LET THE TAPERING BEGIN!!!!!!!!!

I finally got my last long run completed this morning.  A 21 mile adventure, made up of two loops around WhiteRockLake.  My journey was arranged in such a way, that I was within one tenth of a mile of the actual marathon course markings for my second lap, so that was pretty cool.

When I got there at 6am, the car thermomter read 34 degrees... which I did not enjoy.  It took me a bit longer than normal to get into a groove.  I was also shocked at the number of cyclists I saw out there.  Granted it wasn't windy at the lake, but still..... the mid 30's on a bike doesn't sound fun to me.  I learned that last year training for Ironman Arizona.

My run turned out to be bit more painful than I had expected.  I didn't acclimate very quickly to the cold, and didn't feel loose until mile 8, or so.... which is right around the time that the sun was coming up.  Suffice to say, my second lap was quicker than my first, and I managed to take on the Dolly Parton hills at mile 19 of my run….. which sucked.  Thanks to a string of good miles from 9-18, I managed an 8:05/mile average.  Now it’s time to kick back and taper down before the December 14^th showdown.

Weekend Report

Saturday morning was quite chilly in McKinney.  The air temperature was about 39 degrees and it was windy.  It was tough to nail down marathon pace in the hills of Stonebridge Ranch.  When I say "hill" I mean ~100 feet of elevation change, over a quarter of a mile, with a 10% grade at some parts.  The Garmin shows 3 rises like that in the first 5 miles.  Maybe it wasn't the best route to get down to BQ pace for 10 miles.

Suffice to say, the first 6 miles of the 10, were close to 7:40 per mile.  It was tough.  For the last 3, I dropped the jacket (sun wasn't up yet, but I was getting warm) and we got to a more realistic topography where I got could get down to 7:06 per mile to finish somewhat strong.  All in all, 10 miles with 782 feet of ascent in 1:13:41 (7:22/mile).  Glad that I finished strong, but it is growing apparent that 3 hours and 10 minutes is going to be a long row to hoe.

Sunday - Off.  Missed the 20 miler due to work pages at 2:30am and 5:30am.  Have to make that up this week.

Monday - Doubled my sleep hour count to 4 overnight and paid the price for it on my target 5 mile run.  Got 4.3 done, and stupidly ran 6:20 for the first mile and got back to one of the hills.  Paid for it at mile 3, and finished my 4.3 in 34:17 (7:54/mile).



The Week Ahead

Monday - Crappy 4.3 mile run
Tuesday - 20 miles - Two loops at White Rock Lake, visiting the Dolly Parton Hills of the marathon course
Wednesday - 5 miles - Recovery
Turkey Day - Hills?/Dallas Turkey Trot?/5 Yasso 800's? - Not sure what Thanksgiving family plans will support
Friday - Off
Saturday - 4 miles - Marathon Pace
Sunday - 12 miles - Easy

Is what is felt like in my quads on the 9^th ‘Yasso’ 800 this morning.  I ended up completing the workout, getting all 10 done in under 3 minutes and 10 seconds each.   After skipping yesterday’s 5 mile run, due to a work phone call at 2am, it was good to get this track workout done.

What I found as I got halfway through the 7^th repeat, is that this workout forces you to be efficient, concentrating on form to expend as little energy as possible, while maintaining a constant (key word) and elevated pace.  Best long distant running workout I have ever done.  I highly recommend them.  Google it…. “Yasso 800”

 
In a nutshell... it's a (track) workout of 800 meter repeats, to completed in a time that might project a marathon finish time.  If a person, like myself, were wanting to finish a marathon in 3 hours and 10 minutes, then he should finish these 10 800 meter repeats in 3 minutes and 10 seconds.

Warmup

1.3 mile run to the track @ 8:51/mile

Core Workout – 10 800m repeats at 3:10 each, with one lap jog in between.

Number – Time (First 400/Second 400)

Repeat 1 – 2:58 (1:24/1:34)

Repeat 2 – 3:09 (1:31/1:38)

Repeat 3 – 3:04 (1:26/1:38)

Repeat 4 – 3:10 (1:35/1:35)

Repeat 5 – 3:05 (1:30/1:35)

Repeat 6 – 3:08 (1:33/1:35)

Repeat 7 – 3:10 (1:35/1:35)

Repeat 8 – 3:07 (1:33/1:34)

Repeat 9 – 3:06 (1:31/1:35)

Repeat 10 – 2:49 (1:27/1:22) – Negative split for last repeat

Cooldown

After taking a rest day yesterday (Monday) to recover from Sunday's 18.6 mile race effort, I was back on the pavement this morning, to begin the last 'build' week of the marathon plan.  It was 5 degrees warmer than Sunday this morning, but windy..... which I didn't care for. 

Here is what this week looks like....

Tuesday - 10 Miles (recovery pace)
Wednesday - 5 Miles (bell curve pacing - will explain Wednesday)
Thursday - 10 Yasso 800's (800 meter repeats done in 3 minutes and 10 seconds each)
Friday - Off
Saturday - 10 miles (7:15/mile pace)
Sunday - 20 miles (~8:30/mile pace - maybe 21-22 miles)

This morning was a tougher 10 miles than my time represents.  Covered those 10 miles in 1:21:02 (8:06/mile pace), which included 30 seconds for a phone fumble when my phone fell out of the Fuel Belt.  Finding a rhythm the first 4 miles was tough, but the legs eventually loosened up and accepted that I was going to "get this work".  After the 10 miles, a stop at the ab station on the workout trail, for 4 sets of Body Curl's to strengthen the core.

Thursday, Saturday and Sunday of this week are going to be tough, with Thursday being Hell on Earth.  But it is all for the goal...... Boston!!!!!

Its 3am…. 4 hours before the gun goes off, and I am already off to a bad start.  Reason being…. it is 3am, and I still haven’t gotten to sleep.  The last time I remember looking at the clock, it was 3:15.  So sometime between then and 4:50, I did manage to sleep some.  But at 5:00, when I roll out of bed I feel the most tired I have felt in months.  At this point I am trying to muster up the mental strength to tell myself, “today is still going to be a good day.”

Fortunately, I arranged all of my cargo the night before, or else I probably would have forgotten my shoes at home.  I start to perk up on the way to WhiteRockLake, listening to my ‘Amped’ play list and getting some food in my stomach.  When I park at Winfrey Point, the external thermometer of the car reads 37 degrees.  I had packed myself a few different layering combinations for the race, and with an hour and 15 minutes until the gun and sun starting to creep up, I am hoping that we will get a few degrees added before the 7am start.

I do a bit of meandering around Winfrey Point and run into Coach Gerald Jackson (www.negativesplitracing.com).  We shoot the breeze for a bit, then I make my way back outside to check the air.  With a bit more daylight, I see some runners rounding the lake wearing shorts, sleeves, gloves and hats.  So decide to make a go of it with all of that, sans the hat.  After clipping my bib to my shirt, I make it out for one last restroom break, a half mile warm-up and some stretching.  One more peak inside the Winfrey Point building before I see the masses making their way down to the start line.

After standing around for about 5 minutes, the pre-race meeting starts.  The organizer didn’t have a mic, so I tried to get close to hear anything special, but am thinking the course is an out and back around the lake…. “What special instructions could there be?”  I do hear something, about passing a certain point 3 times, and just figure I will be able to follow someone around this part, when I come to that point of the course.

Eventually, the gun goes off.  Within the first 100 yards, I notice that I am grouped around runners that are bit slower, so I work my way to free space and try to open things up a bit.  I get to some open space and notice I am in the first 15-20 runners approaching the first mile marker.

The first mile marker is an interesting thing in this race.  My GPS units marks my first mile at 7:24…. Though I am still about 50 yards from getting to the course’s first mile marker.  Not knowing how this is going to affect my performance, I make a note that I am 9 seconds over my goal of 7:15/mile, and will have to make that up.  It would be about mile 4-5 before I get warm and an able to open things up.

The course is a counterclockwise loop of WhiteRockLake.  As we approach Mockingbird Lane, comes the steepest climb of the day at mile 3.  Turning left on Mockingbird, I can no longer see any of the leaders, so I just concentrating on the per mile beeps of my GPS and keeping a mental note of how far ahead of, or behind, schedule I am.

We head south, on the western side of the lake, and at mile 5 I have made up my delta, and am 5 seconds ahead of schedule at mile 6.  At mile 6.5 (or so) comes a curious branch of the course, that looks to have been meant for extending a hundred feet, or so, to the course.  I make a note to myself, that this might be the place we cover 3 times.

At this point in the race, with only about 100 competitors, I am at a point where I am running with a core group that I will see for the rest of the race.  We are traveling at the same pace, and I am using them to maintain speed, as I am sure they are using me. 

As we make it back to the east side of the lake, past the 8 mile mark (where I am 6 seconds ahead of schedule according to the GPS) I notice that the delta between my own mile markers and course markers is starting to stretch a few yards with each passing mile.  At no point in my mind, do I wonder if I need to up my pace to compensate, which ends up being a mistake.  I do, however, think that I need to ask others that I might find using a Garmin Forerunner, if their distances were off by the same amount, once the race is over.

As I get within a half mile of the turnaround, I see the leaders coming back and I notice that all of these guys look like runners, so catching too many of them is probably not going to happen.  But that is fine…. Running a 7:15/mile pace in a race environment is goal number one for the day.  About 20 yards short of the turnaround, I run into my only snafu of the day, when my right shoe lace comes undone.  So I remove the gloves and pull over, quickly tie a new knot and get going back on legs that feel like rubber from the temporary stop.  Fortuna, triathlon prepares you for that sort of feeling, and by the time I make the turnaround, my legs feel fine and manage to not lose position.  I think I am in the top 15 at this point, hitting the turnaround in 1 hour 8 minutes and some change.

Working our way back, we come to a long stretch that is a minor downhill and I naturally pick up the pace leading into the course extension and am leading a group of 4 runners who really pushing and packed somewhat together.  As I approach the turnback of this extension, I see two fellow competitors that keep running straight away from the path and onto the road.  I slow down in preparation for what someone in the pack of 4 I am in might say, when one validates that we turnback.  So I do, and our little group continues north on the west side of the lake.

I eventually get passed by these 3 at we come back Mockingbird Lane, and another, when the lack of sleep starts to kick in and my pace falters a bit.  At mile 15, I am ready for today’s run to be done and hammock.  But, I am also thriving on attempting to finish off these last 3+ miles at my Boston Qualifying pace.

Miles 16 and 17 are each done 10 seconds over my pace, but I have built enough of a cushion (so I think) to finish at 2 hours and 15 minutes, which should put me right at 7:15/mile overall.  In the last mile and a half, I manage to pass two people (one of which looks my age, which could mean the difference in making the podium for age group or not) and turn out the last mile in 6:55 to cross the finish line in 2:16:19, which comes out to a 7:19/mile pace.  My time was a little disappointing, but all in all, it was a good day.  Though I do leave this race with a concern over my GPS mileage and how accurate it is.  My final reading was that I covered 18.9 miles for this 30k (18.6 miles).  That 3/10’s of a mile is the difference between 7:19/mile and 7:15/mile.

Here is what I am taking away from the race….

POSITIVES

-         Maintained an even pace close to Boston qualifying pace for 18.6 miles

-         Finished last mile very strong, holding off a charge from another racer in last half mile

-         Walked away from the race, injury free

-         Ran a negative split – 1:08:23 (First Half) and 1:07:56 (Second Half)

-         13^th Overall (130 total competitors)

-         Ran well in temperatures close to what we should see at White Rock Marathon

DRAWBACKS

-         Nutrition plan avoidance – Only took one gel the entire race

-         Tough age group – 6^th in my age group, with awards going to top 5.  My time would have won or finished in top 3 of all other age groups

Tomorrow marks the 4 week mark to the White Rock Marathon in Dallas, at which point I am going to try to break the magical barrier to qualify for the Boston Marathon.  In my age group, Male 30-34, the time is 3 hours 10 minutes.  I've hoping to use the Ironman shape I was in earlier this year, as my base, to accomplish this feat.

The last few weeks of training have been run specific.  I would have to check the training log, but I may not have beein the pool ,or on the bike, since my birthday in early October, and have been pounding the pavement ever since.

Last week was a tough week, ending with 30 miles on the weekend alone (10 miles on Saturday at race pace - 7:15/mile - and 20 miles on Sunday at 8:15/mile).  This week was a 'recovery' week (including 8 Yasso 800's at the track - best run workout there is) that will only cover ~40 miles, ending with the Big D 30K tomorrow.  I'm hoping to run those 18.6 miles at 7:15/mile, to simulate the marathon.  Just in time for this race, the cold weather has shown up in Dallas, with expected temperatures under 40 degrees at race time, last time I checked.  Should be an interesting day.