5 Weeks to Go and Two Twenty Milers are in the Books

Simply put, today's 20+ miler was the strongest I have felt on a long run in a very long time. Things just seem to click all around and I just felt "on". I need to remember what this feels like in case I struggle or feel sluggish in the next couple of weeks to remind myself what I am capable of on a good day. The weather was perfect for running, about 50 degrees and cloudy, and I was able to run the entire distance with other people, which helps a tremendous amount. When I run by myself, I tend to run slower and feel more exertion, but when I run with others I usually feel alot more comfortable and I'm able to run a quicker, more consistent pace. That is exactly what happened today.

I was signed up for the 15K race this morning and the plan was to run 11 miles before it at around marathon pace and then run the 15K at that same pace for as long as possible. I met up with Scott C and Jon B and we ran a pretty quick but comfortable pace for the 6 mile loop and 5 mile loop route. The pace was faster than I wanted to go but I didn't want to have the other guys slow down too much just because I was running a race afterwards. About halfway through our run I realized that we were going at around 8:10 pace. I was worried about burning out later in the day during the race, but I was feeling comfortable so I tried not worry about it. I felt strong and wasn't straining too much at all. It is amazing what having company can do for you. Jon cut out at Engineer's Gate to run a loop of the reservoir and Scott ran with me to the start of the race which was about a mile and a half away.

I timed the pre run almost perfectly since I got to the start of the race with only about 3 minutes to go. I was in a good groove already and I was hoping not to mess it up by having to stand still for a long period of time With only a few minutes to go to the start of the race, I mentally regrouped and figured out what I wanted to do. One of the great things about incorporating a race into your long run is the thousands of people you get to join you and help you along as well as the water and people cheering along the course (thanks so much to BH, JM, CK, JG, PD, SD, BC taking pictures and other Flyers - you gave me a huge mental boost!). In addition, the race and the people help carry you along and help motivate you to finish your run. The only worrisome thing about running in a race is that it very often makes you go at a much faster pace than you would like. It takes a lot of discipline to stay at a predetermined pace during a long run with thousands of people around you and I've only been able to do that a couple times during a long run like this. You get sucked into the crowd and your competitive juices start flowing and you want to start passing people. So, the plan was to run at about an 8:20 pace, but I knew right away that that was not going to happen. I was still feeling good from the 11 miles before and I ran with the crowd. Before I knew it I was I running splits in the 7:50-7:55 range. I was trying to slow down which worked for a bit but not for long. I figured why fight it as long as I was feeling good. Even though this was very hilly for a long run, I was able to keep up a good pace and feel strong. For whatever reason, having a Garmin on makes the miles feel quicker. I even was able to pick up the pace considerably for the last mile or so trying to avoid having these two girls pass me at the finish line (mission accomplished).

This was a great confidence booster for me. I felt strong and this gave me an indication of what type of a pace I can stay with comfortably (relatively) for over 20 miles. This also made me think of what my race strategy could be. In my past three marathons I have always started out way too fast and then struggled at the end of the race, with a pace that is all over the place. Over the past year, I have seen that I am capable of doing negative splits in half marathons and today during my 20 miler (ran about 8:12 for first 11+ miles and then a 7:46 pace for the 15K race), as well as seeing my pacing ability get a lot better (but still not great). To try and ensure a steady pace during the first half/three quarter of the marathon, I plan to run with the pace group (I need to stick to this) and even if I feel good, I need to stay with the group for at least 16-20 miles in order to keep a consistent pace and not get ahead of myself. If I am feeling good, then I can give myself permission to pick it up.

Total distance run: 20.55 miles; Total time: 2:43:07, Overall pace: 7:56
Overall pace for 15K race: 7:46.

Game On!

The last two weeks began the start of my training surge and gave me my first 20 mile of the schedule and my first 40 mile week. I was happy to see that I got through both milestones and felt pretty good.

I knew last week's 20 miler would be tough to squeeze in due to do all the rain that was scheduled for the weekend. I was checking weather.com and accuweather almost every day to see if there would be any break in the rain all weekend. It was supposed to rain on both Saturday and Sunday, with the worst of it coming on Saturday. I usually don't like to leave my long run to the last day of the week because if something comes up on Sunday than I have no other day to reschedule and I wanted to make sure that I was able to check off my first 20 miler. With the wind and downpours scheduled to come on Saturday, I had no other choice but to go on Sunday. While I was worrying about the weather all week, I was also trying to wrangle together some other runners to go out least part of the way with me. I was really looking to avoid going 20 miles all by myself. I needed someone else to help shoulder the load with me. Luckily, I got Jon B to run with me at the last minute. He was going to run the first 10 miles and then I only had to go 10 miles by myself. The weather held out for the most part. I started at 12:45 on Sunday which is much later that I usually like to start but the other alternative was to run in the rain for most of the run. I ran down to the 72nd St transverse and met Jon on CPW and within about 2 minutes it started to rain hard. We took cover hoping it would stop and luckily it would only last about 5 minutes. Once the rain ended, we headed on over to the WSH and ran along the West Side, along the southern tip of Manhattan and over the Brooklyn Bridge. Having a partner makes a huge difference. We were cruising at a pretty good pace and I was feeling really good - like I could go on like that for miles. Once we crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, Jon took the subway home and I was off on my own for the rest of the run. I turned around and went back the same way that I came. Without the help of a running partner, I did feel myself slow a little bit and the soreness in my legs began to get a little worse, but that is pretty much expected at the end of a 20 mile run. Cardio-wise, I felt good but I was ready for the run to be over by the time I reached mile 18 or so. I ran 20.4 miles at approximately and 8:45-8:50 pace. One 20 miler down and two more to go.

After my 20 miler was over, I found myself engaging in my usual post long run routine - sitting back in my reclining chair watching TV, then slowly closing my eyes, and then falling asleep and waking up 2 hours later. This run definitely wiped me out and carried over into the beginning of the next week. I still found myself pretty exhausted on Monday and decided to take a rest day. On Tuesday, I still felt tired but knew that I had to keep going. I gave my body a bit of a rest by going on a 5.2 mile recovery run on the bridle path. I wasn't sure if my fatigue was too due the 20 miler or the fact that my training is catching up to me a bit but I knew that I had to be careful. I still had about 7 weeks to go and the start of 3 consecutive 40 mile weeks had already begun. I felt more awake by Wednesday and went out to Bridgerunners - my weekly kick in the butt. The people who do these runs are considerably faster than me but they push me to go alot faster than I normally would on a weekday and I feel that it has definitely helped me. I use these runs as my interval runs/speedwork and I think they are paying off and increasing my speed.

Since the schedule called for a 40 mile week, and only a 14 mile long run, I knew that I was going to have to run 5 days this week and not be able to do a cross training day. I hate to do that but I want to make sure to always have two rest days during the week. In order to accomplish the 40 mile goal, I ran on consecutive days to end the week - I got in 7 miles on Friday (all on the Bridle Path to give my legs a rest), 14 miles on Saturday with Jamey A (overall pace of 8:31 and I felt good) and 6.6 miles on Sunday (again on the Bridle Path). My first 40 mile week came and went and now I am on to the second one.

I will be able to get in a cross training day this week - I have a 20 miler this weekend and will split the remaining 20 miles over three days. Only six weeks to go! I have a few goals in mind but once put them down on paper until training is almost over and I have a good sense of how I am feeling.

Gearing Up... - Week of 3/1

The week of March 1st is the calm before the storm that will be coming up for the next several weeks. I felt fully back after not running much when I was in Mexico (week of 2/15) and being able to put in a full week of miles, including and 18 miler, during the week of 2/22.

This week was all about preparing myself for the six week stretch that I have coming up which includes three 20 milers and my peak weeks. The total mileage on tap was 35 miles, but with a long run of only 12 miles scheduled I knew that I would have to run 5 days instead of my usual 4 and not be able to get in a cross training day. This worried me a bit since I did not do any strength training or spinning for the past 2 or 3 weeks and I wanted to make sure that the cross training was still an integral part of my training. I let it slide for this week but I was going to promise myself to get a strength day in next week. After 5 days of running in a single week, I knew my body was going to need it.

The first of the month was the downtown run as well as AG's and CK's birthday and these were reasons enough for me to get out for a run on Monday night. It was our usual 6 mile(ish) run up and down the Westside Highway, ending up at a bar eating and drinking afterwards. I adhered to my usual downtown run strategy of taking it easier on the Southbound run and then picking it up for more of a tempo run as we run back North on West Street. It allows me to increase my stride and pick up speed for the last 2 or 3 miles. It felt good. Tuesday and Wednesday runs were out of the question due to the fact that I lost my keys and had get to the situation resolved. I was exhausted and couldn't think about my running. Therefore, although I didn't want to do it, I had to run on four consecutive days if I was going to hit my mileage for the week, or come close to it. I ran 6 miles on Thursday (half on my own and half with CK after running into her on the West side) and 6 miles on Friday which was a combination of two loops of the reservoir and 3 miles on the roads in Central Park (if I was going to run 5 days this week, I wanted to get at least one run on a soft surface to allow my legs to recover a bit). As for the weekend, I had already signed up for the Coogan's 5K a while ago and was looking forward to running it. The question was whether I should create a long run around the 5K on Sunday or just do the long run of 12 miles on Saturday and have fun with the 5K knowing that my long run was already over. I chose the latter.

The weather on Saturday was great - in the 50s and sunny. For the first time in a very long time, all I wore was a long sleeve shirt and shorts. It was nice to be in the sun rather than slogging in the cold, snow and darkness. This run was on my own. I did my usual WSH route and added an extra mile each way in order to get up to 12 miles. With my trusted Garmin with me, I was on my way. I was able to keep up a good pace once I navigated the streets of the UWS and got on the Westside Highway. Overall I felt good and was able to run an overall pace of 8:10 for the run.

Split	Time
1	0:08:13
2	0:08:30
3	0:07:52
4	0:07:56
5	0:07:55
6	0:07:49
7	0:08:03
8	0:08:19
9	0:08:28
10	0:08:28
11	0:08:27
12	0:07:56
Summary	1:38:02

I was looking forward to Coogan's for a while since everyone says that it is a fun race and also because I have not run a 5K since high school and it would be cool to see what I am capable of doing. Friends of mine warned me before the race about the hills and they weren't kidding. For a race that is only 3.1 miles and is an out and back course, there are a total of 4 significant hills. Therefore, you are never too far away from one. Even though I was in the second corral, it was very hard to get going in the beginning of the race. It was very crowded, especially since the race was run on a city street that was pretty narrow, so I knew right away that I would probably not be able to get a PR (not for the 5K distance but I was hoping to come close or beat the 6:44 overall pace that I ran in the Run as One 4 mile last year) but I still wanted to go out and get a fast time. I was hoping to achieve a pace of under 7:00 but the combination of the hills and the crowded start prevented that from happening. My overall pace for the race was 7:08. I definitely picked it up over the last mile and feel that I could definitely go under 7:00. I am hoping to find a 4 mile race soon that I can attempt but I don't want to mess up my training in the process. After the race was over, I was able to enjoy Guiness and breakfast at the famous Coogan's restaurant. It was cool to hang with a bunch of Flyers afterwards and enjoy the morning.

The total for the week was 33 miles, which was close enough in my book to the scheduled 35 miles. For the first time, my legs did feel a bit sluggish this past week. I'm not sure if it is because of the lapse in strength training/spinning or just the increase in mileage do to training (this is the most amount of running I have done in almost a year in a half) but it is not too bad. Now starts the hard part - I have my first of three 20 milers scheduled for this weekend. I was able to get in three 20 milers when training for Philly in 2008 and I am hoping to do that again this year since I feel that it really helped me out during the marathon (my pacing was another story).

Onward and upward...

On Schedule - Week of Feburary 22nd

Well, I was a little worried how my body would react after skipping my long run last week and only going on a few leisurely jogs while I was in Mexico. I figured the best thing to do would ease back into the schedule during the beginning of the week so my body would feel pretty good going into my 18 miler during the weekend. This was going to be my longest run in almost a year and a half. My training was going well up until this point, so while I was a bit nervous to be doing such a long run, but I felt that I would do OK.

I was trying to recruit some friends to do all or part of the run with me but unfortunately everyone was busy. Therefore, I needed to figure out a plan to get through the run and break it up a bit since I would be doing most of it on my own. I ran the first 6 miles with the Saturday morning Flyer group - they kept me company and made me wake up early in the morning to get my run started. It was a comfortable pace - around 9:10 or so which was slower than I was hoping to go. It didn't really matter that much. I wasn't looking to go too fast on this run anyway...the miles were the most important thing. After the first loop was done, I did the remaining 12 miles on my own on various loop combinations in the Park. I was hoping to run on the Westside Highway but I didn't want to chance the fact that it might rain/snow later on in the run and I wasn't sure how the conditions were along the river after the snowstorm. I had my iPod with me and I wasn't ready to conquer the rest of the run. I picked up the pace once I went out on my own (thanks to the Garmin - I love this thing!) and dropped down to about an 8:35-8:40 and it felt relatively good to me. Although my legs were getting a bit sore towards the end of the run, I felt strong throughout and was very happy overall with this run. I rewarded myself with my usual post long run breakfast...chocolate chip pancakes. The 18 miles was worth.

Total distance: 18 miles; Total time: 2:38:28, Overall pace: 8:48

Split	Time
1	0:09:35
2	0:09:28
3	0:09:17
4	0:08:58
5	0:09:11
6	0:08:37
7	0:08:34
8	0:08:38
9	0:08:42
10	0:08:34
11	0:08:38
12	0:08:32
13	0:08:50
14	0:08:35
15	0:08:14
16	0:08:36
17	0:08:40
18	0:08:34
19	0:00:06
Summary	2:38:28

This weekend is a step down week with a long run of only 12 miles, and then the tough part of the schedules starts. After this weekend, there are three 20 miles scheduled over the next 6 weeks. I will enjoy this week while I can. I'm looking forward to the Coogan's 5K. I always heard it was a lot of fun and how bad can a race be that serves Guiness afterwards?