Saturday, December 17, 2011

Off the Road Again...

Last Time on KPH'sRE...

...I was running a ridiculous half marathon "race", on Las Vegas Blvd, after an all out marathon effort.  After that debacle, I was itching to get back to some real running (as opposed to shuffling, dodging walkers and getting claustraphobic).

Surprisingly I have had good energy after the double.  I took off a few days and the Friday-Saturday-Sunday of the following week I got in runs of 5, 11 and 5 miles.  Paces felt good, body felt good.  I've also started doing a short 20-minute core strength workout every other day which I hope will pay dividends later this year.

Then after a couple more easy runs I came down with a cold that really knocked me on my ass and prompted me to shut it down for a couple of days.  That was annoying.  Then, I got my mojo back.

The two weeks following the double, in review:

Monday 12/5-Thursday 12/8 - Rest.
Friday 12/9 - 5 @ 9:06
Saturday 12/10 - 11 @ 8:25
Sunday 12/11 - 5 @ 8:26
Total:  21 miles

Monday 12/12 - Core work, no running
Tuesday 12/13 - 5 @ 9:01
Wednesday 12/14 - 6 @ 9:14, core work
Thursday 12/15, Friday 12/16 - Unscheduled rest days due to illness
Saturday 12/17 - Trail run (see below), core work
Sunday 12/18 - Will probably do 8-10
Total: 34-36 miles


Island Lake State Park Trail Run Report

By the time Friday afternoon rolled around I was chomping at the bit to run but I had to drive to my parents' house in Michigan for a Christmas party they were hosting.  After doing some research, I wanted to get in a decent trail run and start to shift my mindset and focus to the Ice Age 50 coming up in May and it was time to get some more experience on trails.

I am not an experienced trail runner.  Truthfully, I have really only done a handful of runs that I would characterize as a trail run.  But when I do get to do them, it is such a wonderful experience for me and makes the time I spend getting to these places so worth it.  Since I am so new to trail running every run seems like opening a new toy on Christmas morning - I get really excited about it.   On this trip home to Michigan I was determined to find a cool place to run.

I also wanted to start practicing the kinds of nutrition that my stomach can handle, and also work on a hydration strategy.  To that end, I hit REI on Friday before leaving and invested in a Nathan hydration backpack.  I had been doing a lot of my longer runs with handheld bottles and I wanted to try another system that kept my hands free, so that I could stop and take photos as well as have a good way to store my nutrition.  I had my doubts about whether or not I would like this as I had a hell of a time getting the damn thing to fit right without bouncing all over but once I got going on the run, I had everything adjusted properly and I really forgot that it was there, I just loved it.

After doing some research I narrowed down where to go to two places.  My first choice to run was at the Pinckney Recreation Area, but on the drive over I remembered how gun-crazy Michigan is and I was worried there would be a lot of hunters around.  After hearing from a family friend who lives out there that it was crawling with hunters, I decided on my backup plan - Island Lake State Park in Brighton, MI.  When driving up to the park I saw they had a shooting range and immediately wondered if there would be an issue.  We got out of the car at the trailhead and heard gunshots in the distance, but also saw a few mountain bikers and a couple of other runners, so I felt a little safer.  By the time I got out and sampled the goods of the trails I had almost forgotten they were there.

Catherine is ready to get after it.
There was a light dusting of snow at the park and it made everything really pretty.  I got some local intel on the trails from a couple of bikers I stopped to chat with and felt confident in where I was going.  I strapped the pack on and headed down the blue trail, which ended up being about 9 miles.

Light snow, high 20s and I'm wearing shorts.  Aww yeah!
The trail was really pretty and extremely runnable.  Nice soft ground, either very sandy dirt covered in light snow, or dirt covered in pine needles.  The blue trail was gently rolling with some really fun downhills.  I really tried to bomb the downhills and for the most part was successful, although later in the run I really had to keep my balance to prevent wiping out a few times. 

An early sampling of the goods.
We passed under a cool bridge and there was a nice view of the Huron River so I stopped to take a couple of photos.  Then Catherine came up behind me and we got to pose a bit:

Early in the run, overlooking the Huron River

Catherine under a bridge passing over the river
I kept roughly an 8:45 pace on this first loop which kind of surprised me...but after 3 or 4 miles there was a really nice stretch where the trail was really even and fast and I definitely picked it up.  I ate a Mocha flavored Clif shot after about 5 miles or so which tasted like brownie batter...pretty awesome.  There were lots of mountain bikers around and everyone who was out was very friendly.

Another shot of the blue trail with some color this time, loved these tall pine trees
 I got the first 9 miles done in about an hour and 20 minutes.  Went back to the parking lot and stopped to smell the air a bit, and ate some Honey Stinger chews which were delicious.  My first Honey Stinger product and definitely not my last.

Started the 6-mile yellow trail loop, which was promised to be hillier and more technical than the blue and did not disappoint.  In hindsight I probably should have done this loop first because some of the uphills in the second half took some starch out of me but I just loved the downhills on this loop.  Really fast and wild and a little rooty as well which forced me to really pay attention.  I came close to wiping out pretty spectacularly a couple of times.

I got to this part of the trail and went "Oooh, cool..."
  
Random shot of the yellow trail.

Cool bridge on the yellow trail coming off of a downhill
Finished the yellow loop, and the entire trip ended up being about 15.5 miles.  My feet were a little sore from all of the bopping around but hopefully after more trips they will get stronger.  My legs on the other hand feel fantastic and I fully plan on running tomorrow.  I just absolutely loved this run.  I definitely could have stayed out there a lot longer which bodes well for my 2012 plans.  It's crystal clear to me now why so many people love the trails, and love trail ultras.  It's so fun to be running around in the woods you just want to be out there all day!

Friday, December 9, 2011

CIM - Las Vegas Double Report - Part II: What Happens in Vegas, ends up on Facebook...

When we left off of part I, I had just crushed CIM and I was on top of the world, just like these two:

Tens of thousands of people on a sinking ship.  Didn't we learn our lesson?
Nothing could go wrong in the Vegas race, could it?  Wait, who said I was running Vegas?

The Plan

The plan was...to not be an idiot and run this ridiculous money grab bullshit race.  But I still felt pretty good after CIM.  And I was sore but not gorilla-crippingly sore.  My travelling companions were all getting geared up for the second part of the double.  And I felt left out.  I started thinking maybe I could do it.  

My new friend Holly (Spinderellah from the Boston forum on Runner's World) sat next to me on the plane and I bounced the idea of running the half.  She told me "yes, absolutely you should."  I waffled a bit.  After all, I didn't have a bib.  Not sure I was comfortable with that.  I wondered also if my wife would be upset, because I told her I'd be at Mandalay, getting everything ready for the after party.  By the time the flight to Vegas had ended I was about 95% sure I was running.  I just had to OK it with the Mrs.

My wife Catherine picked us up from the airport and I asked her if she minded if I ran with her and her friends.  Like a champ, she got excited and told me she'd love to have me run with them.  So there you have it.

After a bit of a snafu with Mandalay, we finally get into the suite we arranged for the group, and it was everything we had hoped it would be.  My amazing wife had already gone to the store and had everything ready to go.  Now I guess all there was to do was try to run this thing.

Prepping the goods for after the race
Training and Race Goals

To train for this race after CIM, I walked around the hotel a bit and tried to stay loose.  And then I ate a bacon cheeseburger at a bar.  Seriously I couldn't have given two shits about this race.  I just wanted to get through the thing in one piece, have fun running with Catherine and have a story to tell.  

Race Day

The coolest thing I did was...I wore the CIM race shirt and the hat I got from a CIM sponsor.  I felt totally and completely badass wearing the gear I got from the race I did THAT MORNING.  Here is my favorite photo of me in the corral, primed and ready for an 11 minute per mile shuffle down the strip:

Damn right that's the 2011 CIM shirt.  Oh, see those black Adidas gloves?  They're my favorite.  More on that later.
Walking to the corral was a headache, bumping into everyone and their mother, but that was nothing compared to what would come later.  We squeezed into corral #12, and I had no clue what corral the girls were supposed to be in or what the hell was going on, there were just so damn many people that I was happy just to be standing there with people I knew.  

Catherine and I at the start.  Pigtails are sexy.
Actually, this was probably the best part about the race - the start.  There were laser lights and live music, it was a huge party.  We were standing on the southern edge of the Las Vegas Strip on Las Vegas Blvd., and the strip looked amazing.  Meanwhile, I am getting cold and tight standing in that corral.  These first couple of miles were going to SUCK with all of these people, not to mention the fact that my legs were dead from the hard effort earlier.

Love this photo because of the lights, but this looks more like a rock concert than a race start...
They start the race and we slowly shuffle forward until our corral finally gets to start...maybe 10 minutes later.  We cross the start and already it's a clusterfuck of epic proportions.  There are walkers already blocking people and the goddamn race just started.  Corral enforcement was nonexistent, that much was abundantly clear.  We are shuffling along and the excruciatingly slow pace is making my legs very unhappy.  Not even a mile in I am complaining to my wife, immediately regretting my decision.  I tell her I left my wallet and phone in the suite and there was no turning back.  One way or another I'm getting through this thing.

This was the start of our "race". 
We get to the first aid station and it's already a mess.  I skip it because I am worried about getting bowled over in my weakened state.  Shortly after that we realize that there's actually a lane for the marathoners who had merged onto the strip.  Wow, how about making an announcement of some sort about that?  That's a pretty important detail for 44,000 runners to know about.  The cone they used to mark the lane looked like the tiny shitty orange cones I used to set up for coaching soccer.  The 15 kids I had on the team couldn't stay inside of the area I would mark out using these cones, what the hell makes them think they're going to keep 44,000 runners inside of them.  Truly mind boggling stupidity.  


We're a good three or so miles in and it's just body-to-body, like some shitty outdoor nightclub.  Legs are just trashed and I'm not real sure about my balance.  I almost get knocked over by a runner trying to weave in traffic.  Tough to enjoy the scenery when you're just concerned about not running into anyone or getting run into.

I am pretty thirsty by the next aid station and I grab both Cytomax and water, which in hindsight I feel a little bad about as I heard they actually ran out.  Then I realize I have to pee.  The next couple of miles, finding a place to pee becomes my focus.  We pass a group of maybe 6 porta potties and there are about 10 people in line for each one.  So that's pretty much a fail, looks like I'm heading for a bush somewhere, but this is the Las Vegas Strip in the middle of the desert and bushes are at a premium.  We head toward the Stratosphere on the north end of the strip and there is an incredibly shitty Slayer-wannabe band playing.  Cool if you're into Slayer, I happen to not be.  And even those into Slayer had to have been scratching their heads at the "talent" level of these guys.  At least I am taking my mind off of how sore I am, and I'm actually starting to feel better.

Finally at around mile 6 or so, I have to go.  My God this race is going by so slow.  I find a bush, but it provides no privacy whatsoever and who knows how many people saw the goods.  The good news is that the faster running I had to do to get to that spot woke my legs up a bit and I felt better.  I had to rush to catch up with the girls as well which also made me feel better.  But once I settled back in I started feeling crappy again.  This is pretty much how it went.  Bad spell, good spell.  The lows were pretty low..the highs...were just less low.

We get to the turnaround and I'm feeling pretty certain at this point I'm going to get it done, and I am itching to just run on ahead and finish it quickly, but I stick with the plan and stay with the girls.  Heading back to the strip and looking at the group behind us, I observe that it's every bit as crowded behind us as it is where we are at.  Ugh, what a mess.

I am really thirsty by this point, so at the aid stations I am drinking lots of fluids.  Not feeling particularly tired, just sore as all hell and really thirsty.  Pass the same shitty Slayer tribute band which I guess is good, because now I know we're maybe 4-5 miles out, but bad because they didn't get any music lessons in the meantime and they're still shitty.  By the time we got to mile 10, I just wanted this mess to be over.  I should mention that this whole time we are passing walkers, still.  How close to the start line did these people line up?  

Finally, we get near Mandalay, and it's almost over.  We get within sight of the finish and there's just a huge logjam of runners.  I think we actually got stuck behind them before we could even cross the finish, so I'm actually wondering if lost 2-3 minutes waiting for the crowd to move.  I find out later that people were stuck for up to an hour in this mess in some cases.  I also notice they made almost no efforts to enlarge the finish area at Mandalay from last year.  I remember last year being pretty crowded at the end...this year the field doubled.  What did they expect was going to happen?

The finish.  Look how far back that crowd extends...it's mashed up right next to the finish line.  Awful.  And they have the audacity to actually try and sell these photos.
Suddenly I am shaking from the cold and I start feeling very weak, like I might pass out.  It hits me I just finished 39+ miles for the day and my nutrition has been less than stellar, so I ask Catherine if she has anything to eat.  She gives me some GU blocks, and I suck down a gel and that does the trick.  I also grab a couple of bananas from the table.  I try to peel it, and I can't because it is GREEN and not ripe whatsoever. I finally manage to get the skin off and I bite into it and it's NASTY.  Jesus, did they fuck everything up in this race?  Aside from the pre-race theatrics this has been biggest fail of a race I've ever seen in my life.  My goodness.  Oh, not only that, but I look down and realize I'm missing a glove...I must have dropped it in my intense struggle to peel the banana.  Shit.

And that was that.  The double had ended.  I have to admit...moving forward I learned a lot from this experience (well aside from another reminder why I don't do RnR races anymore).  As far as CIM goes, I feel really good about how my year ended and I am looking forward to making a run at sub-3 sometime next year.  I also learned that I am at my best when I can start slow and slowly work my way up to race pace, and then save something for the last 10k so I can hammer the finish.  This is just how I like to race and I can find another gear that I'm not sure I had when I do this.  I also learned that I am ready for the challenge of ultras, and that I am going to have to be smart about nutrition when I start logging the longer training runs.  That was a little creepy what happened at the end of Vegas.

Post Race

After the race everyone who was in town from the Runners World forums met up at our suite at Mandalay, and it was a blast hearing all of the funny stories and meeting some new friends.  We had a hell of a time finding some food after though, as it seems not only was Competitor not prepared for the crowds, but the shops and restaurants at Mandalay weren't either.  We didn't get to have a meal until 2:30am, but once we did, that food tasted heavenly.

We met up for lunch the next day and then sadly, everyone went their separate ways.  What an amazing experience though.
The 3:20: Longer and Harder crew at First.  From L to R:  KPH, Flo, Matt, Paul, and Steve
Extra Stuff

I thought it might be fun to add a few more little anecdotes and memories from the weekend here though that I might have forgot about or didn't include from before for whatever reason...there's actually some good stuff in here, both running and otherwise, so....enjoy.  :)

- When I was still at Midway Airport getting ready to leave for Sacramento, I encountered the worst security line I have ever seen at Midway.  People were trying to smuggle cans of 7UP and hairspray onto the plane and that's what was holding it up.  

- At the CIM expo, Matt had to patiently wait for me as I was on the line with my wife (who was already in Vegas) trying to make bets on college football games.  All these runners are walking around the expo, all nervous about the race and I'm yapping on and on with my "bookie".  I played a 5-team teaser card for $20 and had every game right except for Virginia Tech, who I had -1 against Clemson.  VaTech got blown out, and for the second year in a row, it was close but no cigar on my teaser play.

- At the Spaghetti Factory in Sacramento we had the honor of having two elite female athletes have a pre-race dinner with us.  Both of them were from Romania.  One of them had become a U.S. citizen and had high hopes for not only winning CIM, but also representing the U.S. at the Olympics (which made me wonder why she was running a race so close to the trials).  The other was the 2006 winner at CIM.  At the end of the dinner, they asked if any of us were planning on running a 2:30 pace, and if so could they run with us.  The question was just so unbelievable that I had to have her repeat it to make sure I wasn't dreaming...were they really trying to recruit one of us as a pacer the night before?  Incredible.

- As I was trying to fall asleep in my room, my roommate, Steve, was snoring like hell.  I had a tough moral dilemma on my hands:  let him snore and allow him to rest up and recover from his 50-miler, or let him know he's snoring.  I chose the former, because 50 is a larger number than 26.  He also has much bigger muscles than I do.  I think I made the correct call.

- Before the CIM race, Matt and Ron did this little warm up on a side road about 15 minutes before the start.  I just sat there and scratched my balls.  They both beat me.  Maybe they know something I don't?

- Right before the half marathon mark I got into a little duel with a high school cross country runner doing the marathon relay.  He would pass me on the ups and I would pass him on the downs.  It was clear he was trying to pick me off, but was having trouble.  He did get the best of me, barely, before running into the relay chute.  I saw his hand off to his cross country teammate as I was running by and he almost fell after the hand off.  The teammate ran onto the course and I passed him easily and never saw him again.

- At around mile 14 or so of CIM I pass this little group of four dudes and one woman.  Without trying to be super creepy, I'll just say this:  the woman had the biggest breasts I have ever seen on a runner.  Certainly that explains the four dudes around her, but I wonder if she was a porn star or something?  

- I had horrific armpit chafing after CIM.  The body glide did not get the job done...or I was just lax in putting it on this one area.  Catherine found some Aquafor that really helped take the sting out, but I'm surprised it doesn't really show up in the CIM photos.

- The Sacramento airport was a funny scene.  We are sitting on the floor right near the gate scarfing on bagels and protein bars and whatever else we had available and people are looking at us like we just landed from Mars.  

- We were hoping to check into the suite right after the flight, and Mandalay took forever to clean it.  I was hanging out with James (Forno Bravo, one of my buddies from the 3:20 forum), and he wanted to get cleaned up and rest up for the second half of the double, as he was running the Vegas full after PRing at CIM by running 2:55.  We had to raid one of Catherine's friend's rooms at THEhotel to get James cleaned up.  After meeting up with Flo, Matt, Paul, Jay (Bird22), and Holly, Matt and his girlfriend are hungry and I hadn't really eaten anything of substance except a couple of bagels, so James and I go with him.  We end up at this Irish pub (called Rava I think?), and James has MAYBE 20 minutes until he has to start the race.  He is crazy with the bartender, impressing on her the importance of getting his food quickly, and orders plain pasta with butter and two hardboiled eggs (neither of which are on the menu).  He nervously counts down the minutes and miraculously, about 10 minutes later, his food arrives.  He eats it all in maybe a minute or two and RUNS out the door.  The woman who took his order (who just had this bewildered look on her face the whole time) yells out at him "HEY, YOU GONNA PAY FOR THAT?"  I tell her to calm down, that I would pay. The whole scene was just ridiculous, and was easily one of my favorite moments of the entire trip.

- After the race and after the party, we were all starving, and funny enough, we end up back at the Irish pub, because we can't find anywhere else that will serve us food and is close.  We get there and they say they can seat us, but can't promise that the kitchen will stay open.  We test our luck, and of course, we sit down and the waitress informs us the kitchen isn't taking any more orders.  Jay starts to get upset and gives the waitress an earful.  Things come to a head when Jay is served a beer in a plastic cup, college-keg-style.  At least while there I got an amazing picture of Catherine that I happened to be in:
Me and my beautiful wife.
 - We ended up at First Bar and Grill near the Venetian for lunch the next day after the race, which was actually our second choice - they wouldn't let Paul's kids into our first choice - Lagasse's Stadium, so many jokes were made about the fear they had about Paul's daughter running around and making wagers.  First was actually pretty awesome, really good comfort foods like tater tots, mac and cheese, and chicken and waffles, and it was all really good.  Great view of the strip as well. 

- After lunch on the Monday after the race, Catherine and I went to downtown Vegas and stayed at the Golden Nugget.  Very nice hotel, even though it was a little smoky in the casino.  I had amazing luck gambling there.  I maybe played slots for about an hour collectively there and playing 1 cent slots (but with 40 lines, so 40 cents a pull), I hit multiple times for between 10 and 20 bucks.  I'm cool with that.

- I played possibly the worst set of proposition bets in the history of Vegas on the Monday night game between the Chargers and Jaguars.  I had the Chargers (good), the under (NOT good), over 2 INTs for the game (nope), and over 3 FGs for the game (nope again).  By mid-second quarter it was 24-14 Chargers, and I knew I was done at that point.  Final - 38-14 San Diego.  Phil Rivers had ZERO interceptions.  

- Later, we ended up at Main Street Station, which I love for the really good (and cheap) buffet.  Once we got there though, we realized we really weren't that hungry so I sat down to play some blackjack while Catherine looked on.  I like low stakes...I can still get excited about winning a $5 hand as most others do about a $20 one, so I was all about it.  I got on a nice streak and pretty soon Catherine joined in.  By the time we got done, we had made about $75 bucks playing blackjack.

- Still later, we ended up at another of my favorite dives, the El Cortez.  You have to have some balls to wander off of Fremont to play there, as it is a total dump, but I'm a big fan due to the low limits on craps and blackjack and I was itching to play craps.  Hardly anyone playing and the dealers were kind enough to refresh my memory on the payouts on some of the bets which was nice.  First, my lucky streak continued and I did pretty well playing craps, and I could have easily kept playing if Catherine had not bugged me about being tired.  But aside from the gambling two funny things - first, this guy shows up and sees that I'm pretty hot rolling the dice and after I establish the point, he puts about $600+ in bets on the table, at least $100 each on numbers - 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10.  For those that don't know craps - if the point is established and you roll any of these numbers while you have a bet on there, you win depending on the number (places 6 and 8 pay 7:6, for instance).  It can be a good bet if the shooter is hot because you can really make a lot of money....as long as a 7 is not rolled.  I would have had to not roll 7 on 5 consecutive rolls for him to make that money back.  So, he makes his bet, and THE VERY NEXT ROLL I roll a 7 and crap out.  He's at the table approximately 30 seconds and is down 600 bucks.  He wanders off the table yelling at himself and we are just looking around and wondering if he's gonna whip out a machine gun...he was crazy.  He comes to the table a couple times more and is having a conversation with himself and at one point I hear him say "Just walk away, just walk away."  It was freaky and a little scary.  On one hand it's a great story, but on another, he clearly was an addict and that's kind of depressing to think about.

-  We leave the Cortez and on the way back to the Nugget we see this dude getting arrested.  Also, Fremont is DEAD at 2am, that was a little unsettling...

- The weekend is wrapped up by heading to the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino the next morning.  Cool place with a lot of history.  We went there because we heard Du-Par's restaurant and bakery had the best pancakes in the world, and they aren't lying.  They were massive, and they tasted amazing.  One of the best breakfasts I've ever had, period.  Also, very cool looking place, very much unchanged in the last 50 years I would say.

- Our luck continued on the ride home.  Somehow when we checked in at the gate we were given the extra leg room seats in the front of the plane right behind Sprit's 'big seats'.  Spirit loves to nickel and dime you, and so it was a really nice surprise when we not only were seated together, but in that spot, where we'd have plenty of room.  I actually slept a little bit on that flight, which was nice.

Well, that's about it I suppose.  I didn't quite share everything...that would be against the spirit of Vegas.  Amazing trip though.  It's going to be tough to top this one.  ;-)

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

CIM - Las Vegas Double Report - Part I: California Love

This report is going to be so massive, that I had to break it into multiple parts.  Part one describes how this all came about, and includes my CIM race report.

The Plan

So.  How in the hell did this scheme of running a balls to the wall marathon at the California International Marathon in Sacramento (CIM) in the morning and then hopping a flight and running the Rock and Roll Las Vegas half later that day get started?  It started with one man's idea.  That man's name is Paul, otherwise known as "screaminzab":

The post that started it all.  Link to this page in the 3:20 thread.
At this point I had probably been posting in the thread for maybe a couple of months, so people didn't know me too well yet, but the outlandish challenge involved in pulling this off intrigued me.  There were so many things that could go wrong.  You have a bad race and DNF, and can't get to the airport on time.  The flight gets delayed indefinitely due to bad weather, or a pilot calling in sick, or a broken plane.  You get stuck in traffic on the way to the airport.  You make it to Vegas, but are in such terrible condition, that you DNS Vegas...on and on and on.

Initially at that time I showed interest in doing both full marathons, and I was invited to a Facebook group that quickly formed to discuss the details of the event; this quickly degenerated into dick and ball jokes and I immediately liked where things were heading.  But after some more contemplation and not having a ton of experience in endurance events, I gave up the notion of doing the double and instead decided to concentrate solely on racing CIM.  My wife was making plans to run Vegas as part of a bachelorette weekend, so I decided that I would still enjoy the challenge of being a part of the "make the flight" portion of the event and support the guys doing the double in any way I could.

Eventually plans came together, we coordinated the needed flights, and registered for the races.  I arranged to host the afterparty at the Media Suite at Mandalay Bay after consulting with a woman named Weelowie (who I initially thought was a man at first), who I am pretty sure just goes by Weelowie and has no second name (kinda like Pele and Madonna).  Regardless, the plans came together and I was incredibly excited for the weekend!

Training and Race Goals

After my 3:06 effort at Toronto, I had seven weeks to prepare for CIM, and used the 8-weeks between marathons schedule in Advanced Marathoning, with a few tweaks.  My 4th peak week (3 weeks from CIM) I ran a 20, just to give me a confidence boost in my endurance, and I also changed the 3x1M workout 10 days out to 5x1k which I liked better.  Aside from that I pretty much followed the plan as written.  My miles per week from Toronto to CIM were as follows:  17, 41, 58, 65, 58, 46, then 20 miles pre-race.  So pretty conservative, really.  The main goal was to stay healthy and try to squeeze in just a little bit of training to try and get that little added "oomph" necessary to make CIM a great race.

I went into this race extremely relaxed, feeling like the hard work that I had put in earlier in the year would hopefully carry me.  I didn't have huge expectations...in fact I think I was equally as excited to meet my 3:20 forum friends and hang out in Vegas than I was to race a marathon.  However, I did want to beat my Toronto time, and really wanted to go sub-3:05 to prove to myself I could do it after not hitting that mark in Toronto.  I also felt that I ran a few of the early miles in Toronto too fast, so I wanted to make sure I didn't make that mistake again.  I just didn't have enough confidence to make CIM a sub-3 attempt, so I set out to try and run a conservative first half, and use the 3:05 pacer to keep myself in check, and if I had gas in the tank at 20, then I would let it rip and see what I could pull off.

Matt (ljshores_runner) also did a great job prepping me for the course.  The day before the race, shortly after I flew into town, he walked me over to the finish area and described the course in great detail and gave me a few really helpful tips - two of which were to be careful about spending energy on the uphills, as there are quite a few in the first half, and to count the streets until the finish.  This proved to be extremely valuable advice.

Race Day

I slept like coca the night before the race, which is not unusual.  I woke up before my alarm went off at around 4:15 and got ready.  My roommate Steve (Texas Tax Man from the 3:20) had just completed The North Face Challenge 50-miler in San Francisco the previous day, so I was trying to be as quiet as possible to let him rest.  He did manage to wish me good luck and ask if I needed anything before I left, to which I cheerfully replied "nope" and he went back to bed.  I met Matt  at 5am to head to the bus and met Holly (Spinderella) for the first time.

I rode the bus to Folsom with RunRonRun from the California forum.  Great guy, we chatted quite a bit about running, family, balancing the two.  Really enjoyed that and it helped relax me a lot.

After some mishaps on the part of our driver, we arrived at the start with plenty of time.  After a quick poo in porta-potty row (seriously there were like a billion porta-potties) I tossed my gear check bag in a van and made it to the start corral.  Saw the 3:05 pacer and lined up a few feet behind him.  The national anthem was sung, the horn went off, and off we went.

(Note that all splits are 1.01 mile auto-splits on my Garmin...I set it to 1.01 miles because I'm usually bad at running the tangents, and I find that this matches the mile signs better without having me remember to hit the lap button manually)

First few miles:  7:17, 7:07, 7:07, 7:11.  I always love how everyone seems to sprint off the line.  I just try to slowly work up to pace in the first mile.  It's all downhill, so I am feeling pretty lazy running 7:17 for the first mile.  By the time mile 4 rolls around, the 3:05 pace team is out of sight and I should probably start working a little harder.  I am having zero problems with the early hills, just trying to keep my effort as even as possible.  I am having a blast running the downhills though.  Somewhere I read Scott Douglas talk about downhills:  Try not to brake on them and position your body perpendicular to the ground and let gravity do the work.  Or something like that.  It seems to work pretty well.

Next few miles:  7:06, 7:05, 7:05, 7:09, 7:08.  Pace is slightly faster than these splits indicate and I'm in a good groove now with the rolling hills.  I am really enjoying this course in the early miles.  The rollers are keeping me interested, and even though the scenery is not amazing, it's pretty enough to entertain me.  Nice fall colors and people out with their dogs, which always makes me smile and think about the time Catherine took our dog to her first road race in Batavia.  I remember hitting the 9 mile mark and thinking to myself how quickly the first third of the race went by.

Just hanging out, enjoying the run.
Rest of the first half:  6:57, 7:04, 7:00, 6:59.  There were some big downhills through here and picked up quite a bit of ground.  Somewhere in here I spotted the 3:05 pacer and worked on slowly reeling them in.  One thing I loved about this course was that there were very few turns and lots of long straightaways.  You would think that would get boring but since the course was rolling, you weren't always looking at miles into the distance like you might for a flat race.  There was a half-marathon banner just like in Toronto and I accomplished my goal of running the first half slower than Toronto- 1:32:14.

Next three miles:  7:02, 7:00, 6:54.  I consciously pick up the effort after hitting the half ever so slightly.  I had been inching closer and closer to the pace group and by mile 16 I caught them.  I wasn't breathing heavy at all yet, but during this stretch my left leg started to bother me a bit.  It was just a soreness that started in my calf, and eventually moved to my knee and eventually my hamstring.  It wasn't affecting my gait, but I definitely could feel it and it was annoying.

Hamming it up again.
Next four miles:  7:05, 7:04, 7:05, 7:02.  I ran these four miles with the 3:05 pace group.  Nobody was talking, everyone was dialed in, and that was fine.  My leg continued to bother me, and after a mile with these guys, I wanted to leave them.  I had run the first 16 miles pretty much on my own, and now that I had people to run with, for some reason it made the run go by slower.  These four miles felt like the longest miles of the day.  It made me really antsy to leave the group and I convinced myself to wait until after mile 20 to turn it on, knowing that the last 10k was really fast and that (hopefully) my patience would be rewarded.

Last 10k:  6:51, 6:54, 6;53, 6:53, 6:53, 6:43, :09 (last 0.02).  There was a little banner at mile 20 with a wall design- break through the wall, and that's exactly what I did.  I left the 3:05 group and never looked back.   My leg was feeling better, and it was time to race and I had gas in the tank, so I set out to pick off runners and holy shit did I pick off a ton of them.  Guy with the blue shirt.  Bang!  Girl with the cute arm warmers.  Bang!  Skinny dude that actually turned out to be a chick.  Bam!  It was so awesome.  This is how I like to race.  Maybe I left a little bit of time on the course by saving the effort needed to do this, but it felt great to hammer the end of this race and I feel so much better doing it this way then fading at the end.
Giving the thumbs-up as I'm about to pass hairy shirtless guy, one of many victims in the last 10K
The effort was much harder even though I had only really dropped my pace by 10 seconds per mile.  I kept repeating things in my head to keep the effort going - we have a buddy on the 3:20 thread who is getting checked out for MS and I thought about him often.  I thought about Steve hammering the end of his 50-miler.  I thought about some of the times of my friends I had a chance to beat.  I thought that this might be the last time I race a marathon for a while and to leave whatever I had from this point forward on the course.  All of these things kept me running hard and chasing down runners.

By mile 25 I was working very hard and it was gut check time.  I looked at my watch after crossing the mile marker and thought I saw 2:54:x and thought I had an outside chance at 3:01:x and so I gave that last mile everything I had. I was counting down the streets like Matt showed me and that really helped motivate me and break the last mile down into smaller parts.  Looked for Steve as I was passing the Hyatt but no dice.  Looked down at my watch and 3:01 was gone but 3:02 was still very much a possibility.  I ran as hard as I could those last few meters and I would not let 3:02 slip.  Crossed the finish at 3:02:50 feeling totally spent.  Collected myself after a minute or two and did a little celebration fist.  I was really excited that I not only broke 3:05 but broke 3:03!  Fantastic.

Striking the pose at the finish.
So a 3+ minute PR for me and about a 2:35 negative split.  Very, very happy with that, and this was the race I thought I could have (and maybe should have) had in Toronto had the conditions been better and I had run a little smarter.  It was also the race I needed to validate a sub-3 attempt the next time out...whenever that is.

Ron, Matt and I at the finish

Next up - Part II!

Monday, October 17, 2011

The Wind - It Blows: Toronto Waterfront Marathon Race Report

In short:  This year appears to be the year for windy marathons for the Hurleys.  After a really strong start to my race, I faded in the later miles going against the wind, but still managed to hang on for a 3:06:12, which is a new PR, and a Boston Qualifier by 3:48.  My wife on the other hand ran her dream race and smashed her sub-4 goal, finishing in 3:56:57.

Training, History and Goals

I trained for this race using the 12/70 Pfitz plan, and I felt extremely well prepared going in.  I was at or near 70 miles per week every week for about a month and a half before the taper and averaged around 63 miles per week for July-September.  These were new mileage highs for me, and after only marathoning for about a year and a half, I was very happy how well my body held up.  It also makes me wonder if another year running this kind of mileage will itself make even more improvements possible.

Last May I ran a 3:10 at the Green Bay Marathon, which was later adjusted to a 3:09:04 due to the lead vehicles making a wrong turn and making the course long, and I felt very confident that mark was going to fall, due to the increased volume and how my training had gone.  I made a 3:04 pace band and targeted that as my 'A' goal.

The Journey to Toronto, Expo, Course, and Race Prep

On the Friday before the race, I had a colleague cover my last class of the day so I could leave a little early and get on the road.  My dad was in town for a series of meetings, and so my wife and I would be taking him to my hometown of Canton, MI and resting there for the night before getting up the next morning and heading to Toronto.  I was also slightly annoyed that I had picked up a bit of a sniffle, and I was desperately hoping that with all of this travel that it would stay from the "neck up" and not go into my chest.

After resting up Friday night, I got up early on Saturday and did a short 3 mile jog just to shake some nerves  out.  It was very cool and blustery in the Detroit area that morning, but I felt pretty relaxed and wasn't too worried, aside from my steadily running nose, which was more of an annoyance than anything.  It was certainly nice to run with the wind at my back on the way home.  We hit the Tim Hortons near my parents' place, and that was the first of many stops to get coffees and donuts.  We got through customs without a hitch and after getting stuck in a crazy traffic jam, we made it to our hotel in Toronto.  We promptly met up with Christine and the Tim Hortons Racing Team was assembled.

We also met up with two of our friends from the Fred Meijer Trail Relay, Jane and James.  I learned after meeting up with them that Jane would be running her first full marathon.  I thought initially that they were both running the half, but Jane had trained for the full and was ready to go...so that was a really neat surprise to know that we would be there for her first marathon.

From L to R:  Christine, Catherine, KPH, James, Jane
Because it took us so long to get through traffic, we had to get moving if we wanted to catch the shuttle to the expo, make our 5pm pasta feed reservation and drive the course.  The expo was pretty cramped, but the gear was really nice.  I got a red embroidered jacket that I really like and is almost on par with the one I got at the Marine Corps Marathon.  The girls found nice stuff too - these really sharp blue warm-up jackets that had embroidery on the back.

By the time our shuttle returned us from the expo, it was time to head over to the pasta feed.  That turned out to be very nice - buffet style with plenty of pasta, sauce, salad and garlic bread, very tasty.  The only thing that was missing were some cookies, but by that point in the day I had already made three separate trips to Tim Hortons (we stopped on the way to town, and then again for Christine on the way to the expo). See, there's a reason why we are the Tim Hortons Racing Team.  We don't have it in Chicago, so we were determined to get as much of it as we could stand while in Canada.

Next we drove the course.  The start had a gentle downhill, so it was going to be tricky to make sure and not get going too fast, especially since it was going to be cold and windy in the morning and I would not be warmed up.  After winding around the downtown area for a 3k or so, the course headed west until the 10k mark or so, and offered plenty of views of Lake Ontario.  There were a couple of small hills on this stretch, but nothing to get too excited over.  One concern I had was that if the wind was blowing from the west, this could really be a tough stretch and might warrant a slower start than I was planning on.

After the 10k mark the course turned around and went east for the next 22k.  The early part of this stretch was right along the lake, offered a lot of nice views and was very flat save for a gentle incline at around the 15k mark.  Then it got pretty dull from about the halfway point until about the 30k mark, where we would enter a neighborhood on Toronto's east side called The Beaches.  Once in the neighborhood, the scenery was terrific - it seemed like a very nice area with shops and restaurants, and I imagined this would be a nice pick up after the dull spot, but it was pretty rolling in this area.  Between the 32-33k marks we turned around and headed back west toward downtown, and so the hills we just went through would be done twice.  We would also be headed into the wind for the end of the race.

At about the 38-39k mark there was a large bridge and this was the final obstacle.  After that the course was back into the downtown area where we would push hard for the finish.

After driving the course, I thought that it was going to be very difficult to negative split it.  I thought that I would be behind pace at the start, make up ground when I had the wind at my back, and then hopefully save enough to push hard through the wind and hills at the end.

By the time we were done looking at the course, it had gotten pretty late and it was time to wind down for the night.  I fell asleep to the girls watching Jurassic Park at around 9pm, and hoped to God that my cold would not find it's way into my chest.

The Race

I woke up around 4am feeling like I had slept great.  The race was not until 9am, so I lumbered in bed for a while, snoozed a little more and got up just before 6.  I was congested when I woke up, but a quick test of my breathing told me that although I would be snotting everywhere on the course,  my chest was clear and I was good to go for a balls-to-the-wall effort.  The start was just over a block from our hotel, so I had plenty of time to eat breakfast and get ready.  We got out around 8am or so to meet up with Jane and James for pictures and it was cold and breezy.  Temps would be ideal, we would soon see what role the wind would play.

The Tim Hortons Racing Team

It was pretty crowded in the corral area.  It was neat to have the start area right in the middle of downtown, but it made for challenging logistics - there were wall-to-wall people everywhere.  I got into my corral around 8:40 and did my best to keep warm.  I talked with a couple of guys - one was shooting for a 3:05, the other said he would be "happy with anything sub-3:10".  I made a note to look for 3:05 guy just to give myself an idea mentally of how I was doing compared to him.

The course was marked only in kilometers, so I'll provide the official splits and comment on them.

First 10K - 43:41 (7:02 pace overall)

In the early part of the race it took me a while to warm up.  My feet were really cold, and I felt like the first couple of miles I was running on ice blocks.  "I'm just happy with sub 3:10" guy and his buddy took off like the race was a 5k and I was slightly perplexed by that, but I took a mental picture of them for later.  I felt very relaxed once I warmed up and was making eye contact with the spectators hoping for some "Mr. Mocha" yells, but no go.  I was blowing my nose often on my shirt, as I was loosening up quickly, and that seemed to work well and helped me relax.

Some stupid pose I did in the first half
Once we turned east I was shocked that the wind was not a factor, and I kept my fingers crossed for a stroke of good luck.  Took a gel at mile 3.  Some of the runners near me were already breathing really hard, ouch.  About 7-8k in I started running with a group that was talking about 3:05 pace and I decided to tuck in with them for a bit.  3:05 guy and Happy-With-A-3:10 Guy (HWA310G) were among them, but HWA310G looked like he felt good and was pulling away from them, so I decided to keep an eye on him as someone to possibly run with in the second half.

Half Split - 1:31:27 (6:59 overall)

After turning around at about the 12k mark I felt very comfortable and was in a consistent rhythm, clicking off splits at around 6:58 pace, and even a little under that at times.  Took another gel at mile 8. Still running with the unofficial 3:05 pace group at this point, that was around 8 guys or so, with HWA310G about 100m or so ahead.  Saw this guy just after the turn around and he enthusiastically screamed "MR MOCHA!" and I got really excited.  Then, one spectator after another was cheering for Mr. Mocha and the singlet was a hit.  I started to drift ahead of the 3:05 team and caught HWA310G at around the 18k mark.  He asked me how things were going, I told him I felt great, and said something to the effect of being glad I ran a lot of miles for this.  He said he was feeling tightness in his hip, and I suggested shortening his stride and that maybe it would go away.  That was the last I saw of him.  I also dropped the other guys shooting for a 3:05 at this point and never saw any of them again either.

Still in the first half, feeling great
I made up all of the time from the start and then some, and was passing half marathoners who had gone out too fast like crazy.  The half marathoners split off at around the 20k mark and the field thinned out considerably.  Suddenly there were only about a handful of runners in view.  There was this guy wearing a black spandex-type suit that a triathlete might wear so I decided to follow him for a while, as he looked like he was doing OK.  I hit the half feeling like the race just started, I felt incredible, and noticed I was about 30 seconds ahead of 3:04 pace, and I had pretty much made up my mind at that point to go for broke.  Took my third gel just after the halfway mark.

30K Split - 2:09:53 (6:58)

From the half until this point, the course was pretty boring.  This guy who was trailing me came up next to me though and started chatting with me, and that made things interesting.  He was breathing like it was the homestretch of a 10K so unfortunately I knew he wouldn't be around for the long haul, but it was nice to have someone to run with.  Around mile 15 or so I passed triathlete guy and thanked him for pacing me for the last 5k or so, and that was the last I saw of him until the turnaround on the eastern edge of the course.

By mile 16 or so, my buddy dropped off pace and I was looking at industrial buildings, so I decided to put my Ipod on, which made the next couple of miles easier.  I was still feeling great at this point, and was really thinking that I was going to put up a pretty amazing time.

Around mile 18, just before the 30K sign, I started to feel my hamstrings tighten up.  This was a little frustrating, as I didn't feel tired at all at this point, but I thought I would take my own advice, shorten my stride and hopefully run through it.  Looking back, I really was running on the edge of my fitness on this stretch with the wind; my splits were a little quicker than planned.  I didn't feel like my breathing was tough, but this was more like muscle fatigue.  In hindsight, I should have been more conservative here and saved a lot more effort for the home stretch-  this was a mistake I would pay dearly for in the coming miles.  Also took my 4th and last gel around here as well.

35K Split - 2:31:51 (6:59)

Still on pace overall at this point, but the writing was about to be on the wall.  I was able to run through the tightness in the hamstrings, and by mile 19.5 or so I felt fine.  I was running the hills with no issues and got a little choked up as an awesome song came on my ipod and I still felt great, thinking at that point I was going to be able to hold pace.  Unfortunately the field was really spread out at this point, and I was all alone, in no mans land.  This was the critical moment, as I think I ran a 6:4x split which was too fast and possibly the nail in the coffin for my 3:02:x dreams.

At the 32.5k turnaround, the wind hit like an anvil.  I couldn't believe how much harder everything got, it was like a switch was flipped that just turned this race into hard mode.  I slowed pretty dramatically, down to 7:15 pace.  My legs just couldn't turn over, it was awful.  Pretty much right then and there I realized I ran 10-32k just a shade too fast and just didn't save enough energy to power through the wind.  Ugh.  Too bad too, because the crowd during this stretch in the Beaches neighborhood was awesome.  Just very very frustrating and a critical error in judgement that probably turned a possible 3:04:x into something worse.

40K Split - 2:55:57 (7:05)

Worst stretch of the race by far.  I gave back so much time on this part of the race.  We had come out of the neighborhood and the wind was relentless.  I had a split of 7:5x on this stretch, going over the big bridge (described below).  I saw several people walking...people getting cramps.  Fortunately I was not in that bad of shape, my leg cramps had gone away, but I just didn't have the strength or energy to turn my legs over faster.  It was odd...I had gotten passed by a couple of people, but even running at my slower pace I passed many more others.  Sadly, I knew at this point 3:03/3:04 was no longer possible.

Then I saw the big bridge, and I decided that if I could just get over the bridge, I could try and pick it up a bit and try and salvage 3:05:x.  I got over it, and when I made it back into downtown, I finally got a bit of a break from the wind and managed to get pace back down to the 7:30 area.  I was determined to at least make a run at 3:05, but it was going to be really close.

Trying to gut it out at the end
The Finish

I finally saw the 41k sign and gave it whatever I had left, which sadly wasn't much.  There were spectators everywhere, it was thrilling, and really helped me give it my all at the end.  At the "400m left to go" mark I ran as hard as I could.  When I turned the corner to the finish I looked at my Garmin and it had just turned 3:06...aww, so close.  And for the first time in about 45 minutes the wind relented and I came in through the chute at 3:06:12.

Finally done, and pretty damn happy about it.
I was exhausted, and at the same time proud of my efforts, but a little disappointed in how things worked out.  I definitely went for it, but I just didn't run smart enough to have my A+ type of race.  A woman at the end held my hand for a minute while I tried to collect myself...I was worried for a moment I was going to pass out, but then I was OK.  I went through the line and got my gatorade, banana and cookie, and I started to feel much better, both physically and emotionally about the race.  After making some mistakes earlier on, I did fade, but I was able to at least hold on and PR by a pretty substantial margin, and even though that was a more of a 'C' goal, it still made me pretty happy I was able to accomplish that.

Afterwards I met up with Christine (she did the half and came in at 1:58) and she hugged me and congratulated me.  She told me she had a hell of a time getting our bag from the baggage check, apparently there was no organization at all, and it was just a clusterfuck.  I was so appreciative at that point we only checked in one bag, I was able to get warm clothes on and bounce back after a few minutes, and then limp to a spot on the course about 500m from the finish, grab another Tim Hortons mocha, and watch for Catherine.

Eventually she emerged at about 12:57pm, and I knew her sub-4 was easily in the bag.  I got so incredibly excited for her.  She has come so far this year, trained so well, and deserved this so much.  We went back to catch her after she came through the finish area and she was sobbing tears of joy.  What an incredible end to another journey for us...after seeing Catherine, I couldn't feel anything other than joy, both for her, and even for myself.  I had fallen a bit short of my goal, but I still continue to make big improvements.  In the end, it really was an amazing day for the Tim Hortons Racing Team!

The Tim Hortons Team, Post Race

Saturday, October 8, 2011

18 Seconds, Winter/Spring Plans, Taper Madness

"Congrats on qualifying for Boston!  But you needed to be 18 seconds faster..."

That's pretty much how the last three weeks began for me.  I didn't think I had much of a chance with my modest BQ time under the new registration system, but I was so close to getting in that I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed.  I'm sure I let plenty of opportunities to get work done slip away as I poured over the data being displayed on the Runner's World forums wondering if I was going to slip in, but unfortunately, it was not to be.

Surprisingly, the disappointment really hasn't lingered.  All along I had a backup plan for the Winter and Spring and now I'm getting excited about that rather than crying in my coffee about Boston.

KPH, Ultramarathoner

I threw out the idea to run an ultra a month or two ago, and now I am fully committed to doing it in 2012.  Just today I ran a 13-miler at Waterfall Glen in Darien, IL and I couldn't help but just admire the fall colors, breathe in the clean air, and enjoy the soft footing of the trails.  It reminded me that I am really ready for a change in thinking about my running.  For most of 2011 I've worried too much about running.  Am I running too fast?  Not fast enough?  Am I doing enough volume?  Is this workout appropriate for my marathon preparation?  Am I doing the right things to get faster?  Will the weather cooperate for my goal race? Granted, I've certainly enjoyed certain aspects of having a strong focus and I've gotten much stronger, but I now believe I need a new focus and a new mentality.

So I am developing a race schedule for 2012, and it's going to include my first 50-mile ultra in Wisconsin, the Ice Age 50.  As a warm-up to this big jump in distance, I'm planning to run the Green Jewel 50k near Cleveland in early March and the Kal-Haven Trail Run, which is a 33.5 mile run from Kalamazoo to South Haven in Michigan.  I'm also planning on a couple of marathons in April as training "fun-runs".

I'm starting to map out a loose plan for mileage, but really I'm just going to spend the first part of 2012 just building a lot of endurance and running a lot.  I'm actually really getting excited for this shift away from intense marathon training. Strangely enough even though the goal is to run a very long way, I think the training might actually be a little easier, as I'll be cutting back on "quality" significantly.  I'm just going to go out and run.  A lot.  The more I think about it, the more I love this concept.

Oh Yeah, There is a Goal Race for THIS Year...

Not to be lost in all of this talk about things happening 5-7 months from now, is the fact that my fall goal race is coming up, the Toronto Waterfront Marathon.  My wife picked this as a fall race (I had originally planned on running Grand Rapids) due to a visit we had in Hamilton and Toronto in the Spring of 2010, and also because we just love Canada.  We also have both run Chicago and although we love our hometown race, the weather has not cooperated for us to run it to the best of our capabilities, and so we felt that skipping it and focusing on another fall race would be a good idea (and this might turn out to be a good decision, as it is expected to be warm again in Chicago for the race tomorrow).  

I'm about to start the final week of my 3-week taper, and although I am trying to fend off the mental gremlins that are trying to create doubt and worry, a check of my logs from where I was at in the Spring, my results from that race, and then seeing where I am at now makes me feel very well prepared for this race.  I had a workout this past week where I ran three one-mile repeats at 5:59, 5:56, and 6:03, so my speed is definitely better now than when I ran this same workout in May (6:06, 6:14, 6:05 then).  I've logged six weeks at or near 70 miles, and averaged in the low 60s for the last three months or so.  I've done a ton of good running near LT (Lactate Threshold) pace, and the pace of those runs has steadily come down in the last 2 months.  The weather forecast for Toronto for next weekend is looking good.  So I am hopeful for a good result.

I am going to try my best for a time in the 3:03-3:04 range.  This basically boils down to 7 minute miles, so it keeps things simple.  The course is very flat so I am thinking of doing 7:15 in the first mile as a "warm up", 7:05 in the second, and then 6:58-6:59 from miles 3-20.  This plan will have on pace for around 3:03:30 by the 20-mile mark (2:20 or so).  At this point, I could fade to 7:05 pace for the last 10k and still hit a 3:04:xx pretty comfortably.  But if I'm really feeling it, I can drop down to 6:55 and try to eek out a high 3:02.  Or just hang on and hit a mid-3:03.  I think this plan provides some good flexibility in allowing for an off day while at the same time being aggressive enough to see what I am made of.   Of course the shit could hit the fan and I could struggle just to PR.  Hopefully that won't be the case.

The Taper in Review

Two weeks ago, I ran my last 20, and I decided to do the last 5 or so at GMP (~7 min/mi).  I just felt like I needed some race pace miles after a 70-mile week on some tired legs to give me a taste of what it felt like, and it went well.  I ended up doing the last 7 pretty quickly, 13 easy, then 7:16, 7:07, 7:02, 6:56, 6:59, 6:58, 7:03.  I was having to slow myself down to hit these times, and it felt pretty easy, I was kind of surprised.  I think this was a good sign.

The first week of the taper started out with a bang, as I did 5 sets of 600m as part of an 8 mile run at paces ranging from 5:36-5:53 and it wasn't bad at all, my legs were really feeling good.  Later that week I had an 10 mile run with 5 at LT pace where I progressed from 6:36 down to 6:16 pace which was followed immediately by an easy 17 miler.  Mostly I was just happy to be running fewer miles I think; I did 58 miles in the first taper week.

This week has been a bit of a mixed bag.  As I mentioned earlier, I had a quick mile repeat workout, but I was really wiped out after the third set.  I was really glad to have that out of the way.  And I really enjoyed my 13 miler today, but I felt sluggish for the first 8 miles or so.  I guess this is normal for me, I felt the same way on my last medium-length run leading up to Green Bay.  44 miles this week.

So it's all very easy stuff from here on, save for a dress rehearsal run on Tuesday where I will run 2 miles at goal pace in the context of a 7 miler.

And Finally...

Good luck to everyone running Chicago tomorrow.  Run smart in that first half and don't get carried away with the crowds; the second half will be much tougher with the lack of shade and the smaller crowds.  I'll be out on the course just past the halfway mark with my wife wearing a clown wig.  Should be easy to spot.  ;-)