Race week has finally arrived and with it, all the little phobias you get before a marathon. I'm paranoid that I'll catch a cold from someone, so I wash my hands about 100 times a day. Anyone that coughs or sneezes near me makes me want run away. I take little baby steps when I get out of bed so that I don't stub my toe or run into anything. Any little tweak or twinge in my legs immediately becomes something to worry about. I guess this is normal after you train for months for something you only get one shot at. I've run enough of these now to know that these are all normal thoughts, but it still doesn't relieve the paranoia that much.
We have a few more runs to do this week and then Sadie and I will be off to Utah on Thursday. I'll spend the next three days getting my projects at work under control so that I can be gone for two days, hydrating, getting my clothes ready, and hopefully sleeping.
The weather forecast is showing pretty cool temps at the start, warming up to near 60when I should be finishing. We could have some pretty good winds in our face or across us though. It probably won't be as perfect as last year, but it should be just fine for a fast race.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Silicon Lab Marathon Relay
Sunday was the Silicon Labs Marathon Relay and once again Team Mac was there to race. I was on a team with Aaron, Travis, Stuart and Jeff competing in the Open Men's division. We also had an Open Women's team and a combo team. Our team came in 10th overall and 4th in our division (8 secs off the podium). The girls dominated and won their division.
Since St. George is getting so close, Mac had me run one of the 5k legs. I had planned to run hard without hurting myself. 13 days out from a marathon is not a good time to go injure yourself. I kept telling Jeff he was going to have to run extra fast to make up for my leg. Apparently, I'm in pretty good shape because I ended up running 5k in 18:49 (6:03/mile) according to Run-Far's time for my leg. That's a PR by 35 seconds. It felt good to run like that without feeling like I was on the edge.
I'm still amazed by people that don't run the tangents in races. What part of the word "race" do they not understand? The object is to finish as fast as possible, which in my mind means running the shortest distance the course gives you. I saw so many people running wide around curves or following the lanes like they were in a car.
Since St. George is getting so close, Mac had me run one of the 5k legs. I had planned to run hard without hurting myself. 13 days out from a marathon is not a good time to go injure yourself. I kept telling Jeff he was going to have to run extra fast to make up for my leg. Apparently, I'm in pretty good shape because I ended up running 5k in 18:49 (6:03/mile) according to Run-Far's time for my leg. That's a PR by 35 seconds. It felt good to run like that without feeling like I was on the edge.
I'm still amazed by people that don't run the tangents in races. What part of the word "race" do they not understand? The object is to finish as fast as possible, which in my mind means running the shortest distance the course gives you. I saw so many people running wide around curves or following the lanes like they were in a car.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Sunday, September 14, 2008
A Lot of Running
Today marks the end of two of the highest mileage weeks I've run and I'm happy to say that I'm still feeling strong.
Last week I ran 62 miles which was a new personal high. In the past I've always felt like I started to break down when I approached the mid-50's, but last week I felt great the whole time. I was very surprised considering it came on the heels of racing the Zilker Relays and running the Nike Human Race 10k pretty hard. The week was capped off with a 20 miler on Sunday that I ran with Travis. We made up a route that included Mt Bonnell, Balcones and Barton Hills and we both felt strong enough to drop down to MGP in the last few miles.
This week was our peak week and Mac had us scheduled for 70, but that included a 5 miler on Friday that I decided I wasn't going to do. Sixty-five miles would be enough with a 24 miler on Saturday. I didn't feel near as good this week as I did last week. My legs started hurting and I was feeling the normal aches and pains that I feel during peak weeks.
Tuesday we did 6 mile repeats at 30secs below MGP. Two were on the track, two were on the trail, and two were on the grass at Zilker. I managed to keep them all below 6:20/mile with a couple at 6:00/mile. At Zilker we ran into a little trouble because some guys playing soccer decided to use Mac's cones for one of their goals. When Mac ran over to take his cones back, this one loser soccer player got mad and started getting in Mac's face about disrupting their game. His argument was that we shouldn't leave cones on the field and if we did, he was going to use them if he wanted to. He couldn't get it through his small little brain that they were not his cones and that they were marking our course.
Saturday was my longest scheduled run of the season. We did 24 starting at Gateway and ending at the Rock. Due to the different distances everyone was running, I did most of this run by myself. I figured it would be a good character builder. I felt pretty strong for about 20 miles and then just had to gut out the last 4. Part of that was heading west up Enfield from Lamar into the strong winds that Ike gave us. I was definitely slower the last 4 miles, but still managed to average 8:04/mile for the whole run. That's just about right where I wanted it.
I sure thought today's 8 miles was going to suck, but I really didn't feel too bad. I was a little tight for 1/2 mile, but ran pretty well for the rest of the time. It was great to finish knowing the worst was behind me and having set a new personal high (65 miles). I've never felt this healthy 3 weeks out from a marathon, so I'm hoping it's a sign of good things to come.
Last week I ran 62 miles which was a new personal high. In the past I've always felt like I started to break down when I approached the mid-50's, but last week I felt great the whole time. I was very surprised considering it came on the heels of racing the Zilker Relays and running the Nike Human Race 10k pretty hard. The week was capped off with a 20 miler on Sunday that I ran with Travis. We made up a route that included Mt Bonnell, Balcones and Barton Hills and we both felt strong enough to drop down to MGP in the last few miles.
This week was our peak week and Mac had us scheduled for 70, but that included a 5 miler on Friday that I decided I wasn't going to do. Sixty-five miles would be enough with a 24 miler on Saturday. I didn't feel near as good this week as I did last week. My legs started hurting and I was feeling the normal aches and pains that I feel during peak weeks.
Tuesday we did 6 mile repeats at 30secs below MGP. Two were on the track, two were on the trail, and two were on the grass at Zilker. I managed to keep them all below 6:20/mile with a couple at 6:00/mile. At Zilker we ran into a little trouble because some guys playing soccer decided to use Mac's cones for one of their goals. When Mac ran over to take his cones back, this one loser soccer player got mad and started getting in Mac's face about disrupting their game. His argument was that we shouldn't leave cones on the field and if we did, he was going to use them if he wanted to. He couldn't get it through his small little brain that they were not his cones and that they were marking our course.
Saturday was my longest scheduled run of the season. We did 24 starting at Gateway and ending at the Rock. Due to the different distances everyone was running, I did most of this run by myself. I figured it would be a good character builder. I felt pretty strong for about 20 miles and then just had to gut out the last 4. Part of that was heading west up Enfield from Lamar into the strong winds that Ike gave us. I was definitely slower the last 4 miles, but still managed to average 8:04/mile for the whole run. That's just about right where I wanted it.
I sure thought today's 8 miles was going to suck, but I really didn't feel too bad. I was a little tight for 1/2 mile, but ran pretty well for the rest of the time. It was great to finish knowing the worst was behind me and having set a new personal high (65 miles). I've never felt this healthy 3 weeks out from a marathon, so I'm hoping it's a sign of good things to come.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)