September flies

Well September has gone by so quickly I barely knew it was there. With 232 miles for the month it has been a lot of hard training. But with winding down now all that is left is to await the marathon and let the training pay off. I realized today that I am really excited about seeing what I can do come race day.


My 14 miles today was nice, I ran it hard enough for it to be challenging, but being done in just 2 hours is a treat. The flies today were particularly bad though and I had several fly into my eyes, nose or mouth. It was the last thing I was expecting as all night the wind was really bad. So I was going into the run expecting a stiff headwind, and all I got was a light breeze, not enough to knock down the flies. I did have a pretty close encounter with some mule deer. Some young ones were out with their mothers and they let me get pretty close before bounding off into the brush. They and I were the only ones out at 6:30 before the sunrise.

Flying!

I was rockin' today for my 18 mile run. I finished it in 2:32:53 which is an 8:30 min/mile pace overall. It was not too hard of an effort so I think I am going to shoot for a 3:40 marathon time. This was my last "long" run of the marathon training, so now begins my three week taper. I am going to keep my mileage for the week about the same, just backing off on intensity and long run distance. Speedwork is still essential, however.

Five by Four

Did my third 20 mile run today for this training schedule and as a confidence booster this one was tops. I finished strong, right at marathon race pace, and I felt like I could go for more. I am feeling great and ready for the challenge ahead. I am four weeks out from the race and I have not yet decided if I will do one more 20 next week or not. At the moment I'm leaning toward 18 next week before heading into my taper.


This week was good but I am feeling pretty sore after all the workouts I did. I don't think I did any workouts at more than 8:30 pace, so my easy pace has certainly picked up. The worst workout I had was Wednesday, coming off a tough workout late the night before. My schedule this week made it difficult to fit in my runs, but I managed to do it. Next week should be a little more laid back.

16's feeling good

I capped off this week of 54 miles with a nice 16 this morning. I have to say it felt like almost nothing to crank through the miles, which is another indication that my training is going well. My speedwork this week was awesome as well as I pushed through 10x800m repeats at 7:00 pace. Next week is going to be a big one as I am going to have to fit my running into a pretty hectic work schedule. That and 20 miles again next Saturday.


I am pretty happy today as I managed to find my shoes at a great price this morning at Southlands. I had been looking into a new pair online for a while now and had been coming up empty handed at the usual places. I had almost resigned myself to the fact that I might have to pay "full price" for a new pair. But with today's purchase I am happy that I will be able to run the marathon on fairly fresh shoes. I will likely swap them into the rotation for the long runs so that they do not have too many miles on them for the big day. I must admit I am lucky to have a wife that understands my shoe collection, with this pair I will have three pairs of identical shoes in the running rotation.

Let me explain...

No there is too much, let me sum up. This was a great week of running for me, 4x1600m at the track on Monday I was hitting at sub-7:00 pace, then running in Boulder on Tuesday I ended up meeting someone new who was using my pace for a tempo run. We had a nice chat before heading out separate ways, and I thought it was funny someone running with me the way I run with Todd. Wednesday I took an extra "rest" day and just did a short run in the evening. This proved to be a great decision as I was fired up for my runs for the rest of the week. Today I finished up another 20, this time with Jake and over the "hilly" reservoir circuit. It was a little slower than my last one, but we still finished strong, at marathon race pace, and I made it through the whole distance without having to use an energy gel. This was a mental victory for me, as I now have more confidence in the way my muscles run into glycogen deficiency. With my extra rest day it was only 51 miles this week, but I really feel like I needed the break and I wasn't dropping a "quality" workout. I have been careful to be flexible in my training, while listening to what my body is telling me and I think this is why I have been so successful this year. I am in the best shape of my life right now and I am feeling strong and ready for the marathon. Just 6 weeks left!