Week_11

I'm very pleased with how training went this week.  I ran 45 miles, including a 20 mile run, two 10 milers, and a five miler.  The weather cooled a lot this past week as we move into the second half of September.  Hopefully more of the cool and crisp fall weather is all I'll see for the next 7 weeks.

The 5 mile run hurt the most this week, oddly.  I did it on Monday 12 September at 2pm, and it was hot and humid.  I took it easy, but didn't enjoy it.  Call it a recovery run from the previous week.

I started the Tuesday 10 mile run just wanting to take it easy.  I ran around the nearby neighborhoods which feature a lot of hills, but everything was clicking and I had no problems at all.  Ended up finishing the last three miles at sub marathon pace, and overall was just over MP.

Thursday's 10 miler was similar to Tuesday, including the route and how I felt.  The mornings last week were cool but still humid, so I'd still come home soaked.

I had to wait until Sunday to run the 20 miler, which meant I got two days off from running.  Funny how when you're running 35 miles a week two days off feel like a lifetime.  Saturday was chalked full of family events beginning at 8am and continuing through the afternoon, so I got up at 4:50am on Sunday and was out the door and running by 5:15.  It was nearly cold when I started, 50 degrees with a 50 degree dew point.  Apparently this is the measure that expresses how the moisture in the air makes you feel.  I was so pleased with how it felt to be out and ready to run with such cool conditions.

Everything went well on this run, with one exception.  My Garmin 405 began telling me it was low on battery power at about 5 miles into the run.  I charged it all night, so this didn't make any sense.  I was concerned that it was going to quit on me and I wouldn't get my stats from the run.  A minor setback, but still annoying.  I think it was due to me using the illumination function for a good bit during the opening 40-45 minutes of the run in order to see what I was doing.  I stopped doing it and hoped for the best.

I took it easy on the run, but still managed to finish in 9:50 average miles.  My watch never quit, oddly, so I was able to get the splits for all 20 miles.  I felt great on this run, and barely broke a sweat.  My average heart rate was 142 for the whole thing, with almost no deviation from that mean over the 20 mile splits.  Got home and was able to go right on enjoying Sunday.

Forty five miles this week is the most I've ever run in one week, and I feel great going into my step back week.  Totally encouraged at this point and on track for sure for New York!

Week_10

Lots of ups and downs over the past few weeks as I continue to train for the ING New York Marathon on November 6th.  Since I last wrote, I achieve my modest fundraising goal for Hope for the Warriors of $3000, which is probably the most important news.  Even though I've reached that goal, I still seek donations for a great and important cause.  I ran a mock 1/2 marathon 10 days ago in 1:55 for an 8m 50s pace, and felt good.  I also barely finished an easy 18 mile run on Saturday, Sept 10th; I struggled to deal with mid-80s temps and near 100% humidity and nearly became a heat casualty.  So in all, training is giving me a look at all the possibilities I can expect in New York.

I've run four marathons.  I did the 2002, 2003, and 2009 Marine Corps Marathons in DC, and the 2009 Big Sur International Marathon.  This is my fifth time doing some form of marathon training, and I don't recall experiencing the variance between runs I am currently seeing.  I'm sure the heat, humidity, hydration, hunger, and hills (5Hs!) are the factors influencing my performance the most.  I think another is rest or recovery, and the poor long runs of 11 miles or longer seem to follow days where I ran over 5 miles.  The Hal Higdon Intermediate II training plan I'm currently following is to prepare me for New York is pretty aggressive, asking me to do 10 miles on one day and then 20 the next.  I picked this plan for the slightly higher weekly mileage, and to set me up for my next race, the Disney Goofy Race 'n 1/2 Challenge in January.

The question is: should I continue to push through this plan and do back-to-back long(ish) runs, or do I adjust my schedule to allow for a day off prior to a long, slow run?  I'm going to think about that one for a couple days this week.  Probably will decide to give myself a chance to recover a bit before doing the next long run, see how that goes, and perhaps give another go at the back-to-back thing when the weather is better in 2 1/2 weeks.

This week's official schedule calls for two five mile runs, two 10 mile runs, and a 20 mile run.  That's 50 miles, and I've never done 50 miles in a week before.  My plan is for a five miler today, 10 tomorrow, rest Wednesday the 14th, 10 on Thursday the 15th, rest Friday the 16th, and 20 on Saturday the 17th.  So I'll shoot for 45 this week.  If I'm feeling exceptionally courageous on Friday maybe I'll do 4-5 easy, slow miles.  We'll see.