ONE WEEK TO GO

This is it, after logging over 700 miles since April there are no excuses.

I am ready.

My instestines are probably died blue from Powerade.

I have consumed an entire box of orange GU.

I am on my 3rd pair of shoes this year.

I can describe to you where just about every mile marker on the bike path is located

I ran on ice, in the dark, through the rain, and the heat.

I put my time in, I am ready. One week from today, on October 4th, I will run 26.2 miles....nonstop.

It doesn't really matter at this point when I finish, just that, I know I can and will finish.

There is a ton of excitement and anticipation building toward this run. It will be a life changing accomplishment...no doubt.

Because of this training I have lost over 30 lbs. this year, I feel great.

The marathon will be great, I will do more of them, I already know this.

The support from family, the friendships I have made, and the people I have met that have kept me motivated are priceless.

Thank you, it has been a fantastic journey.

Stay tuned for race report and pictures.

23 Miles

Today was my last 20+ mile long run. I ran 23 miles without having to stop and walk like I had on my previous 20+ milers.
I was a little intimidated thinking about it and preparing for it leading up to this day. I had practiced carb. loading for this run which involves eating a high carbohydrate diet the three days prior to the run. I believe that fueling properly before the run, making sure that I had plenty of sleep, and probably most importantly having friends to run with really helped me finish strong. Here http://bit.ly/LBJcj are the splits / stats for the run. My goal pace for this marathon is going to be 8:45 - 9:00 minutes per mile. This will allow me to finish in under 4 hours.

Just 4 weeks left until the Twin Cities marathon. I am really looking forward to the family support that will be there. I have realized, especially today, that having friends and family to run with and support your running is a huge mental boost. It would have been mentally and physically a much greater challenge to finish today without that support.

Thank you to my wife and family for supporting my running habits; and thank you to my running friends, especially Jeff (@jpickett1968) and Jenn (@purpleshoe), for the training support.
After today I feel that I am really ready to rock this marathon with confidence! But first - Corrin and I will be rocking Vegas!

21 Miles - The breakdown.

Today's run was a monster, like a few weeks ago when I ran 20. This time, I chose not to fear the monster. I have been training for 17 weeks and I finally figured out that slow and steady finishes the run. When comparing to my 20 mile run I changed some things up a bit for this run.

First - I did not create a bunch of anticipatory build up as I had before. Mentally breaking the run down, I told myself it was just going to be a nice easy pace, no 8 or 8:30 miles. Slowing myself down to 9-9:30 was a little difficult to get used to because a lot of my training is at about an 8 min. pace.

Second - I slept well.

The Run

I changed up my refueling plan a little this time. Instead of carrying all Powerade with me I carried half Powerade and half water. The water was a great change, I found it very refreshing and even refilled a couple of times. I also did not have such a strict schedule for taking gels. I took gels at miles 6, 10, 14, and 18, basically when I felt I needed them, which seemed to work out much better; I think I may have overloaded on carbs for my 20 miler.
The first 8 miles went great, as they typically do. The temperature in the first few miles read 75 degrees and there was a nice cooling breeze, running through the shade with the breeze was heaven! I had a little stomach cramping at mile 6 but a gel took care of that, then at mile 8 my legs started feeling fatigued, but that went away before I hit mile 9. My average pace for the first 9 was pretty close to 9:10. At mile 9 I started heading into the wind and had about a 9:35 pace for 3 miles. 11 - 12 is down hill heading towards Falls Park, I took it very easy with a 9:26 mile. After this leisurely down hill run, you get a nice 3/4 mile run up hill, this is where the 20 miler kicked my butt before. I had already decided ahead of time that I was not going to let it happen again and that I was going to kick mile 12's ass ....and so I did and I powered on through it! I stopped at mile 14 to fill up on water and get rid of some too. Stopping was tough, because at that point I realized how fatigued I was becoming. I could have easily thrown the towel in right there, but I didn't. I lumbered on another couple miles, and at mile 16 I decided that I had better do some walking. I walked one mile, from 16 - 17. At 17 I thought I could finish up the run fairly easily, I was wrong. At mile 19 - 20 I walked again, I am not ashamed to tell you so either. I did run the last mile. 21 miles completed in 3 hours 30 minutes, a 10 minute pace even after walking 2 of the miles, I'm ok with that!

Reflection

Evaluating this training run, I have a new found respect for the 26.2 mile distance. Common thinking is that if you can train at 20 miles, you can run the last 6.2 of the marathon. 20 -21 miles is no piece of cake so to just tack on another 6 is not going to be a walk in the park.

Boston Qualifying is definitely out for this race, I had my head in the clouds when I first thought I had a chance. In fact, my goal will be to finish the marathon in under 4 hours. This requires a 9 minute pace which will be a challenge, but you also have to factor in the crowd and excitement which should help push the pace.

What an exciting challenge. @runnergrl, you were right on when you talked about having a love and respect for the run. Just when you think you have her tamed, she will stomp you down and show you who is in charge. I completed my 21 miles, I am tired and sore, but life is good! I kicked some ass today by running farther than I have ever run before. Mark another notch on the belt, 26.2 I am coming for you soon!

July Summary

It's been a great day, I really rocked my last two runs of the month yesterday and today. I had a beautiful run yesterday, I called it my "Caddyshack run" because it reminded me of the scene where Bill Murry is the unwilling caddy for the older gentleman when it is storming out. The old man can't miss a shot and is having the game of his life; that was my run through the rain yesterday. (minus the "rat farts" lighting strike of course)

Today's run was a scheduled 6 miles. I ran a one mile warm up then ran hard for 4 (7:41,7:39,7:31,7:20) and finished with a one mile cool down. Even though I had a very tough run on Sunday my speed has really kicked up a notch. So, we'll see what happens with Sunday's 14 miler.

Monthly Summary: This was a record month of mileage for me finishing with a total of 163.8 miles. Training is proceeding well, I just need to continue to season the legs for the long runs. As of this writing I believe that there are about 65 days until the marathon. That's two months!

I would like to say that my running has become much less off a chore than it was in the beginning. I don't think much at all of going out for a quick 5 or 6 mile run and I look forward to the Sunday long run challenges. The excitement of the marathon is beginning to build as it grows closer.

I found a good article yesterday with some nice tips for first time marathon runners. http://mag.cmhmag.com/health/marathon-prep/

20 Mile Run Day

Today, I reached a new milestone in my training. I ran farther than I have ever run before, that's right, I ran (sort of) 20 miles. I tried to make sure that I was well hydrated the day before and loaded up on some spaghetti last night to make sure that I had some carbs in my system. Saturday evening after work I ran an easy 5 miles, my schedule said to run 4 but I didn't realize that until I had already finished my 5. Watched a the TDF that I had DVR'd earlier in the day and headed to bed at a fairly early time. My goal was to get up at 6am and be running by 7 while it was nice and cool. Unfortunately, due some circumstances beyond my control I was awakened at 2:30am and did not get back to sleep until probably 4. I reset the alarm clock for 7am.

I woke up before the alarm and felt a little groggy but pretty decent and hit the trail at about7:30am. Within the first half mile, I realized that I had forgotten to take care of things with body glide, too late now, I would have to suffer later.

My first 12 miles were a piece of cake actually. I had a nice pace going and was feeling pretty good. But during mile 13 I really started to struggle. My legs were not holding up very well, I am guessing because of the 5 miles that I had run about 14 hours prior (dumb mistake). So, I walked for awhile during mile 13. Then, with just 7 miles to go, I figured I could probably finish out my run, what's 7 miles? I was wrong, it was a long 7 miles of running and walking. I couldn't even force myself to run the entire last mile without doing some walking. :-(

I completed the run in 3hours and 8 minutes, a pace of 9:24. Not bad but disappointing because I was on pace to finish at about an 8:40 pace. Oh yeah, luckily the chaffing was very minimal, that's a good thing!

When Motivation Kicks You in the Ass

Today I have only myself to blame for my misery. I went out for "a couple" beers with some friends and before you know it, they were taking turns buying the group shots. Of course it would be rude of me to turn these down when they came to the table. Needless to say, the evening was fun, the morning.....not so much.
I was scheduled to run 8 miles today. Luckily I had the day off and was finally able to roll my tired ass out of bed and onto the bike path by shortly after ten a.m. I started off nice and easy with a pace of 8:38 for the first mile, pretty normal for my first "warm up" mile. The next three miles I actually felt good. I was light on my feet and ran a decent 8:15, 8:14, and 8:12. After 4 miles I was starting to wear down a bit, I slowed my pace in order to suck down a gel for some fuel and finished mile 5 in 8:27, then picked it up just a bit, running 8:19 for mile 6. By this time I was really starting to drag and feel the effects of last night. I didn't care what my pace was going to be. I zoned out and decided I would just hang on the best I could for the last two miles, but then it happened. I was jolted out of my running stupor when a young lady in a 2009Twin Cities Marathon training shirt blazed past me. I guessed that she was probably running a little better than 8 minute miles at the time so I figured, what the hell, I'm going to quit feeling sorry for my hung over ass and let her set my pace for the last mile and a half to finish strong.
Somebody had obviously sent her to motivate me! She was moving a little faster than I had originally thought, but I kept up with her fairly well. We crossed over the bridge by the 4 mile marker and rounded the corner. Just up ahead of her we spooked a little white tailed doe next to the bike path and it started bounding ahead of us. It then ran onto the trail and stopped right in the middle, then when it saw us still heading its way, it turned and ran off again, finally disappearing into the trees. Motivator #2, how cool is it to run with a doe?!
Feeling pretty decent and forgetting my hangover pain, I finished mile 7 in 8:10. Motivator #1 turned around and headed back the other way with about half a mile remaining in my run. I was a little disappointed but grateful and somewhat relieved, like I said, she wasn't slacking like I was. I did not push it quite as much the last half mile, but still finished strong with a 7:35 pace on my last mile!
I am glad to be done with my run, but also grateful for the two motivators that were sent my way to help me finish strong.

Yasso 800's

Today was the toughest workout I have done all year. I had decided ahead of time that I was going to run intervals on the track today. There are several training philosophies on intervals, I am sure they all have a positive effect on a persons overall speed, but the one I chose to use is the Yasso 800's.
If you are not familiar with this term, this workout was named after Bart Yasso, the Race Services Manager at Runner's World. The Yasso 800's involve an easy warmup before the intervals, and then you run 800 meters on the track at your target marathon time. For instance, my target time is 3 hours 20 minutes, so I needed to run my 800's at 3 minutes and 20 seconds, then jog the track for the same amount of time in between each interval. You should be able to start with 4 of these and add one per week until you can do ten. Sounds simple right?
The first couple of 800's weren't too bad, and because I did not read directions very well, I just jogged for 400 meters before the next interval instead of by time, thereby shorting myself a good minute of recovery time. The third interval was pretty tough, but I knew I could gut it out and finish. I jogged my 400, stopped my watch and took a break, I wasn't sure I would be able to finish another one. After some procrastination, I got back out onto the track and took off for my last interval. I really didn't try to push it too hard on this one, I just didn't care at this point. All the way around the first lap, I kept thinking that I should just stop after one lap and call it good, my body was trying to convince me that it would be ok because I had ran pretty hard the last three intervals. The body can be very convincing in these situations when your legs feel like lead, your heart is pounding and you are gasping for air. But I refused to give up and mindlessly pushed myself through the second lap finishing the interval in 3:23. I was ok with that time, I was done! I jogged a couple of easy laps around the track and sat down for a couple of minutes before I had an easy cool down run home of about 3/4 mile. But, after running intervals, nothing seemed "easy" about the run home, I was beat!
The funny thing is that I ran by some apartments on my way home and a little boy was standing out front of the building, he had his shorts down to his knees and was trying to see how far and how high he could pee on the sidewalk! It was hilarious and made me forget about my pain and suffering the rest of the way home.
So, to make a long story short, I finished my 4 intervals with times of 3:13, 3:23, 3:20, and 3:23. Pretty darn accurate for the first time out on the track this year. It's amazing how your body just seems to know how fast to run!