It's Time

Two weeks and change since the race, and it's time to get back into the groove for the next race. That happens to be on Labor Day in Columbia, MO, at another smaller race. It's nine weeks from today, I believe, and I've set up an ambitious training plan. This plan has a lot more mileage, especially in the speed work. It incorporates ideas from what I've done in the past as well as a training plan that was in the last Runner's World. I like the variety of the plan, which includes a few of the good ol' tempo runs and fartleks with the addition of hill repeats, mile repeats, and marathon pace runs. We'll see how much I like it once I get into it.

This week is nothing but easy runs to well, ease back into running after two weeks of recovery. Tonight was a 4.25 mile run, and overall it felt okay. It took about a mile and a half to get into a rhythm, but once I got there it was all good. Plus I'm wearing new shoes. Since the race I purchased another pair of Asics Gel Nimbus since they were on sale with the new model hitting stores. Running on newer shoes after pretty much wearing out my Cumulus felt good. But if history is a teacher I'll most likely have some knee pains due to the way my gait is changed with the newer tread. I'm hoping the time off will help with the adjustment.

Race Day Recap

My goal was to finish in less than four hours - and I did it with 56 seconds to spare. Let's say that if I was trying to manage my time in this race, the way I did it today wasn't really the best way to do it. But hey, whatever works.

Alan and I ran the Maryville Marathon in northwestern Missouri this morning. Maryville is a nice little town of about 10,000 people, and home to Northwestern Missouri State University. The field for the full marathon consisted of about 65 people. And since the town is so small, we had to do two loops of a 13.1 mile course, which included stretches of rolling hills. About three miles into the loop there were four hills in a row. On the first lap they weren't too bad, but on the second lap they were killers. On my second lap I saw one guy trying to stretch out some cramps on one of the hills. Alan and I ran the first lap together in 2:09 and change, an average of about 10 minutes per mile.

We couldn't have asked for better weather. The temperature was right around 60 degrees, overcast the whole time, and a slight breeze from the north. This was especially important since a major part of the course went south on Highway 71. If the day had been warmer and the wind from the south it would have been tough.

Since I had a goal, I kicked it in at the halfway point, left Alan behind, and ran the second lap a LOT faster. My negative split was 1:49 and change, for a finishing time of 3:59:04. I had moments of wanting to slow down, but I told myself I wasn't going to get weather any better than today. So I went through the highs and lows of running 13.1 miles without music or company. Fortunately I had worn my watch and figured out the time deadline. I probably did the four hills at the beginning too quick, but it all paid off in the end. The last four miles were tough since they went through neighborhoods and plenty of uphills. At mile 22 I started experiencing some calf cramps. I quickly figured they were due to running uphill since they subsided on the downhill side of a hill. They came and went but at that point I decided I wasn't going to stop.

Overall the marathon and the people running it were great. This was my first small-field marathon, and I enjoyed it. I told the ladies at the refreshment tent at the finish how happy I was to see them. They had food for the finishers of the full marathon, which was quite an upgrade over the much larger race I ran in April in Dallas. The folks manning the drink stops were great as well. I cracked up one lady about five miles into my second lap when I asked her if I was right behind the leaders.

I learned my lesson from the last race and walked around plenty after I finished so that I didn't experience calf cramps. It worked pretty well. I have the normal soreness you would expect after a long run like this, but nothing that won't go away after a day or two.

I'm happy to report Alan also finished, with a time of 4:22. This course had a lot more hills than he is used to, and he finished the last nine miles with a bloody toe, due of course to a burst blister. It was a very good time for a flatlander, and we were both pumped up pretty good after the race.

This was marathon number four for me. Guess it's time to figure out where to run number five, as well as to set a new goal now that I've broken the four-hour mark.

Topless

Thunderstorms rolled through the area this afternoon, dumping quite a bit of run in the neighborhood. When I got home from work it was pouring down nicely. I changed and went for a run, but by then it was only sprinkling. By the time I'd gone a couple of miles the rain had all but stopped. I went without a shirt, which I don't usually do because people think they've seen a pale white ghost on the sidewalk, since I thought it would be raining more than it did. If I remember correctly, the final run before my last race was in strong winds, kind of a foreshadowing of the actual race. I wonder it the same will hold true here?

I ran 5 miles total, with a 15-minute tempo run to stretch out the ol' legs. Unless something changes, I'll be taking off the next three days and then run with a fresh set of legs on Saturday.

Oh What a Day!

Absolutely beautiful - nice temperature, intermittent clouds, slight breeze - how could a person not run on day like today? It was perfect for an easy run, so that's exactly what I did. 5.5 miles and I kept the pace at about 10 minutes/mile. Plus my new issue of Runner's World finally came today. It's about time!

One Week to Go

Today was an interesting day. Daughter #1 and I were scheduled to do some volunteer work at eight this morning. Knowing that the plan was to do some outdoor work fixing a path at a local charity, as well as whatever else they needed, I figured that work would wear me out and running later in the day wouldn't happen. Accordingly, I woke up at 4:40 a.m. (on a Saturday!), and hit the road right about 5 o'clock. I ran my 10 miles, which seemed kind of like a short run, and then we went and did our work.

And it's true - I wouldn't have run after coming home from the work we did. But the two-hour nap was certainly justified.

More Fartleks

Today was fairly warm, in the upper 70's, and sunny. I ran 6.5 miles with 2-4-6-4-2 fartleks, and in spite of the weather I ran pretty free and easy with a pace near seven minutes per mile during the faster portions. When I started out my knees felt real gimpy and I started out slow. I think that's due to more sunflower seeds last night at baseball practice. Don't know why all the salt affects me that way, but it does.

When I was done, Tiger Woods came on my iPod and congratulated me on running another 250 miles. That kind of surprised me since I didn't even know he was keeping track.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

It wasn't really that dark when I went out this evening, but it was a little stormy. Fortunately there wasn't as much lightning as I expected - in other words there was none, otherwise I wouldn't have run. But there was a light drizzle. I had meetings today at the Federal Reserve Bank and then went to a nearby watering hole with some people from the meeting, but quickly bowed out so I could get home and run.

I ran 6 miles with a 26-minute bout of a tempo run. The temperature was cool and the tempo went well. I didn't take my iPod because of the rain, so I have no idea of the overall tempo. Based on how long I was out, though, I'd guess somewhere in the low 8-minute/mile range, which means my tempo run was at least that fast if not faster due to the slower warmup and cooldown that skewed the average pace higher. Not too bad for my last long tempo run before the race.

Running for Stress

So I'm coaching first base at the boy's baseball game tonight, and he's up to bat with runners in scoring position, two outs, and his team down by four runs. He strikes out looking without swinging at any of the three called strikes. Inning over. As a dad who's competitive and who has talked to the boy numerous times about swinging the bat, I was just a wee bit mad. Okay, I was a lot mad, but I walked through the dugout and didn't say a word to him. Just tucked him in and I still haven't said a word about it. But I did go for a run. And that's helped a little bit.

I ran a nice, easy 5 miles in the dusk of early summer. I was thinking about getting up early and running tomorrow morning, but I think I needed to run to get rid of some stress tonight instead of waiting. Plus it was nice and cool, and I couldn't resist.