Very good last 'long run' -- on the treadmill...

Today was an 'at sea' day on the cruise, so after a light breakfast, Jenny and I went to the on-board gym, which included 8 treadmills.

The goal today was 10 to 12 miles at long run pace. I chose 10 miles since we were already going way over the 20 minute limit they had on the treadmills. Once we figured out how the things worked, we ramped up my speed to 8:20 per mile and off I 'ran'.

I had no problem keeping the pace although it definitely seemed easier after mile 3. Depite the gym being air conditioned, I was sweating profusely, getting sweat droplets all over the machine. And one side benefit was that I could put my hand on a bar near the console to get my pulse -- 172 or 173 -- which sounded about right.

For miles 9 and 10, I ramped the pace to slightly faster than marathon pace: 7:47 per mile. And I felt fine! And my heart rate actually fell a tiny bit -- to 171-ish BPM.

No breaks, and I was able to carry on a conversation with Jenny, who ran beside me, the whole way. Definitely a confidence booster!

2nd Last Tempo Run -- this time in Florida!

Jenny and I were in Key West, Florida today -- the first port of call in our 5 day cruise in the Caribbean. I was up relatively early and on the road to get in my scheduled 9 mile tempo run. The plan was to do the first 4.5 miles at long run pace and the last half at tempo pace.

The run out was uneventful. The route was flat and my pace was right on the money. It was starting to get warm though as the sun rose, and when I stopped at the turnaround point, my face became flushed with heat. The towel that I was using to wipe the sweat from my face was already drenched. So I took about a 5 minute break -- certainly enough time to give me the best chance of success at getting back to the ship at tempo pace.

But that pace was not to be. Despite my resolve to keep pushing through the pain, the muscles simply were not getting enough oxygen from the thick air, and I could feel myself overheating. I took two rest breaks during the 4.5 mile run back. Pathetic, really.

Also, I don't know my pace during those fast miles since my GPS ran out of battery power. The first 1.5 miles were on track, as was likely the last mile, since once I got into the town, the shade of the buildings cooled me down. But those middle 2 miles were likely at 'long run' pace or worse.

So, not a great 2nd last tempo run.

Toughest Speed Work Session Yet...

I was supposed to do 9 x 1 mile repeats tonight. I did 7. And the last two were at well below speedwork pace. So that frames how the night went.

My goal was 9 repeats at a 7 minute pace. But the weather was crappy -- heavy winds and a bit of rain coming from the south. And yesterday, I ran 16 miles, rode a horse for an hour and played hockey in the evening. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't put the run off until tomorrow because I've got a jam-packed day before we head off for a mini-vacation. Here are my splits:

6:57
7:00
6:50
7:00
6:57
7:19
7:19

After my first 7:19 mile, I was just about ready to walk home. My calves, hamstrings and quads were already quite sore. But I started running the 7th repeat away from home and the first 2/10's of a mile actually felt pretty good. But then the soreness returned quite rapidly, so I turned around and continued running towards home. The last half mile I actually had a fairly stiff wind behind me -- but, even still, the best I could do is get back up to a 7 minute pace. With that last mile at 7:19, that tells you how slow the first half mile was. But it was all my legs had in them.

If I had to find a reason, it would be 'everything'. Not resting enough after 3 different physical activities yesterday, crappy weather, heavy rain soaked shoes, relatively warm -- I'm sure I could come up with a couple of other things.

But if the goal was to work the muscles as hard as I could for a short period of time, you could definitely call the workout successful. I'll take what I can out of it. A couple of days rest and I'll hope to have a better tempo run in the heat of the Florida Keys!

Crappy long run with less than 2 weeks to go...

Coach Brian wanted me to do between 16 and 18 miles as my long run this weekend. But because of other stuff I wanted to get done, I pushed off the long run until this morning (Monday). I chose 16 miles because I'll be riding and playing hockey later today, so the muscles will definitely have an '18 mile' workout today, even if I just do the shorter distance. And my plan from the start -- really, really -- was to do 10 miles at long run pace (8:20/mile), 5 miles at marathon pace (7:50/mile), and a 'cool down' mile at long run pace again. Here are my splits:
8:34
8:15
8:13
8:15
8:13
8:09
8:13
8:13
8:15
8:14
7:50
7:48
7:44
7:48
7:47
8:18

So, on paper it looks okay, right? But I was dying out there. The weather was much warmer than it has been recently -- between 15 and 17 degrees C -- and quite muggy. The last 6 miles I did with no shirt, which I haven't done since the summer. And when I stopped, I felt like I was going to puke (at general sign of overheating for me).

And I felt tired the way through the 'marathon pace' miles.

So here come the doubts: I can't do this for 26.2 miles! But, having been there before, I know that it will all come together. A couple of weeks of reduced mileage and a bit cooler weather and I'll be ready to go. Just sucks when you have a run that causes these doubts so close to the marathon date!

Longest tempo run before the Marathon...

Just 2 weeks and 2 days until the marathon -- and Coach Brian had me doing the longest tempo run of the training program today - 10 miles. Actually, it was supposed to be yesterday but the weather was windy, rainy and haily so I wimped out. Today was still a bit windy, but nothing compared to last night.

I wanted to target 8:20/mile going out and 7:30/mile coming in. It worked out pretty well. Here are my splits:

8:19
8:16
8:14
8:14
8:09
7:28
7:28
7:29
7:26
7:24

There was a brisk crosswind for the first 3 'fast' miles and most of the last mile. The second last mile I had that wind at my back.

The muscles were feeling the pressure near the end. My right quads and right hamstring felt it the most. But now that I'm done the run, my legs feel tired but not overly stressed. I'm finding that I'm concerned that I don't push it too hard in these last few weeks -- just barely beating my target paces, even though its possible I could push hard and beat the target by a lot. I think I'll save that part for the actual marathon!

Speed Work - 8 x 1 mile repeats

Did I say last post that the work gets easier? Well, I guess the long runs get easier, but we stepped up the speedwork to 8 x 1 mile repeats this week -- and next week its 9. So, the speedwork definitely isn't getting any easier.

But at least the pain and misery doesn't last as long with the speed work.

I went out targeting 7 minute miles -- but since my hamstrings were a bit sore (possibly from hockey 2 nights ago, or possibly from a lot of horseback riding in the past 2 days) I decided to make sure I didn't go a whole lot faster than that. It worked out pretty well. Here are my splits:

6:56
6:55
6:51
6:56
6:50
6:56
6:53
6:57

So, everything was within 10 seconds of the goal pace. At no time did I think I couldn't do it -- but at the same time, my legs were sore by the end of it all -- so I must be building muscle.

Now, off to hockey tonight!

Longest long run before the marathon...

From here on in, the work gets easier up until marathon day. I did my longest run of the training today. Coach Brian said to go out and do 3 hours and 30 minutes at long run pace -- which should be roughly 24 miles if I'm hitting 8:20/mile consistently and taking short breaks.

So that is what I did. I was up and on the roads at around 7:30 am and was finished at around 11 am. I banged off 24.37 miles (39.2 kilometres) and my average pace was 8:14 per mile. Here are my splits:

8:16
8:09
8:09
8:11
8:16
8:13
8:09
8:14
8:15
8:16
8:15
8:12
8:14
8:16
8:15
8:18
8:13
8:19
8:12
8:14
8:14
8:09
8:15
8:14
8:05 (0.37 miles)

So I was pretty consistent for the entire run. There were no situations where I thought I wouldn't be able to complete the run, and there were no situations where I had to walk beyond the standard 2.5 mile scheduled 1 minute rest breaks.

The legs are sore this afternoon -- but I'm walking semi-normally.

I'm chalking this up as a good run!

Good (but short) Tempo Run...

I'm doing my longest run of the training in less than two days, so when Coach Brian said '6 or 7 miles' for my tempo run, I chose the shorter of the two. I was targeting 8:20/mile for the first 3 miles and 7:30 per mile for the last 3. Here were my splits:

8:12
8:20
8:05
7:29
7:28
7:22

So, short but sweet. Less than 48 hours until I take on a 24 miler!

Possibly my best speed work session to date...

Well, I'd have to look back at my records (likely within this blog) but I'm pretty sure tonight marks the fastest 7 x 1 mile repeats I've done yet. My goal was 7 minute miles, but after the 2nd repeat I decided I was good to ramp it up to 6:45's. Here is how my splits looked:

6:49
6:54
6:44
6:41
6:36
6:39
6:39

That last mile was slightly uphill and into a bit of a stiff breeze, so I was fighting it all the way. I really, really wanted to stop. But I kept pushing and I'm glad I did!

Tough 20 Mile Long Run -- Had to walk before last mile...

Well, with just 4 weeks until the marathon, one wonders if the magic of training will come together to allow me to reach my goal.

Today's run was to be a 20 miler and I originally set out with a goal of doing the last 5 miles at race pace (7:50/mile, 4:52/k). But 13 miles into it, I was feeling good and approaching that sort of speed anyhow, so I decided to step it up and do the last 7 miles at race pace.

Everything appeared to be going well until the 6th race-pace mile. A combination of slight headwind, the heat from the sun, and the fact that my muscles were getting tired forced me to walk -- as much as I hated the thought. After a bit of dry-heaves attempts at puking and a couple hundred metres of walking, I was able to get back on track again and knocked off that last mile at pretty close to long-run (5:11/k) pace. Here are my kilometre splits:

5:23
5:02
5:05
5:04
5:06
5:07
5:03
5:02
5:04
5:12
5:15
5:15
5:18
5:17
5:15
5:08
5:01
5:02
5:02
5:05
4:58
4:51
4:52
4:50
4:45
4:49
4:49
4:50
4:46
4:48
4:51
5:17 (600 m.)
5:00

Jenny ran with me for 6 kilometres in the middle of the run, which was much appreciated.

I did try something different on this run: drinking pickle juice. Because of its high salt and potassium content, its supposed to be quite good at preventing and curing leg cramps. While I didn't have any leg cramps today, my calves were very sore after I took the walk-break with a mile to go -- but not before. So my sense is that while it can prevent leg cramps, it certainly doesn't take the place of training: You either have the leg muscle or you don't. I'm not sure if the dry heaves have anything to do with the pickle juice. I've done that before when I've been overheating. And because I wasn't puking up anything, my sense is that the pickle juice I'd consumed a half-hour earlier wasn't in my system any more.

The biggest concern, of course, is that it was just a 20 mile run. I have to do 24 miles next weekend and 26.2 on race day. If I'm being forced to walk at the 19 mile mark, I could be in for some trouble. But that is where once trusts in the magic of tapering and race day.

Sitting here 12 hours later while I type this post, my legs feel pretty good. So I'm hoping I built some muscle today!

Acceptable 10 Mile Tempo Run...

With the crappy long run I had on Monday and the fact that my muscles were still sort on Tuesday from the long run and weekend hockey prior to that, I just skipped the speed work this week. No apologies. No feeling guilty for not making it. Just skipped it. And I'd say that the logic of skipping it -- that I needed to let the muscles repair -- was sound.

Today I did my tempo run in a little community outside of Louisville Kentucky named Prospect KY. I'm in Prospect visiting with some close friends from University -- Ben and Sharon Butler -- and we've also been taking in some of the events at the World Equestrian Games taking place in Lexington, which is a little over an hour's drive away.

Anyhow, this morning was an 'open' morning with nothing scheduled, so I headed out on my run to get in 10 miles -- the first 5 at slightly slower than marathon pace (8:20/mile, 5:11/k) and the last 5 at slightly faster than marathon pace (7:30/mile, 4:40/k.). Here are my kilometre splits:

5:19
5:08
5:01
4:57
5:02
5:07
5:05
5:05
4:46
4:40
4:48
4:42
4:46
4:40
4:41
4:39

There were a few tough k's in there. There was next to no shoulder on which to run and the traffic was fairly heavy. So I found myself running in the grass for a good chunk of the run. And there was really nothing resembling a running trail in the grass, so it definitely wasn't easy running terrain. I was pleased with my last 3 k where I hit the target (the traffic was a little lighter in this segment) and felt strong at the end.

My average throughout the run was 4:54/k -- quite an acceptable pace, I feel.

So, I'll chaulk this up as an acceptable run. I'm back in the game!

Awful Long Run Today...

Well, it had to happen. Training has been going so well that I really was due for a bad day.

I went out this morning to do a little 16 mile (25.6k) 'long run' -- much shorter than I had done almost since I started training. The first couple of miles were typical -- my left ankle was bothering me, but that subsided. I was feeling pretty good.

But as time went on and I got prepared to ramp up the speed to marathon pace, I found that the legs didn't have the energy -- particularly the quads. Here are my splits (aiming for a 5:11/k long run pace and then 4:52 marathon pace):

5:39
5:10
5:07
5:08
5:10
5:11
5:13
5:06
5:04
5:08
5:05
5:07
5:08
5:09
5:15
5:14
5:14
5:12
5:07
5:14
5:15
5:20
5:32
5:37
5:39 (459 m.)

Near the end, I had to walk a couple of times. My quads were screaming at me and there was simply no energy with which I could push back with my legs while running.

I'm quite sure that the cause of my horrible run was that I did the tempo run on Friday, played hockey on Saturday morning after not enough sleep, stayed up until 3:00 am on Saturday night, and then played hockey on Sunday at noon. Hockey tends to work my quads more than anything else and clearly they hadn't recovered.

I'm going to have to take my hockey schedule into account, now, when figuring out future runs.

Good morning tempo run...

I did 9 miles this morning -- aiming for 4.5 miles at a long run pace (5:11/k, 8:20/mi.) and the 4.5 mile return at 4:40/k (7:30/mile). It was a good morning for a run -- 10 degrees C -- but there was a fairly stiff breeze coming from the north. So for the slow part of the run, I ran into the wind and then had it at my back for the first 4 kilometres of fast-paced running.

My left ankle was bothering me again at the start of this run. Fairly sharp pain on the outside of the ankle -- almost as if it was getting bruised by the upper edge of my running shoe. But after two miles, most of the pain had gone away. And by the end of the run, I could hardly notice anything.

Here are my kilometre splits:
5:18
5:07
5:01
5:00
5:06
5:10
5:05
5:01 (300 m.)
4:40
4:40
4:39
4:37
4:37
4:37
4:28
4:21 (200 m.)

I was particularly pleased with the last 1.2 kilometres since they were done facing into that brisk north wind. And yet I was able to pound out my best times of the run. (Mind you, I had been conserving, knowing that was going to be a tough leg.)

Average pace for the entire run was 4:52/k -- target marathon pace! So we'll chalk this up as another good run!