This Taper Sucks.

Usually the week after a long run you can back off a bit - not so with this taper.  The shin soreness after the long run hasn't went away - so I took Tuesday off.  I did the 2x3 mile 'strength run' on Wednesday. Pacing was solid: 7:19, 7:24 and 7:16 for the first interval.  7:25, 7:31 and 7:13 for the last one - overall pace was 7:22 - so about 23 seconds slower than a 7:45 MP pace.  The first mile was usually into the wind a little, while the last one was at your back - which maybe why the last mile was faster.

I took Thursday off as well - and then got up for my 5:50 10.2 miler.  This felt pretty awful - I still have shin soreness - which did ease up as I ran - and I may have been suffering from flu-symptoms from my flu shot yesterday.  The first miles down to, and around alewife were fast: 7:49, 7:30 and 7:38.  Then I had a nice long climb: 7:48, 7:54, 7:53 and 7:46.  Then two more downhill miles: 7:29 and 7:32.  The uphill was 8:40 and no fun at all.  I feel like complete garbage now.

That was a tough taper workout - and nothing really gets easier for the 5 days.  I do my normal weekend running: 5 and 8, then a 10-12 miler Monday and my last strength run next Wednesday.  At that point - about 11 days out - the taper starts to kick in - so I'll try running hard until then.

Week 12 Long Run

This morning I headed out at 8:05 to do my final long run before the marathon.  My goal was about 20 miles and about 2 hours and 50 minutes of running.  I started by going across to Belmont and then over the Fitchburg bike path to alewife (8:20 and 8:11).  I then circled alewife and started my long ascent of the bike path (8:09, 8:16 and 8:49 and the pleasant st crossing).  I continued going up at a pretty good pace (8:28, 8:17, 8:16, 8:26).  Then there is a really nice downhill part which felt amazing (8:16, 7:51) before I turned around near Bedford and headed back up into Lexington (8:19, 8:28 and 8:25, 8:22).  Miles 16-19 are a mixed blessing, downhill, but not much work (7:48, 7:52, 7:47 and 7:54).  I tried to push the pace a bit, and took some comfort in that the plan only wants 16 miles, so at that point I did 16 mostly uphill miles.  The last mile, as always, was tough uphill (8:47, and 9:12 for the extra half).  8:16 overall gps pace.  Maybe a little faster than that subtracting out light stops and 2 water refills.

Injuries.  My right shin had some unpleasant feeling which I think was left over from my bad NB grocery shopping experience.  My left big toe was wrapped, but had that pain like the toe nail was going to blacken kinda throughout the run.  My back was sore, but not nearly as bad as before.  I think holding the water in the right hand, and not the left, helps for some reason.  I think it is related to caring the water, because I don't really feel it at all on my ten milers, but did start to notice it at about 5 or 6 miles in today.

Overall, I'm pretty pumped for how good that one felt.  I felt strong at the end, and the injuries were manageable.  Weather was perfect. I'm enjoying lazing about now.

Should mention that I did my 5 Saturday, and 6 yesterday, so that is 41 miles over the last four days.

10 Mile MP Run

Left the house at 5:50 today for a MP run.  I wanted to back-load the uphill a little, so I did the first 2 miles down to Alewife T (7:31 and 7:35), then circled the station and headed back up the bikeway.  The next two miles were 7:35 and 7:56.  This took me to about the Pleasant st. crossing.  Then I continued up (7:45, 7:58) and did a 'turnaround' mile (7:57) - before heading back down: 7:42, 7:30.  The last mile - always uphill - was difficult (8:35).  Overall pace was 7:48 - 1:19 for 10.1 miles.  Pretty happy with that effort.  I will say - didn't feel like anything I'd like to keep doing for another 2 hours and 10 minutes.  I'm hoping elevation changes are making this feel harder than it will on race day.

Fastest Man in Arlington!

Well.  Second fastest.  First in my age group at a 2.7 mile fun run.  Overall pace was about 6:33 - so pretty good short mileage fitness right now.  I followed that up with a 8:21 pace over 8 miles the next day.  While the race day was a picture perfect day - Sunday's run kinda stunk.  Monday I ran home from work.  This covered 10.7 miles and was about a 8:20 pace.  It felt hard - but the pacing was ok.  Today I did 3x2 miles.  The first two miles were pretty fast - sub 7s (6:39 for mile 1).  I did about 7:15s on the second two and was in the 7:20s for the last 2.  Overall it was a 7:09 pace for the six miles.  All in all a pretty good set of runs.  Tomorrow is off and my first 10 mile MP run Friday.

Pacing

Today I wanted to practice pacing with my MP run.  I haven't been doing a great job with practicing my marathon pace with these runs - primarily because the run has some good hills.  Today the plan was to try and run just over MP on the way up the bikepath and just slightly faster than MP coming down - and work on maintaining a brisk, but comfortable pace.  I ended up doing: 7:51, 7:54, 7: 57 and 7:50 going up.  The turnaround mile was 7:46.  Coming down was 7:39, 7:37 and 7:33.  I tried to run the last hill up hard: 8:07.  Overall pace was 7:48.  So pretty good.  Wore the adrenlines - had a bit of a scare with some bad feeling on the big toe during mile one - but tried to lighten my stride and seemed to manage it.  Great weather.  Actually wore a long sleeve shirt.  

Strength Run - is this getting anywhere?

At 5;50 this morning I headed out for another tough run.  2x3 miles at a 7:20-7:30 pace.  Again on the bike path, so the first interval was uphill: 7:38, 7:27 and 7:23.  It felt difficult to run at that pace for almost 23 minutes.  The turnaround was glorious.  Then downhill.  This is easier, but I do try and push the pace: 7:16, 7:08 and 7:12.  I think just under 7:20 overall - which is good. Feel crappy now - looking forward to not running at all tomorrow for the first time in 6 days.

Worth mentioning as well - I did my first "recovery run" - following the long run - of the cycle.  I'll only do 4 of these total - not great - but it's been a challenge getting out on those days.  The dogma is, it helps training volume without sacrificing quality - but in terms of ramping up volume - I really didn't want too many more miles until this week (and the next 4) - so i've only been doing 5 runs a week (with 2 easy efforts) - now i'll be doing 6 with 3 easier efforts - but only one day off.  Really looking forward to tomorrow.

Additional Note.  I've noticed my weight fluctuates a ton while marathon training.  Last night I weighed in at 155.  This morning, following my run, I was down to 150.  This is common, and probably isn't a great representation due to sweating (??), but i've never hit 150 - so i'm certainly still shedding pounds.  Hopefully not muscle.

Another long run.

Today I did what I've wanted to be doing more of - long run home from work.  It's mostly flat, but has a decent net up hill at the end.  As is usual, I had some timing issues.  I let the starva keep running during water refill and traffic stops, and also forgot to start my watch a few times.  In the end, I think I can estimate an average of about 8:37 over the 18.7 miles.  I won't give per-mile pacing, but the splits were pretty bad.  I would expect that for the uphill, but they were bad even considering that.  I may have to try it again for the 20+, but I'm not sure where to add the extra mileage.  

Good news is that I had zero major issues with the legs.  Bad news is that my back really ached.  Kind of middle top.  Hard to imagine running 7:50s with that pain the whole way.

More Humidity.

Fall really can't get here soon enough.  I got up early to avoid the high temps today - so it was maybe low 70s - but the humidity was still oppressive.  I was out the door before 6.  The first mile seemed to start out slow - and i felt myself focusing on a quicker leg turnover - which really didn't translate to very fast pacing: 7:51, 7:49, 7:53, 7:57.  The turnaround mile was 7:37, then downhill: 7:35, 7:11, 7:23 and 8:39.

Hu Mid Ity

Today I did my second strength run - my first go at the 3x2 miles.  I headed out in the overcast, which quickly turned to sunny heat.  I felt pretty good for the first split: 7:08 and 7:12.  The second was harder, and I only know the middle mile (the first half and last half pace I didn't get, since I started on the half) pace of 7:22.  I was feeling the heat for the last one: 7:21 and 7:36.  Overall pace was just over 7:20.  Pretty happy.  The NB shoes gave me some weird pain at the top of the left foot.  It seemed to go away as I ran, but damn every shoe is something different!

Lots more running

Friday was my fantasy football draft - and as an added bonus - I got to go running with and old friend around Haley Farm and Bluff Point - a good 7.8 miles on the easy trails.  Felt good.  Weather was perfect.  Just a great morning run.  Sunday I did about 5 up and down the minutman.  Today I drove to lexington and parked the car - and reversed the hill for my 10.2 miler.  I started downtown and ran to Arlington.  Needed some extra mileage - but didn't want to hit the intersection - so I did two laps at the AHS track and then ran back up to lexington.  Neither of the last two runs felt great - but the pacing wasn't bad - about 8:10-8:20s.  Tomorrow I may do another 4 or 5 miles.

Feel the Dry

Best run of the training cycle so far.  The goal was a MP run of 9 miles.  I ended up with 9.5 at a 7:35 pace.  The legs felt amazing - I even did a decent job on the last hill.  Pacing: 7:35, 7:37, 7:45, 7:31, 7:27, 7:17, 7:12, 7:17, 8:08 and 8:21 (1/2-mile).  Ideally, I would do a few of these on the way home - so as to cut-out the downhills - but that's pretty good.  Definately better than this time last year.  Injury wise - great - no toe nail or ankle issues.  Knees felt good.  Ran in the Hoka's - which seem to be making a come back as my possible marathon shoe.  I've done about 17 miles in them this week. I'm probably at about 110-120 miles in them so far. If I can get a back-up shoe to absorb a good half the mileage - I may be able to ride them into the marathon.