Great weather for running again. 61 at our house and 56 in Snoqualmie when the run started at 6:40 or so.
Today was my speed day this week instead of the usual Wednesday. Forecasts called for rain showers this morning but they didn't show up. Very happy about that as I went without a hat to keep from holding heat on my head. I have to wear glasses and they really get nasty when it rains on them. That's why I usually wear a hat if it's going to be raining.
1.5 mile warmup easy. Then a quick stretch to loosen up a bit and I was off. Was surprised that the 8 minute pace was as easy as it was. Had to slow down several times. Light wind the first 4 miles which wasn't too bad. Took on fluids at 2.35(water), 4.6(accelerade), 8(Accelerade), 10(acc).
At 6.25 miles in was running by Bishop Kinghorns house and didn't feel right just waving as he and Deeno were out getting some work done. Stopped for about 2 minutes to chat and was off again.
HR was hanging around 150 most of the run which I was very happy about. It used to be if I ran any distance at 10:00 minute pace that's where it would be. Nice to see some improvement! The last 1 mile kicked it up to tempo pace(at least tempo effort). Can I hold that pace for 26 miles? Great question- We shall see in about 4 weeks.
Now to get those ribs smoked! Spare ribs tonight as a reward :-)
Another perfect morning for a run. Forecast said rain but it didn't show and it was a perfect blend of weather. A little overcast and 46 degrees.
Another one of those days where my body felt great running today. I stepped my game up because of it. Avg. pace of 8:43 and powered up the hills without too much trouble.
Going to change things up this week a bit. Going for 50+ miles this week. 5 days running instead of 4 to make it easier on my body. 7.5 today and tomorrow. 10 with speed on Wed. and 6-7 on Thursday with a 20 miler on Sat.
HR is doing great on these latest runs. avg today of 137! Yeah Baby!
Didn't feel like getting blown away with the wind and the rain so hit the elliptical for 30+ minutes and then TM for 35. Will count this for 6.5 miles. Tried out my new marathon shoes...Brooks Ghost. They feel pretty good so far.
I had forgotten how boring a treadmill is even if it's just a half hour. Nice thing and probably one of the only nice things is that it allows me to work on my form.
Next run: Tomorrow - 11 miles with 6 @ 7:28 Tempo pace
Wet morning...this is a northwest day. Dropped Tori off at school and went to Centennial park.
2.5 mile warm-up at 9:28 pace
6 mile tempo...1st 3 miles going against the wind with a very slight uphill on the sno. valley trail.
Target pace is 7:28 but first half comes in @ 7:35 - effort was there but not the pace. I knew I could get some of that back on the return with a tail wind and slight downhill. @ 4 miles was down to 7:32 pace...@ 4.5 miles pace down to7:31. ..@ 5 pace at 7:29 and at 5.6 pace @ 7:28 and then I eased up and had to kick it up at the end to make sure to get my 7:28. Nailed it!
Cool down of 2.5 miles @ 9:36 pace
Not a fan of running in the wind but I couldn't skip today's workout or any going forward from here. 3.5 weeks to go.
About 40 degrees. Wore my new brooks ghost shoes for the first time on the road. They felt OK but my feet got a little warm even though it was cold outside. Still have some breaking in to do. Had to chase a woodpecker off our roof this a.m. - saw a few rabbits and 3 deer during my run.
Cold and a little windy- Felt good after the speed work yesterday though. Usually this is the day I dread but today was fine. I will attribute part of it to an article that I read on runnersworld that said after speedwork and before your cool down take in some 4/1 carb/protein mix. So that's what I did and it helped me recover better. (unless of course it's all in my head)
Felt so good today that my pace overall was 8:41. Avg. HR nice and low at 139
Even tackled a few hills on the run.
Next run Saturday: 20 miles with pace goal between 8:40-8:45.
The plan said 20 today @ 8:46 pace. Drove to Centennial park and dropped off some gatorade along the way(couldn't find my preferred accelerade dang it). It was way too cold at mid 30's starting. Foggy as well. Got started off slow due to the cold but within a mile was on track at 8:45 pace. Water break at 2.5. Gato @ 5 and then 8.5. Water and part of a power bar @ 11. Powerade at Gma & Gpa's house @ 13.5 and 16.
At that point avg pace was @ 8:42...My rio mp3 device died there and was feeling sluggish with the wind lightly blowing against me so...decided to kick it up a notch to marathon pace for a couple miles. From 16.25 to 18.25 did 8:00 pace and it didn't feel bad at all. Then I figured I could go right back to 8:45 pace....uhhhhh NO. 9:14 pace to finish out the 1.75 miles to 20.
Glad that is through. I think my body responds better to just water for the first 10-12 miles then some sugar. That's for next weeks run. Going to do 16 with at least 2 on the parkway hill. Now to go do some shopping with Amanda for bday and Mother's day gifts. Gotta get spare ribs and salmon for Mother's day tomorrow. Yum!!
Made the mistake of talking to S. Sundwall at church yesterday and he convinced me to keep my mile up this week instead of starting to taper off. Runnersworld plan said to do 11. Started off thinking 10 after that 20 spot on Saturday. Partway through decided to go for it and do 11.
It's amazing how much these really long runs help with cardio fitness. My Avg. HR is down today to 135. Avg. Pace down also to 8:44.
Got up early(for me) at 6:00 and was on the road by 6:25 ish. Rain during the night but only drizzle and some dry during the run. Saw Sommer Reynolds flying around over on Silent Creek.
48 degrees was nice. When trying to get in 11 miles here at the ridge you are required to hit a few hills and that's what I did. Feeling good on them still.
Just had to burn off my 4/1 protein/carb ration yesterday of 3 parts ribs-1 part salmon and 1 part orange sherbet/vanilla icecream-sprite slushy. OK maybe more than 1 part on that last one. Felt good to burn it off this a.m.
Only annoyance of the morning was breathing in the nastiness of those school buses.
SWEET NELLY PIE! I surprised even myself with this run- target of 6:55 pace for 4 1 mile repeats with .5 mile jog between. Haven't done intervals for quite some time so I was a little worried.
40 degrees and forgot my gloves dang it. Perfect running weather however with slight overcast with peeps of the sun. Hands cold for the 2.5 mile warm up but didn't even give them a thought once the mile repeats began.
2.5 warmup on snovalley trail. Didn't want to run fast on the gravel so decided to run on Boalch where they recently repaved and it's nice and soft asphalt.
Started at centennial park and went towards the pirates plank area.
1st mile 7:00 pace and 156 HR avg (against the wind and slight uphill)
2nd mile 6:47 pace and 164 HR avg (with the wind and slight downhill)
3rd mile 6:49 pace and 166 HR avg (against the wind and slight uphill)
4th mile 6:32 pace and 169 HR avg (with the wind and slight downhill)
at the start of the 2nd mile I remembered something that I read the other day about keeping your stride shorter and that was to move your arms faster. WOW!! What a difference that made. Much easier to keep the pace and even go faster.
Today I was running in the clouds...not to be confused with the far more positive running on a cloud. Rained hard during the night and the wind was whipping around pretty good too.
mid 40's with rain showers and some hard downpours as well this a. m. windy at times as well - Wore my pants and jacket...problem was the pants are not the good kind that are skin tight, they are the kind that get wet and start slapping from one leg to the other. That was very annoying.
About 6 miles in I was bit by a dog whose owner could not hold him back(who has a mean spaniel anyway). Fortunately the bite didn't break the skin but there is a bump there and a little bruising.
Then saw Sno. soon after that at the park where I stopped for some water. Chatted with her and then decided to cut my run short from 11 to 9 miles. It was just way too miserable out there today.
Had some hot chocolate to warmup when I got home. That hit the spot. I drained about 5 lbs. of water out of my clothes once I could get them off.
Oh and to top off a lovely morning...my commute is normally 35-40 minutes turned out to be 1 hour and 15 minutes and I was almost rearended by mr. giant truck talking on the phone.
Forgot to take the garbage cans out last night so got up at 6:30 and took out the garbage. Was going to do a couple intervals. Like to the garbage cans and then back from the garbage cans, but decided not to as my hands were full and I wasn't properly warmed up :)
Gorgeous and perfect morning for a run if you are feeling good. When you have a sore throat and can barely breathe through the night and don't get much sleep it's nice to be outside but tough to do the running part. Especially when you have a 20 miler planned.
Went with a friend who is preparing for his first ever marathon on July 4 down in Portland. This was his longest run so far of his life- He did great! We hit the sno valley trail for 12 miles at 10:00 pace. He plugged along like he could have kept going all day. I was a little sluggish once we finished that. My body told me to quit after 17...could've finished the 20 but didn't want to totally wipe myself out- Did the last five at 9:12 pace...wasn't really watching the pace, just out running on a really nice day.
We had a couple of yearling elk running on the trail with us. We were hoping not to see a big bull elk around there. Took the trail all the way to I-90...want to explore that further...nice area out there.
Sinuses feel a little better now and I hope this crap goes away fast as the marathon is officially only 2 weeks from today.
Sweet morning! @ 6:30 temp is 54 and looking perfect. Once again some sleep issues with my coughing. Still a little plugged up. Got at least 5 solid hours though so can't complain too much.
Sluggish start- Was planning on doing 9 until feeling pretty crappy during the first 3 miles so changed my mind to 6 miles then after a few more miles the energy started coming back to me and decided to go whatever I could. Ended at 7.5 without being totally worn out.
Pace was a blistering 9:09 total but for the first 3 miles it was at 9:15.
Didn't wear my hr moniter today or saturday.
Next run wednesday: 6-7 tempo or marathon pace miles, not sure how many total 8-10 with 10 if I'm feeling good....
45 degrees and overcast, normally a great day for a run. Ran the Sno valley trail and it was pretty soggy which made it a little harder to do. Sleep was hard to come by last night as Nova is doing a little bit of coughing and we've got the moniter in our bedroom to hear her.
Warm up for 2 miles 1st mile 9:05 2nd mile 8:43
Tempo Run: This is my last real speed work other than some MP miles next Tuesday.
Mile 1 7:34
2 7:29
3 7:31
4 7:36
5 7:35
Cool down mile 9:47
Really struggled today. Normally that wouldn't have been so tough but DANG this cold, it's P_s__ng me off a little bit this close to the marathon. 10 days away! Aaaarrggghhhh!! Gonna take it a little easier on the rest of my runs so as not to burn out any extra juice.
WOW! What a beautiful day! Going to take the day off to let this cold die down.
Had to get up at 6 to take Tori to a job shadow for school an saw a lot of runners out there. Saw Sno. as well as Char Olson and then on the way back saw Sommer and Laura, the two women I will be running the Newport Marathon with.
Tori qualified for State in the Discus throw yesterday and she's only a sophomore- She is really excited.
What a difference a day makes. The rest yesterday really did it for the most part. The run today started good and ended good. Couldn't believe how much energy was in the old body today!
I thank Teena for taking my cold so I can finish prepping for this marathon.
Almost 50 degrees and perfect running weather. Saw Benji Reynolds(husband of one of my marathon racemates) out hitting it hard getting ready for the Leavenworth half in Oct. I may end up running that as I haven't run a half this year and it is a goal of mine to run one each year.
#'s Overall pace 8:36 HR Avg. 142
Splits (pace)
1-8:28
2-8:41
3-8:26
4-8:30
5-8:51
6-8:43
7-8:30
8-8:44 (.75 mile)
Next run Saturday(tomorrow): 8.25 mile @ 8:46 pace...going to run the sno valley trail or mill pond road.
Another perfect morning for a run. 50 degrees and light breeze. Drove to the bottom of the parkway.
Ran the mill pond road to centennial park. Water break. Then off to Pirates Plank turnaround and back to the park for another water break. Saw Sean and chatted with him, he's doing 23 today with 10 speed miles on the track. Back to the car for a stretch and chugalug some accelerade. When I was driving away I saw Sommer and Laura just finishing their run. I'm sure they went longer than me as I parked after them and finished before they got there.
50 degrees and beautiful outside and yet I'm doing 20 minutes on the Elliptical and 25 minutes on the TM. My body and legs are beat up. I know that these two workouts don't beat me up as badly as running on pavement and I didn't feel like driving to a trail. I guess I shouldn't have done the keep away frisbee on Sat. at the b-day party. Plus, this cold is just kicking my b__t still!
Just call me Phlegm.
Easy day today, off tomorrow and a sort of dress rehearsal on Wednesday of 1 mile warmup 3 miles @ marathon pace, 1 mile MP -15 seconds then 2 mile cool down. Thursday 3 mile easy. Friday off and travel day.
Great morning for a run with 50 degrees and overcast. Took Tori to school and then went to the track(still trying to keep my legs fresh off the roads).
Felt sluggish the first lap or so. After the warmup mile did a quick stretch and then into 3 miles @ marathon pace and then one more at MP - 15 seconds. Had to slow down several times as my legs were ready to wheel. Had tons of energy. Still not sure I can hold 8 minute pace for 26.2 but am ready to find out on Saturday.
Wore the wrong kind of shorts due to saving my other ones for the marathon and started chafing at mile 5. OUCH!
3 miles easy with my "little bro". He's in town from Sacramento and is going to run the marathon with me. Hit the Sno Valley trail to keep it easy on the legs. Everything feels good.
No miles tomorrow. Overall Pace 9:21 and Avg. HR 131
Next run: Saturday 26.2 miles @ 8:00 pace (hopefully)
Friday: Matt(Our Bishop, 35) Mike(my brother, 40) and
Mark(good friend,52) and I had a big buttermilk pancake breakfast in the morning, then
off to drive for 6 hours. Stopped for
lunch and everybody fueled up well. Mike and I shared a large pizza of which he
ate 4 monster pieces and I had only 2 and was called various names for not
pounding down more. Was glad I didn’t overeat as I have before other races.
Subway sandwich for dinner at 9:00
which was way too late as I couldn’t sleep very well afterwards. Got about 3-4
hours of sleep. Up at 5:00 to eat a
banana and then 5:15 for a powerbar
and water. That was it for fuel except for a few sips of accelerade and water.
Race Day: Sommer and Laura(the two girls that Mark and I
were going to try to keep up with) and the rest of us walked down to the
starting area. The girls took a bathroom break(long line) and we got in the
starting zone a little ways back. The girls must have finagled their way into
the front of the line as we only saw them in front of us after that. This race
was not chip timed so I started my garmin when we crossed the starting line.
Mark and I stayed together and started at a nice easy 8:00 pace which was our goal.
The first 4 miles or so go through some business areas and
residential streets with a little up and down but not bad. Then to the dock
area(lovely fish smell which reminded me of my mission in Concepcion,
Chile) and to the
waterfront. Beautiful place to run! The weather was just about as perfect as it
could be, around 50 degrees and partly cloudy. The sun came out for a bit but
then we were running with a hill blocking the sun so it was really nice. Mark
was getting antsy to get out ahead and run but I stayed on the 8:00 pace and he stayedwith me instead of bolting ahead like his
legs were telling him to.
There were 3 men around our age that kept passing us and
then they would stop and walk for a bit. Found out they were running 8 minutes
and then walking 20 seconds. They were trying to BQ. After a few more times we
lost them and I highly doubt if they got there BQ times. One of the guys was
really heavy on his feet. Clomp, clomp and clomp.
We thought several times that we might be making up some
distance on the girls but we never did and they came in at 3:30 and 3:31 which
was what they were shooting for.
As we ran along the waterfront we kept our same effort and
were losing a few seconds off our goal pace of 8:00
and I mentioned this to Mark who said “it is what it is”. I thought he might
want to kick it up a notch and get back on target pace but he was OK staying at
that effort level.
We hit every water station on the way. I had water only the
first 2 and then HEED and water after that. The HEED stuff was pretty much
tasteless but worked well for me. We picked up a gu and held it til the next
water break and had a heck of a time getting it opened up so we could drink it
with water.
We hit the turnaround about 15.4 miles and I was feeling
pretty good until I noticed that now we were going against the wind. It felt
good with the cool breeze but I also felt like we slowed down after that too.
We finally passed a guy who had been ahead of us for quite
some time and he said that we looked pretty fresh. He then said that he was
going to draft us and got right behind me. If he hadn’t said anything then I
probably wouldn’t have cared much about it. So I kicked it in gear and we lost
him in short order. It felt good to go a little faster as we had gotten a
little sluggish.
At the water station around 20 I ate 2 orange pieces and picked
up 2 bananas to carry with me to fuel up along the way which worked well for
me.
Mark had some of his magic electrolyte beans around that
area. At around mile 23 the wind disappeared and I had some extra energy so I
started going a little faster and Mark to my surprise wasn’t hanging with me.
He said later that if I had gotten much further ahead then he probably would
have just stayed back. Mr. wind showed back up along with a gentle sloping hill
and Mark caught and passed me with about 1.5 miles to go. He did great passing
multiple people on that last hill. I passed a few as well and this one woman in
a purple shirt that had been leapfrogging with. Then at the top of the hill I
heard her friends cheering her on like she was right behind me and I was ready
to roll down the hill ata pretty good
pace. Passed another guy down the hill and barely missed a couple at the finish
area.
That is one of the best feelings in world to finish a
marathon. More than 3 and a half hours later of pure solid effort.
Mike came in at 4:32.
It was his first marathon and he had been having hamstring issues and we were
praying that he would make it. He missed about a month of his training because
of hamstring problems.
Matt came in at 4:38
and announced that he was starving and wanted to eat all the way home, which he
did. He had only run 8 miles in the previous 2 weeks.
Mark finished about a half a minute ahead of me.
My official time is 3:38:31
which is about 10 seconds off the real time from my garmin due to the starting
area.
Next Marathon: Maybe one in Sacramento
in about a year. I can only do these so often but they can truly be life changing
as we challenge ourselves to do things we never thought we could do.
