parking place, and we jogged around a bit more. I felt good, but not great. My Achilles kept bothering me, and despite the short run on Friday, I didn't feel well recovered. The 37 degrees in the park felt warm compared to what we had to endure since Christmas, but it is still less than ideal for running. I ran in long sleeves, shorts, gloves and cap, which was fine.

The race organizers informed us that some part of race course is very icy, so they would cut the distance to about 2.3 miles (3.7 km). That's bad news for me... 4 km is already too short, and this would be even shorter. Also, the race course they posted on-line is several years old, and they hadn't used it in many years, so what we previewed was already inaccurate, even without the modifications. I used to love this organizer company (River City Races), but they have had so many screwups recently...

We started right on time. I got boxed in a bit at the start again, but I didn't sweat the lost 1-2 seconds. Especially, because the race started with a half-mile uphill, so if you don't go crazy on it, it's fine. After pushing myself hard for a quarter mile to reach my VO2 max, I maintained a good 6:40-ish pace uphill, trying teeter on my VO2 max. Then we hit the top, and we were going down for a half of a mile (though the downhill was not quite as steep as the uphill). I had to be careful in the turns not to slip, and I did slow down. A stupid mistake could cost me the overall position. I also had to fall below my VO2 max, because even 4K is too long to maintain it for the whole race.

Mile 1: 6:08

The second mile started with another hill (about 0.3 mile long), similar grade as the first. Obviously I was a bit slower here, but I tried to race pretty aggressively. It is such a short race! On the other side we reached the bottom at around mile 1.7. Here in the "valley" the road was still frozen, and I had to slow down just because of that! One guy passed me, but he looked quite young, so I didn't bother to chase him. In fact I was kind of surprised how he can run so fast on such slippery road, when I realized that he ran on the snowy side, which is less slippery than the icy side. So I also started to run on the snow, but he still pulled away a bit.

Mile 2: 6:22

I started to push the pace, but I had to slow down one more time in a turn. Then I threw down a strong kick to finish at a 5:10 pace.

Last ~0.3 mile: 1:45
Total: 14:18 (14:15 chip time). 12th place overall out of 339, 1st in AG.

A bit regretfully, there were two runners within 4 seconds in front of me; though I was actually closing on them in the finish line. I got my age group win, but not the master win this time. Fortunately the master winner didn't run the first race, so I lead the master category of the Grand Prix by over a minute. Unless I really screw up the 4-miler next month, I can win the master division of the Polar Bear Grand Prix, not just the AG.

A bit embarrassing though that the grandmaster leader, a 53 year old guy has more than two minutes on me! It makes me feel like I don't really deserve a master trophy, if somebody who has over a decade on me is so much faster!

This is the training I did after the last post:

I ran the 9-miler on Friday, I rested on Saturday, and I wanted to run my Phase 3 week starting Sunday. We had snow and icy and freezing temperatures for the whole week, so it was impossible to run outside - at least for the first half of the week.

I got so busy on Monday, that I ran out of time, so I skipped that day. Otherwise the training was not too bad: on Sunday, after an easy warmup mile, I ran 10 miles at 6:42 pace (marathon pace), all treadmill. On Tuesday, I ran 10 intervals of 2 minutes VO2 max pace (5:50 pace) with 1 minutes of recovery, treadmill again. Then two easy days of 10 miles each, running outdoors on Thursday for the first time. It was still too much ice and snow on the ground, and I pulled my Achilles a bit... I only ran an easy race course preview on Friday, which turned out not to be the course that we ran on race day. More about this, in my next post: the race report.

So much for my plans! I got sick and I had to skip 5 days of training, which was supposed to be basically the first week of Phase II training. Then, coming back, following Daniels's advice on unplanned breaks, I just did easy running for 5 days, and since the Frostbite 5K was supposed to be this weekend, I just did easy mileage until Thursday, planning a rest day for Friday.

OK, now the race got canceled due to inclement weather. Two weeks of Phase II is gone. I think I'll try one week of Phase II and 3 weeks of Phase IV. Hopefully it'll work.

So I'll probably just run another niner today, rest on Saturday, and start my Phase II week on Sunday.

For my Phase II training, I'll run weeks 2, 4, and 6 of the Daniels 5K plan.

Week of 12/31:

S: 15L (max 120 min.)
M: E + 10ST
T: 2E + 6 x (200R + 200jg + 200R + 200jg + 400R + 400jg) + 2E = 10 mi
W: E + 8ST
T: E
F: 2E + 5 x 1T w/ 1 min rests + 6 x 200R w/ 200jg + 2E = 10.5 mi
S: E + 8ST

Average easy day volume, assuming one rest day: 8.17 miles.

OK, decision is made, I train for the Polar Bear Grand Prix, and when it's over, I'll make a decision about a spring marathon. KY Derby is 11 weeks after the last race in the PBGP, so I can almost do a short Pfitzinger cycle after that. With the winter training it should be good enough.

Here is my training schedule for the PBGP. We start weeks on Sundays.

Phase I: 12/10
Phase II: 12/31
  Frostbite 5K: 01/13
Phase IV: 01/21
  Snowman Shuffle: 02/10

For Phase I, I just easy runs to ramp up the mileage. Tentative plan is to run 50 (12.5 + 5 x 7.5), 55 (13.75 + 5 x 8.25), and 60 (15 + 5 x 9) miles a week.

Reindeer Romp 4k Race Report

Goal: Place well, maybe win age group. Due to terrain, temperature, and training, no time goal.

We signed up for the Polar Bear Grand Prix race series with Esther mostly to keep ourselves motivated to train through the winter. (And for her, maybe for the swag.) I just had my recovery month after the Bowling Green Marathon, which was complicated by a bad case of PF after that race - but I'm not complaining. So the goal was just to race as well as possible given the circumstances.

And those were not easy! The course is only 4 km, which is way too short for me, it has two long, hard hills (Urban Bourbon Half Marathon hills compressed into 1/5 of the length of that race), and it was a balmy 25 F (-4 C) in the morning. We jogged the course last afternoon with Esther so we knew what to expect. We arrived to the park at 8:15 for the 9:00am race. We did about 2 miles of warmup, a few strides, and we were ready to race.

I got a little boxed in at the start, but quickly jumped ahead (got a cheer from Esther), and off I went. The large amount of cold air flared up my exercise induced asthma, and I had some breathing issues for a minute of two, but fortunately it quickly resolved. After a short (0.1 mile) flat segment, we started the first downhill (1/2 mile long). I knew I can't rest on the downhill if I want to race well, so I pushed a 5:30 pace there. When we got to the bottom, I settled into a slightly uncomfortable, but controlled effort that (I guessed) I could maintain (or increase) till the end.

Mile 1: 5:52

I tried to run somewhat conservatively in this flat section between the two hills, so I tried not to overtake people. But I found that people around me slowed more than I expected (their pace was 6:20-ish), so after a while I passed a young guy, then a child, and I was back to my 6:00 pace. I kept slowly passing people, and I did not get passed after the first few hundred yards (I think), so I guess it was a well-run race.

We started the climb (1/2 mile long) of the second hill. My strategy was to be conservative here, and to start to run hard on the top. I allowed my discomfort to slightly increase, making sure I'm not going over my VO2 max. I ran the uphill at a pretty constant 7:10 pace, and then accelerated on the top to my standard 6:00 pace. We went on a slight downhill, took a U-turn around a statue of Daniel Boone, while I kept my place behind a small group.

Mile 2: 6:32

I knew we were close to the finish, but there was one more climb left to go back up the first hill. Not as bad as the other one: only about a 1/4 mile long, and the finish line is on the top. At the bottom of the climb I increased my effort and I passed the small group. I was powering up the hill, but I got slightly worried around 3/4 up that I started this kick too early... I was suffering bad! But I knew that only a few seconds left, so I toughed it out, and finished the race.

Last 0.5: 3:16 (6:44 pace)

Time: 15:40 (15:37 chip time). 13th place (out of 422), 1st in AG. (In fact master win, see update.)

I waited for Esther and cheered her on when she arrived at 18:30. The great thing about this race was that we both won our age groups! This motivates me to train harder for this race series and try to win my age group in the cumulative results. And if we both do it with Esther, that would be something!

We hung around for the awards, but we didn't quite feel like eating anything yet. We just had some hot drinks (it was still freezing), hung around for the awards, and then we jogged back to the car.

Update: A few days later I found out there they somehow miscalculated the results and I actually won the master division. They will switch out the trophy at the next race of the Polar Bear Grand Prix.

That recovery plan was completely ignored. First I was fighting with a pretty bad case of plantar fascitis, and then I was busy or lazy, or it was too cold or too dark... the point is, for the last month, I just ran when I felt like running, which (I think) turned out to be a remarkably good recovery strategy. Today, I feel fine, recovered, still in somewhat reasonable shape.

Recovery plan.

M: Rest
T: Rest
W: 5 R
T: Rest
F: 6 R
S: 5 R
S: 8 GA

M: Rest
T: 6 R
W: 8 GA
T: Rest
F: 8 GA + 8x100 ST
S: 5 R
S: 10 GA

Bowling Green Marathon Race Report

Goal: 3 hours (?)     Secondary goal: 3:10

Preparing for this race, my goal was to run 3 hours on a difficult course. I chose Bowling Green mainly because it is hilly, and I thought it would be nice to run a 3-hour marathon on a hilly course. There is a website that compares marathon courses, and I didn't read they methodology, but they rated Bowling Green 2 minutes slower than Indianapolis Monumental (where I ran 2:59 two years ago), just based on the elevation profile. 

Three or four weeks before the race I thought my shape was worse than going into the Indianapolis race, but I started that training cycle after some serious 5K-10K training and I started this one on nothing but base mileage. By the time I did my last workout (3 x 1600), I felt I caught up, and I was maybe in better shape. I weigh a few pounds more, but that's actually upper body muscle, because I spent some time in the weight room in the summer. Good or bad for running, it is arguable, but I need it for firefighting.

Then I saw the weather forecast. It got worse and worse as race day approached. The last two weeks of training in Louisville was in cool weather, typically 40 F (4 C), no sunshine; in fact my last (medium) long run was in 35 F (2 C). Compare that to race day morning: 70 F (21 C), 90% humidity (66 F dew point for the weather geeks), and mostly sunny. It wouldn't be terrible, if I didn't acclimate to the cool weather in the last two weeks, but it was quite brutal this way.

I did my usual morning routine: getting up early, having a good breakfast, driving to Bowling Green (2 hours). The advantage of a small race and being early is that I could park just 100 yards from the start/finish line. I was hit by the hot and muggy air when I got out of the car, so I decided not to warm up (except for some dynamic stretching), because I knew I would pay dearly for any fluid loss, even if it happened during warmup. I was also able to pick up my packet on race day morning. They had amazing swag.

It was a very small marathon: less than a thousand runners, and most of them ran the half. There were only 166 entrants of the full. It was a nice group of people, and I had conversations with a bunch of them. Most notably I met Hajime Nishi.

The race started at 7:00 (central time), but Louisville is on Eastern Time, so it was really 8:00 for me. The course has a unforgiving elevation profile starting with four major hills. It is basically uphill-downhill-uphill-downhill etc., for the first 7.5 miles, and everything is steep. If you've ever been to the campus of Western Kentucky University, you may remember Cherry Hall: it's on the top of a steep hill. Well, basically we climb that hill four times. Then from 7.5 to the halfway point it is "flat", but not like Indianapolis. It is still up and down, just without the steep grades. Then we are back to campus, and repeat the whole thing again.

I should have known that with the way the weather was and the way my fitness was, I had no real chance to run 3 hours. Yet, I didn't want to give it up before I started, so I decided to follow the 3-hour plan until mile 16, and then decide: if I don't feel great, then I slow down and just focus on getting my safe Boston Qualifier (3:10).

I started with a group of runners who ran the 3-hour pace (some of them were half-marathoners). The pace felt OK, but you can't make it feel super easy when you are climbing the Cherry Hall hill. The group broke up quickly, but everyone was in sight, and we sometimes passed each other: some people were faster going uphill; I was usually faster on the downhills. There was a guy in an "Army" shirt (his name was Peter), who was mostly ahead of me, but I passed him on a few downhills.

Mile 1: 7:01
Mile 2: 6:29
Mile 3: 7:03
Mile 4: 6:26
Mile 5: 7:11

The pace seems to vary, but it was a quite even effort with the hills. I was about 30 seconds ahead of my planned time (very unwise). I tried to take it easy, but I didn't want to walk uphill and didn't want to brake downhill. Mile after mile I recognized that the 30 seconds stayed about constant. On the other hand that meant that at least my current pace was correct.

We were still downtown, going up and down on parallel streets. A few jackrabbits were passed by this time, and I found myself in 5th place. I knew that the guy just ahead of me (Ryan) was a half-marathoner, so that made me at least 4th in the marathon.

I caught up to Ryan, and asked him if he knew who were marathoners and who were half-marathoner in front of us - he wasn't sure. I had had a conversation with him before the start, and I knew he was aiming run a 7-minute/mile pace. I told him we are a bit faster than that. We climbed the last steep hill of the first loop together.

Mile 6: 7:05

The hot and humid air affected me already. I felt warm. I took water at every aid station - drank half of it, dumped the rest over my head. Ryan started to fade and I left him on the next downhill. We entered an alley (it seems to be called BG262 Alley - I'm note sure if it's an official name). We ran a good half a mile in the alley among backyards. I liked that part. By this time I only had Peter (Army guy) in sight, and our distance was basically a constant 100 yards.

Mile 7: 6:32

Conditions deteriorated quickly. Temperature rose, the sun came out, and wind got stronger. We ran on a large road (two lanes in each direction), on which one lane was closed for runners. No shade, quite hot, and no aid stations. My singlet and my shorts were complete wet now and started to drip.

Mile 8: 6:46

I was just following Peter, still at 100 yards. I felt fine. The steep hills were over, I was running a good pace. I knew I was losing a lot of fluid though, and despite drinking at every aid station, I knew I can't physically replenish enough when I sweat so much.

Mile 09: 6:57
Mile 10: 6:42

After a short loop in a suburban neighborhood, we were back on the large road to the opposite direction. I noticed that Peter was slowing a bit, and I started to catch him. I didn't want to pass him. It is much better to run behind somebody than just ahead. Behind us there was nobody in sight any more. I was content to give up a few seconds here, because I knew that things would get hard. By this time my sweat saturated my socks and shoes so much that I heard a swishy sound on my footfalls. My right nipple patch fall off from the sweat and I started to bloody up my shirt. And there were still 16 miles left.

Mile 11: 6:54
Mile 12: 6:52

Peter continued to slow, so I pulled up to him. I asked his age (34). I knew we were 3rd and 4th on the road, but I didn't know how many were half-marathoners (I knew Peter was running the full), and how many over 40. I wanted to win an award and for that I would either have to place in the top three, or would have to win the over 40 category. I thought, even if Peter beats
me, I would have a good chance for the latter.

Mile 13: 6:57

Peter seemed to slow even more here, so I left him. I ran by the finish line to start my second loop. My time was a few seconds under 1:30, as planned.

And this is when things are started to go wrong. Yes, this early. I climbed the Cherry Hall hill again, and I lost all my advantage against the clock. Peter was quite a bit behind. I knew I wouldn't run 3 hours today, so I tried to conserve more energy. I decided that from here my goals are (1) securing my Boston Qualifier (2) preserving my position. People looked at my bloody shirt in horror (or at least that's what I conceived).

Mile 14: 7:37

This was a super lonely mile. I went down on a straight road, no spectators, no cops, no signs. I started to get worried that I got lost, but then I recognized some of the buildings from the first loop. This part was mostly downhill. From the little attention I was getting from the organizers I deduced that I'm not the leader of the race. He would surely get at least a leading cyclist.

Mile 15: 6:33

After the next aid station I decided to remove my shirt. I was climbing a hill slowly while I unpinned my bib from my shirt and pinned it to my shorts while running. The chafing was so bad that I didn't mind the lost time. I carried my shirt in my right hand from here, and I only put it back on right before the finish.

Mile 16: 7:36

A cyclist organizer finally started to lead me. I figured I was second or third; I was guessing second (I was correct). I could have asked, but I decided not to: it wouldn't have changed my strategy. I learned my position a few miles later when somebody told me (without asking) at an aid station. I was working my way over the hills. They were much harder than for the first time. I started to feel my quads.

Mile 17: 6:39
Mile 18: 7:43
Mile 19: 7:36

I switched into survival mode. I didn't need fast miles to finish under 3:10, but I still needed to do a sub 8-minute pace. So I just focused on to keep running.

Mile 20: 7:05

On the big road again. Even hotter, full sun, misery. I think I had a runner right behind me, because I heard the cheer squads cheering the a second time shortly after I left them. In one intersection, a cop stopped the traffic for me, and I noticed that he didn't let the cars go when I crossed the intersection. From that I knew that this other runner must be very close. I never looked back, just tried to maintain my pace. And somehow I got rid of him. Not sure exactly where and how, but I didn't hear the cheers behind me after a while.

Mile 21: 7:19

I turned into the suburban neighborhood again. I had a crisis here. I really thought about dropping out or at least starting to walk. But I would lose my BQ time for sure.

Mile 22: 7:52

I summoned some more will and kept pushing.

Mile 23: 7:27

Back on the big road. More hot, more sun, less energy.

Mile 24: 7:52

This part of the course followed the same big road back that we took to get from downtown to the suburb. I was now heading back to downtown, and I saw Peter running still toward the suburbs. He was now way behind me. (He finished in 16th place in 3:43.)

When it rains, it pours. I careless volunteer misdirected my cyclist and I. I only ran maybe 20 yards in the wrong direction, but I was tired enough without this! She apologized profusely. (Honestly, it's OK. It didn't change anything.)

Mile 25: 8:03

The last mile. Many turns, strong winds, hills, and my only thought is on finishing. I was running like a zombie, looking at my GPS every minute. I tried to imagine how many laps of a track is left. "Only five laps. I can run five laps."

At one point we had another out-and-back portion of the course - a short one - but it was enough for me to see the competitors at least a quarter mile back. Nobody was that close behind me. I was fairly sure then that I had my 2nd place.

Mile 26: 8:07

Even the last 0.2 mile was long. I put my shirt back on. Somehow the motion of the sweaty shirt in my hand washed out the bloodstain, and it was reasonably presentable. I crossed the finish line, picked up my medal, and I sat down on the curb. I used up everything I had.

Final time: 3:08:37, 2nd place overall.

The winner ran 2:58:04, and the third place was at 3:14:11.

Post race food and party was fantastic. They offered beer and burger. People were very nice. They didn't announced the awards, but they gave them out (or mailed them out, if the winner didn't ask for it). It is slightly weird, but I see this at more and more small races. I won a really nice glass cup.

I don't know if this was the hardest race I've ever done, but it was definitely the most miserable. On the other hand, it is not clear that if I ran a 1:34 first half, then I could have run a faster second half. The weather was clearly an issue: I got overheated and dehydrated by the end, but there were also some muscular fatigue problems from not training enough on hills. My fitness, the only thing I had actually been worried about, was probably fine.

It is very temping to come back next year to redeem my performance. But there are so many other nice races to do, and there is new fall marathon in Louisville (also hilly). For now, after recovery, I'll do a winter race series of 4K, 5K, 5 mile races with Esther. I have at least a few more days to figure out if I want to run a spring marathon.

It doesn't matter how fit you are. When you have to race in 70 degrees and 90% humidity, you can't realistically aim for the same the same goal as you would in 50 degree dry weather.

Tomorrow's weather forecast is exactly like that. 67 F at the 7:00 start, 71 F at 10:00. Dew point is pretty uniformly 66 F, which corresponds to humidity going from 92% to 84%.

I'm pretty sure I have no chance of running 3 hours in this weather. I'm not sure I should even try. According every heat table, it is already a good performance if I run 3:10 tomorrow.

I did my 3x1600 workout last Thursday, as planned, on the Jeffersontown High School track (asphalt, quarter mile track), in the dark. It wasn't the easiest thing, but I hit my paces with no problem: 5:48, 5:49, 5:50. Only the last one felt hard, but no pain cave.

Then I felt strong for my "long" run on Sunday: 13 miles @ 7:38 pace, but 3.6 miles were on trails with many steep hills. The last four asphalt miles 7:21, 7:10, 7:25, 7:01, and they also had some hills in them. It almost makes me worried that I push too hard on these runs, and I won't be sufficiently recovered.

So I took my Monday rest day, my very easy Tuesday run (still 7:47 pace), and I was ready for my dress rehearsal today: 7 miles, 2 at marathon pace. I ran the two miles way too fast: 6:39 and 6:29. OK, the second one was slight downhill, but the first one was slight uphill (Strava GAPs are 6:36, 6:33), but it is still too fast. They felt quite easy. I tried to restrain myself, but I felt if I ran any slower, it would be jogging. I will seriously have to restrain myself in the first half of my race.

Now it is really nothing left, but eating healthy, not getting sick, not getting injured, and finish my recovery in the last few days.

After my hard LT run on Saturday late evening, in about 12 hours I was again on the street running my 17 miler. It was not so easy to do it on tired legs, but I managed to finish it at a decent pace. I ran the first portion with Adam, so that was a bit slower (8 min/mile), and I picked up from there. Good training.

Nothing hard is left. The only somewhat challenging training is the VO2 max session this Thursday. It would probably count as a hard session on a typical day, but considering the shape I'm in, it should be fairly easy. I was able to run some 6:1x miles at the end of the LT run without getting too winded, so running single miles at 5:50 pace with ample recovery on already fairly rested legs should not pose a problem.

Taper plan:

10/23, M: Rest
T: 7 GA w/ 8x100 ST
W: 4 R
T: 8 w/ 3x1600 VO2 max. (5:50/mile, 5:48/1600), 50-90% rests (~2 laps)
F: 5 R
S: 6R w/ 8x100 ST
S: 13 MLR

10/30, M: Rest
T: 7 R
W: Dress rehearsal: 7 w/ 2@MP (6:43/mile)
T: 5 R
F: 5 R w/ 6x100 ST
S: 4 R
S: Race

OK, so I waited until 8pm with the LT run. So the weather cooled down, but I had to face the other problem: chili and coffee before the run = upset stomach. Somehow I did manage the run without throwing up though, and my splits were quite good: 6:15, 6:18, 6:31 (hilly mile), 6:16, 6:08, 6:13. It's a 6:17 average, and this was definitely not race effort. In fact I sprinted another quarter mile after finishing the sixth mile, because I felt like pushing a bit and I thought it would be cool to run a sub-39 10K in training (which I did).

So it seems like all three components are together. Fitness is fine. Lactate threshold is fine. Endurance is fine. I do have a chance of sub-3.

About a week after my last post, not much happened. I had my last 20-miler on Sunday, and I felt good, so I pushed it a bit. I ran a 7:26/mile average, and the last part was the fastest. After that run I only had pretty easy runs, except for a 12-miler on Wednesday, which, again, went just fine.

Today I was supposed to run a tune-up race, which didn't happen, because we went to the cross country state championship for schools, because Esther ran the 4K there. I will go out for an LT run later (maybe soon). It's 78 degrees and sunny outside. I'm wondering why I don't ever have the chance to do a good lactate threshold workout in nice, cool weather...

I had a very strong 17-mile run on Sunday. Finally it was cool, and I felt good the whole time. I averaged 7:25/mile, and it felt pretty easy.

Monday was rest, then two horrible recovery runs on Tuesday - this happens often: when I have a little rest after some hard work, the next easy runs feel totally hard. I didn't sleep much the next night, and I had a terrible headache all day on Wednesday, so I wasn't looking forward to going to the track at 8pm in the dark for a 6 x 1200 session. Fortunately it went fine. Splits were 4:22, 4:20, 4:22, 4:20, 4:22 (goal was 4:21).

Interestingly, the second rep felt very hard, and I thought I was done, and I decided I would just go out carefully (not too fast) for the third one, and try to speed up the last lap, if necessary. I used this approach for all the remaining reps, and it not only worked: the first two laps always turned out to be fast enough and I never had to overexert myself for the third one.

I'm probably not as strong as I was two years ago at the same time, so that's not a good sign for sub-3, but I have some time left, and maybe I can peak and race better. If it won't be sub-3, it's not a disaster, as long as I safely BQ. I will need about 3:10 for that.

I've had two weeks of pretty good training. After the race I had a good long run (18 miles) the following day. Then a rest day on Monday, and Tuesday 6 x 1000 meters VO2 max workout pretty consistently in 3:40. Three more long runs at 15, 12, and 18.6 miles: the last one included a 14 mile marathon paced workout that I nailed pretty well.

Then this week started with another rest day on Monday then 5 x 600 meters on Tuesday that went well, and felt quite easy. It is still too damn hot pretty much every day, but intervals are not affected much. The intervals were consistent 2:09. 14 miles on Wednesday, then two easy days, and an LT run today. It was supposed to be a race but I haven't found a good race in 2 hours driving distance, so I ran a 6-mile LT run instead. It was hot and windy, and I didn't feel great. Seriously, 79 F at 8pm on October 7? Anyway, I still managed to run 6:13, 6:24, 6:29, 6:22, 6:22, 6:13, and I lost ~4 seconds in mile 2 at a road crossing, so it's a 6:20 average. All in all, a successful run. It was hard, but not unreasonably, and some of the time variation was due to terrain and wind direction.

I'm a little worried that this LT run may have felt a bit harder than it should have been. I thought after this run I would have a better indication on what I can run in Bowling Green, but I didn't really get any wiser.

Hawk Walk 10K Race Report


Goal: 39:21 (6:20 pace). Revised goal: run at least as fast as my perceived lactate threshold, and try to win the race.

This was  a very small race near Indianapolis. The reason we chose it, because it was the only 10K available within 2 hours of driving on this day, it had a 5K, so Esther could run with me, and it was for a good charity (fighting addiction). Also, because it is a small race, maybe we would have a chance of placing, and Esther and I thought it would be really cool if we both place in our respective races.

The 10K only had about a dozen runners, so I already thought it would not be a real competition. In either case of being the fastest runner, or not, chances are that I would be running alone.

We also loved the idea that the race started at 10am, so we didn't have to get up super early. The downside, with the record breaking heat waves we are getting here that we realized we would run in 80 degrees. Add the hills to that (220 ft of climbing in 10 km according to Strava), and it was clear to me that running a 6:20 pace would place me well below my lactate threshold. It is certainly possible to run a 10K below the lactate threshold, but it may be unwise, if I'm winning the race. Position over time, any day.

So I decided to go out and run at my perceived lactate threshold: a comfortably hard pace. Unless I have to compete faster.

I got even more scared when I was totally sweaty and hot after just two miles of very slow warmup. I quickly figured out that you can tell by the bib number what race everybody was running. I asked a singlet wearing guy (his name was Armani), who had a 10K bib number, about his pace. He said 7:30, which I found suspect.

A cute little boy started the race by blowing a horn, though we had the ready-set-go commands about two seconds before he could push that button, so there was some confusion about the start time. They also started the race 6 minutes early, which screwed up my warmup recovery, but it was OK. You can expect these things in a small local race.

I went out by feel at about a 6:15-6:30 pace. The first mile was gently rolling hills that ticked up a bit at the end. Armani followed me a short distance behind: I heard him running behind me. Immediately I thought he was BS-ing me with the 7:30 pace. We ran through some patches with no shadows, and we started to climb. Somebody was passing me, and I though it must be Armani, but in fact it was a 5K runner (Alec). After we discussed briefly that we don't actually compete against each other, I let him go.

At the steepest part of the climb, Armani passed me (I did slow on the uphill deliberately to conserve energy). I thought he would probably beat me today, but to my surprise, he didn't pull away, and I was running right behind him.

Mile 1: 6:33

I didn't pay much attention to the splits. The race was being run slower than 10K pace at perceived lactate threshold, and this split was about right for the circumstances. I followed Armani for a short time, and when the climb got gentler, I pulled up next to him, and I said:

"This is definitely not a 7:30 pace."
"What?"
"We're doing like a 6:30-ish pace."
"Yeah, I know."
"You said 7:30 at the start."
"That's my minimum goal. That's in fact my half-marathon pace."
"OK."

I wasn't sure if he was still playing games, but this pace seemed still too fast if in fact his half marathon pace was 7:30/mile. In which case I would probably beat him easily. Of course there is still the possibility of somebody coming behind us beating us both.

I left him, and I kept following Alec. Our distance stabilized at about 50 meters. The climb extended to mile 1.7, where there was a sharp right turn, and then slowly descending, but rolling hills down to the start line, at around mile 3. The 10K did the course twice. I was in the zone, trying to do constant comfortably hard effort. This part of the course was mostly in the woods.

Mile 2: 6:34
Mile 3: 6:26

Alec won the 5K easily, and I ran back to the course for my second loop. I made a mistake by turning down the water here. It was so hot that a 10K managed to dehydrate me a bit. If for no other reason, I could have dumped the water on my head.

I had two goals after the turnaround: to see my standing in the 10K, and to see how Esther was doing, who was finishing the 5K soon. Armani was about 30 seconds behind me. I saw a girl about 30-60 seconds behind Armani, but I thought she was in the 5K. There was a 5K runner, and then Esther. So with the winner, I thought Esther was at 4th place, 2nd place female, when in fact she was in 3rd place, 1st female, because that other girl was in the 10K. I told her "2nd place female", but she didn't hear me (fortunately, as this was wrong information). She was very exhausted.

I started the climb now, in a patch of full sun, which was obviously hotter than the first time around, and I was obviously more tired/overheated/dehydrated.

Mile 4: 6:38

I got to the long climb with nobody in sight. The whole mile was almost pure climbing: I reached the top at mile 4.9.

Mile 5: 7:11

I started to meet 5K walkers and some people who just enjoyed the trails, but were not in the race. I glanced back a few times to make sure that Armani (or anybody) is not in sight, but otherwise just continued comfortable hard. No pain, just strictly at lactate threshold. Rolling hills, net downhill.

Mile 6: 6:33

I had to dodge some more walkers here. I had to leave the path twice due to careless walkers, but this is part of the game in local races. I clinched the easy victory with a time of 41:55.

People congratulated, but Esther wasn't there, because she got light headed, and sat down in the shadow. She finished her race in the 3rd place!

There was a small post race party, where Esther and I enjoyed our minor celebrity status. The best post-race food ever: strawberry sorbet! After about 20 minutes of resting, eating, and conversing, we headed back to the car. I did a 2-mile cool-down in a different part of the trail, and I didn't feel too tired. Clearly this was not a 100% effort from me, but it had the right training effect, and I didn't want to risk victory for time.

The only regret I have is that I would have loved a good indication of my fitness. This was hopeless when we realized what the race-day temperature would be. I may run another 10K in two weeks and/or one in four weeks. We will see what happens then. If this was the best I could do, then a sub-3 hour marathon would be hopeless.

Training report of the last two weeks:

Everything was smooth for the first part of week 7. It was nice and cool for my 15-miler on Wednesday, and I ran a 7:30 average pace and it felt pretty easy (I went sailboat racing after the run).

Then by Friday the hot weather was back. I attempted to run an LT run outdoors on Thursday, but I got overheated and dehydrated. My splits were 6:10, 6:33, 6:36, 6:34, 6:34, 6:33, 6:42. According to Daniels, my LT pace should be 6:20, and I've done a 6-mile 6:18 LT run just a bit more than a week ago on the firehouse treadmill. So this sucked - again. I didn't call it a failed run though. My heart rate was pretty constant ~168; in fact it jumped to 170 for the last, slowest mile. It shows that my exertion level was probably appropriate. It was just two hot. I sweated through my shoes again.

Nevertheless, the 22-mile run just two days later on Saturday was fine. It was still hot during the day, but I waited until 6:45pm to start my run. It was completely dark for the last hour for this 3-hour long run, but it wasn't super hot. I still got drenched by the end, but I completed the run and finished relatively strong (7:25 last mile). It took quite a bit out of me though.

So I did struggle to recover, and the prevailing hot weather didn't help. I had a 5x600 workout on Tuesday my splits were 2:09, 2:10, 2:10, 2:08, 2:12. I got drenched again by the end, and I still felt the 22-miler in my legs.

I ran 14 miles on Wednesday, which I did by running four 3.5-mile laps shirtless in the neighborhood. I didn't want to carry water, so I just periodically returned to my house. It worked well. I may do this for other medium long runs, until the weather gets cool enough to get away with just the water fountains along the way.

Then two days of recovery runs (the first 6-miler on Wednesday was run in 97 degrees), and I'm racing tomorrow. A 10K tuneup, and Esther runs the 5K. It would be great if it wasn't going to be 76 degrees by the 10 o'clock start. Probably over 80 by the time I finish. It will be hard, but I'll try to go out at 6:20/mile, and see if I can hold it in the rising temperature. It will be a very small race, so chances are, I'll run alone (hopefully in the lead).

A pretty smooth week 8. The only workout was a 6 x 800 that I ran on the Iroquois High School track while there was a soccer game in progress (probably high school students, but with three referees and a decent audience). It went pretty great: amazingly even intervals at 2:54, 2:54, 2:54, 2:55, 2:54, 2:55. It wasn't very hard either.

Now a monster week ahead with 70 miles, a 7-mile LT run, and a very long run. Here is the schedule.

M: Rest
T: 6R + 4R
W: 15ML
T: 6R
F: 12 w/ 7T
S: 5R
S: 22L

If I survive this, it should be a relatively smooth sail from here. I'm looking forward to racing in just 10 days!

Every cycle must have some low points... I got mine last week, on the 16-mile long run, when 12 was supposed to be at marathon pace (6:43). I was perfectly fine for the first 6 of the 12, and then I started to slow. Mile 7 was 6:54, Mile 8 was 6:51, and mile 9 slipped over 7 minutes. I called it quits and I jogged the rest.

I felt very demoralized, but it's not a huge deal. I'm now two runs into week 8, and I feel good. I will not have many marathon paced runs in the remaining of the training cycle, but I'll have one very long (14 miles), which will tell me my progress.

What went wrong? Who knows. It was warm (80s), but not very hot, I got a bit dehydrated, but not too much. My cardio felt fine; it was my muscles that seem to have given up. Too many miles? Dehydration? The oil change and tire rotation in the hot garage before the run? I will probably never know.

Week 8 (recovery):

M: Rest
T: 9 GA
W: 9 w/ 6 x 800 @ 5K pace
T: 6 R
F: 11 ML
S: 8 GA w/ 10 x 100 ST
S: 15 ML

Tune-up races: September 23 (8K-15K), October 7 (8K-15K), October 21 (8K-10K).

September 23: Hawk Walk 10K (already registered)

October 7: Lincoln Days Railsplitter 10K ($35 until 09/17, 1 hr)

October 21: Med Center Health 10K classic ($30 until 09/21, 2 hrs)

Week 10 was largely OK, but somewhat mixed. The 14-miler went pretty well, judging from my Strava record, but I don't even remember it, so it must have been quite good.

I ran the 6-mile LT on the treadmill at the fire station (9.5 mph = 6:19/mile). It was pretty great. I changed to 2-1 breathing at around 3.9, and used for most of the fifth mile; however, I started to develop side stitches at 4.8, and I realized I was breathing too hard. I changed back to 2-2, and it was fine until the end of mile 6. It felt easier than the 5-mile LT last week.

Then the 20-miler was brutally hard. I finished it without a death march, but I faded toward the end quite a bit. Maybe due to the LT run just two days prior, of maybe because I mowed the lawn before the run, sweating for two hours in the sun. In any case, I was already tired after 12 miles, I wanted to stop after 16, I wend below 8 min/mile on the 17th, I just talked to myself into pushing into the 18th, I was fucking dying in the 19th, and my best sprint for the 20th was 7:43.

Maybe I just need a bad run every training cycle...

Week 9:
M: Rest
T: 6 R + 4 R
W: 15 ML
T: 6 R
F: 13 ML
S: 7 GA w/ 6 x 100 ST
S: 16 L w/ 12 MP

Week 11 went well. The LT run was on the treadmill: 5 miles at 6:18 pace. It was not too easy, and I changed to 1-2 breathing after 3 miles, but it wasn't unreasonably hard. I don't seem to be as fit as I was two years ago at the same point of the training cycle, but I'm mostly OK.

The facts that two years ago I was in better shape, and I barely managed to get under 3 hours on a flat course are not great signs for my 3-hour hopes. I may need to revise the goal.

I had my long run in Floyd Forks Park. 21 miles and it was quite hot, starting the run at 90 F and full sun. Many hills, too. I sill managed a 7:51/mile average (Strava, so water stops excluded). My shoes were totally wet by halfway, and I was quite tired at the end, but I still ran a strong last mile.

Week 10:

M: Rest
T: 6 + 4 R
W: 14 ML
T: 5 R
F: 11 w/ 6T
S: 6 R
S: 20 L

Total: 66 miles.

Week 12 finished with success. Happy to report that the 15-miler on Sunday felt kind of easy and the 55-mile week did feel like recovery - though remember that I had a "cheater" 51-mile week before this, which was supposed to be 63 miles.

And now for something completely different:

Week 11:

M: Rest
T: 10 mi w/ 5 @ T pace
W: 14 ML
T: 5 R
F: 11 ML
S: 7 GA w/ 10 x 100 ST
S: 21 L

Total: 68 miles.

Recovery week:

M: Rest
T: 8 GA w/ 10 x 100 strides
W: 12 ML
T: 5 R
F: 10 GA
S: 5 R
S: 15 L

Total: 55 miles.

It feels cheating that my last week was lower in mileage due to a skipped run, but it did contain some hard quality runs. Hope for the best. Try not to skip any more runs.

A decent week is finished today. On Tuesday, I did my LT run on the treadmill, and it went well. This was 9 miles with 5 at LT pace, which I set to 9.5 mph (6:18/mile). I changed to 2-1 breathing somewhere in mile 3 of the LT portion, and I struggled a bit in mile 5, but I never lost rhythmic breathing, and never went into the pain cave. A good threshold training run.

Then on Friday, I had to skip my medium long run of 12 miles, because I drove all night the night before, and I was too tired. A good decision in light of the circumstances, but it is still not good for training. That also killed my weekly mileage. Instead of 63, I finished with 51 miles. I know that even Pfitzinger says not to sweat a single skipped run, but it feels wrong...

I finished the week with an 18-mile long run, where the last 10 miles were done at marathon pace. Sounds impossible, but I did it with relative ease. It was raining the whole time, so my shoes and socks got soaked, and I had to carry the increased weight on my legs, but it was cool, so I didn't need to drink too much (I consumed a 1/2 liter of fluid), and I didn't overheat. I ended up averaging 6:45/mile for the last 10 miles.

After another real life interference, I skipped a Sunday training and used the opportunity to push myself back to Monday-Sunday schedule. It's ironic that the skipped run is a long run, but it won't show decreased mileage on Strava, because I already "paid" for this in week 1. So here is the new schedule.

Week 13: 07/31
Week 12: 08/07
Week 11: 08/14
Week 10: 08/21
Week 9: 08/28
Week 8: 09/04
Week 7: 09/11
Week 6: 09/18
Week 5: 09/25
Week 4: 10/02
Week 3: 10/09
Week 2: 10/16
Week 1: 10/23
Race week: 10/30

Otherwise things are going well. Last week was 62 miles with no quality other than long runs: 14, 11, and 18 miles. (I didn't remember Pfitz being this light on fast workouts.) They all went really well. The 14-miler was brutal, because it was done in 90 degrees, but weather cooled a bit for the second half of the week, so I managed a good 11 and a good 18. I would have called the 18 "very good", but I had some GI issues and I had stop stop for a bathroom break at mile 8.

The moment of truth is coming today: 9 miles with a 5-mile threshold part. I may need to run it on the treadmill though. Even though it's not super hot, it will be close to 90 in the early afternoon and I have firefighter training in the evening. I haven't decided to go for sure, but I want to, and it that case, I will just take the tempo run to the gym.

Today I had my first real workout of the marathon training plan. I mean that 16 mile run with 8 miles at marathon pace was hard enough, but I think of that more like a difficult a long run.

So this was 9 miles with 4 miles at threshold pace. I had to do it on the treadmill, because it was impossibly hot outside (right now, at 22:18, it is still 90 degrees, feels like 103). It went fine: I ran the fast part at 9.5 mph, which is 6:19 pace. It felt like it was spot on my threshold pace. I did 1-2 breathing all the way, and oxygen never was a problem. My legs were not entirely recovered, but they held up well enough to finish the run.

Unfortunately it looks like it may take a while before I'll be able to test my strength outdoors. But at least the treadmill runs indicate that I'm at or around VDOT 55, which is a good place to be at in July. Of course a million things can go wrong, but for now I'm good.

Week schedule for marathon training for easy reference. To make Tuesday a rest day, I'm following a Tuesday to Monday schedule, so each week starts on a Tuesday. This makes me 1 day late, which will have to be cut out somewhere later. (I wrote somewhere two days, not realizing that the race is actually on a Sunday.)

Week 17: 07/4
Week 16: 07/11
Week 15: 07/18
Week 14: 07/25
Week 13: 08/01
Week 12: 08/08
Week 11: 08/15Week 10: 08/22
Week 9: 08/29
Week 8: 09/05
Week 7: 09/12
Week 6: 09/19Week 5: 09/26
Week 4: 10/03
Week 3: 10/10
Week 2: 10/17
Week 1: 10/24
Race week: 10/31

Temperature: 101 F. Feels like 124. No tempo run outdoors today. Treadmill it is.

Every year I must have one of those long runs when I completely run out of gas, unable, or almost unable to finish. Pfitzinger's 18/70 plan has a combination of a 11 miler followed by a 13 miler midweek for the third week of training. Add the fact that we are having a heat wave, and that I only had time to run the 11-miler in the evening and the 13-miler in the morning, it may have been predictable that this would be killer hard.

So I ran the 11 yesterday at 6pm, still over 90 degrees. I ran the 13 this morning starting at 8am: 75 degrees at 8am, and 85 at 9:45, when I finished; super humid all the way. Mile 12 was absolutely brutal; I hardly could convince myself not to stop. I summoned all my fighting spirit for mile 13 to run 7:52.

What kind of training plan is this anyway?! It's shifted by one day for me, but here: 16 miles w/ 8 @ MP, rest, 11 miles, 13 miles. This is my week so far. All my runs are colored dark green on Strava (long run).

After the 5K I had slower week, mostly because I was taking my CPAT test, and I didn't want any risk of failing it. The embarrassment would have been enormous. I started Pfitzinger's 18/70 plan after a few days of break from running. Right now I'm two days behind, because I run the schedule on a Tuesday to Monday cycle, and the target race is on Saturday as opposed to Sunday.

However, I have another option. There will be a marathon in Louisville on November 12, Sunday. If I run that, I'm 6 days ahead of schedule. Which is great if there is a problem that makes me miss important workouts, but it's a problem if I peak too soon. I'll have to make a decision in about a month, but I do strongly lean toward running Louisville. It's a smaller race, much closer to home. It has some nasty hills, but Bowling Green has that, too. And I'm rather familiar with course, because it is entirely in The Parklands, which is one of my favorite training places.

Here is the plan for next week.

M: MP, 16 mi w/ 8 mi @ marathon race pace (oh my!)
T: Rest
W: MLR, 11 mi
T: MLR, 13 mi
F: R, 5 mi
S: LT, 9 mi w/ 4 mi @ threshold pace
S: R, 5 mi

Using 55 VDOT, threshold pace is 6:20, marathon race pace is 6:43. If that's too hard, I'll ease back as necessary, but would be nice to run at least 6:26 pace for threshold and 6:49 for marathon paced, as that is VDOT 54. If I don't have at least 54 VDOT, it is a long shot to run under 3 hours on a hilly course in the fall.

White Mills 5K Race Report

Goal: 19:00. No dream goal. Minimum goal: 20:00.

This was my last 5K before the start of my systematic marathon training. I mostly just wanted to have a race experience; no specific goal, maybe winning something. I knew it would be hot and humid, as most July 4th races are in Kentucky, but hey, it is equally hard for everyone.

It turned out to be a very small race. About one hour of driving from home, in the middle of the beautiful and fertile rural Kentucky. I did a nice and relaxed warmup (though I didn't feel great), and lined up right behind the start line. I don't think I was excited enough: my mind was not really in the game. I started to think about my excuses before the start!

The race was an out and back course. A bit hilly, starting with a steep downhill for probably less than a quarter of a mile, and a wooden bridge crossing. Then a modest uphill for the rest of the first mile. Rolling hills in the second mile, followed by mostly downhill for the third. And of course, the steep uphill finish.

The weather was less than ideal. Temperature in low 70s, but some sunny areas, and nearly 100% humidity. Rain probably would have been easier, but it wasn't going to happen.

At exactly 8am, we were off. I was careful on the downhill (a fall can ruin your entire race), and then I started to run an effort that didn't seem very hard. One person passed me at 0.25 mile. I mention this, because after this, my position remained constant, and in fact I was running fairly closely behind a 16-year old guy for the whole race with nobody following me in sight.

Mile 1: 6:07

This was right on pace for 19 minutes, and since this was largely uphill (or so I thought, forgetting about the first steep downhill), and it didn't feel very hard, it made me optimistic about the sub-19 prospects.

After the climb we entered the rolling hill territory. I think it was more sunny here, and I didn't feel like I was slowing down, but I did command myself to run conservatively. I almost passed the 16-year old, but he started to run faster, so I decided to just follow him. In all honesty, this was a pretty flat mile, but somehow I just felt now that first mile sucked the energy out of me.

Mile 2: 6:27

Well, this was unexpected... Not even 20-minute pace! But I wasn't sure what to do. I was hurting like I was supposed to---and I knew not to kill myself, because I would have to run up that last steep hill. I tried to power up harder on the hills (which I just noticed---previously I thought this mile would be all downhill), and coast on the downhills.

Mile 3: 6:34

By this time, I basically gave up. Just end this embarrassing experience quickly! My only goal remained to finish this race under 20 minutes. I somehow summoned up enough power to run the last uphill at a sub-7-minute pace.

Last 0.1: 41 seconds
Time: 19:49

This was good enough for 7th overall and 2nd in age group (35-44). The organizer did manage the mess up the results again(!), and announced a wrong age-group winner. But I actually talked to the guy before and after the start and we both knew that I beat him, so he was nice enough to tell the organizers that he did not win the age group. Then they gave me the medal! But in fact, now that I see the results posted, it seems like I didn't win either: somebody ran 19:29. Edit: The organizers just emailed me that something may still be wrong with the results, and they are working on the correction.

In any case, this was a badly paced, badly run race. I don't know what else to conclude. The time is dismal, but it may not be that informative. It may also be the sign that I'm getting older, and my glory days are behind me.

I will go on with the marathon training now. If I can do 3 hours in Bowling Green, then all is well. If not, then I better find some really good excuse, or I will have to admit that my glory days are really over, and I'm just an old fart now.