Freethinker ~ Freerunner

Long slow recovery run today.  My left upper most calf felt a little bit tight today.  I would even say it is more the muscle or tendon directly behind my knee than my calf.  Overall I felt pretty good.  I think I'm ready to hit a couple more nice speed runs this week and go into the tapering part of my training.  

Splits:

8:59

8:32

8:35

8:37

8:41

8:45

9:07

8:33

8:26

8:47

8:38

9:11

8:51

8:56

9:23

8:51

I ran 10 somewhat hard and fast today at a pace of 7:29 per mile.  I woke up at 6:30 and got out of bed, but decided to wait a few hours before running because my left foot seems to be injured.  I have the sore spot on the ball of my foot almost between two of my toes.  I spend a little time online reading about this type of injury and discovered it could possibly be one of two conditions.  Morton's Neuroma occurs when the nerves between the metatarsal heads get pinched.  This pinching of the nerve causes it to swell up and become inflamed.  The other possibility is called Metatarsalgia, which is basically micro trauma involving the metatarsal heads as they contact that ground.  

The remedy for metatarsalgia is to ice the affected area and to cushion with padding in your shoes if necessary.  I'll be keeping a close eye on this as I into the final few weeks of marathon training.

On a different note, today is election day all across the country.  Although I'm a pretty principled libertarian, I'm looking forward to the GOP winning big this year.  It would return us to the precious state of gridlock whereby the political powers that be do not have the votes to continue to spend this country into a giant hole in the ground.  The path we are on is just not sustainable.  A GOP victory would also signal to the current administration that its' policies are not approved of by the American people.  Just a few of my thoughts on the current state of politics in the USA. 

Splits:

7:06

7:17

7:23

7:27

7:35

7:21

7:26

7:40

7:54

7:39

1 mile warm up. 

4 miles average 6:54

2 800's at 3:06. 

It was COLD this morning.  I broke out the turtle neck and long pants cool weather running gear.  I ran a nice and easy 8:05 mile pace.  

Splits:

8:09

8:04

8:14

8:14

7:57

8:09

7:57

3:01 (.39 miles, average pace of 7:47)

I ran my last long run before the marathon this morning if you can call 14 miles a long run.  It felt like a really short romp compared to the 20 mile runs I've become accustomed to.  My metatarsalgia felt much better.  I thought that it was totally gone, but I did feel it a little bit this morning somewhere around mile 8 or 9.  

I have decided that if the temperature is in the forties and the wind is not too bad that I can wear my shorts, short sleeve tech shirt, and running sleeves and feel comfortable.  I think that my cut off point to warm weather gear is below forty degrees.  

Well I just hear the sound of my coffee pot finishing brewing, so I will now wrap up this entry and get on with my Sunday. 

Splits:

7:36

7:39

7:25

7:24

7:11

7:22

7:37

7:35

7:27

7:39

7:29

7:31

7:43

7:00

Track training.  

1 mile warm up.

4 400's @ 1:30

2 800's @ 3:09

4 400's @ 1:30

.75 mile cool down

My left metatarsals felt sore when I got out of bed, but felt fine as I got about half a mile into my warm up. 

Nice run.  

Splits:

7:43

7:11

7:12

7:10

2 miles: 7:00, 6:45

2 800's: 3:01, 3:09

2 400's: 1:30, 1:30

5 mile run at marathon pace (7:15).  I actually ran 7:13 on average this morning.  I getting a little nervous because I only have one more run, which is tomorrow, that is longer than 5 miles.  The rest of my runs this week are all short.  I'm trying to remember what my friend told me about tapering.  He said to taper in distance but not in intensity.

Splits:

7:08

7:12

7:32

7:13

7:00

Good cold 9 miler this morning at 7:12.  This is my last run of any significant distance before the marathon, which is now one week from happening.  

When I left the house this morning I decided to take a third bottle of sports drink.  I had recently bought an extra for my belt, and I wanted to test out how it feels to run with three instead of two eight ounce bottles.  I was almost back home, about one mile left to go, when I realized that one of the bottle had fallen off my belt.  How did that manage to fall of and me not realize it I thought to myself.  I was wearing my ear warmers, which tend to block not only the wind but also a little sound, so that explains it I thought.  And of-course it was the brand new bottle that fell off.  I ran my last mile and then got my bike down to back back and look for the bottle.  I found it some 2 miles from my home, and got a little cross training in at the same time.  

Splits:

7:11

7:15

7:03

7:11

7:06

7:14

7:21

7:14

7:20

I worked out on the track today.  

1 warm up mile

2 miles: 6:28, 6:31

2 800's: 3:10, 3:08

4 400's: 1:33, 1:30, 1:27, 1:25

1 mile cool down.

I've only got 5 more days until the marathon.  I definitely feeling the rejuvenating effects of the taper.  I can't wait until Sunday.

I only have two training runs left before the marathon.  Tomorrow I run four 400's at speed interval pace (1:30)  Friday I rest like usual, and then on Saturday I jog 3 miles.  

Yesterday I checked the weather report for Sunday, and I was excited to see that the morning low is 52 degrees!  If the winds stay calm, then race conditions could be perfect. 

Splits:

7:54

8:07

7:39

My last speed training session before the marathon.  

1 warm up mile

4 400's @ 1:30

Splits:

1:27

1:26

1:26

1:27

I am ready. 

Easy 3 mile jog 25 hours before go time.  I'm ready.  

Splits:

8:50

8:46

8:45

This was my first marathon.  I trained to be able to finish in something closer to 3:10, which would have qualified me for Boston.  There were two big obstacles today that got in the way of that.  It was a little bit hillier than I planned for, and there were 16 to 18 mile per hour head winds from mile 15 all the way to mile 21 that were pretty devastating to most of the runners including yours truly.  You can look at my splits and see that once I hit mile 16 each successive mile was about 14 seconds slower than the last.  By the time I rounded the corner at mile 21 and had the wind at my back I was able to improve within a range of 27 to 15 seconds per mile, but I felt totally drained.  I know that mile 21 is usually where the "wall" in the marathon comes in to play, so I think it ended up hitting me harder than had I not had to deal with the winds for the 6 miles leading up to that point. 

There was actually a third obstacle today that I have not yet mentioned, and that was the temperature.  It ended up be a little warmer than I would have liked.  All week long the forecast said we would have 52 degrees, but in reality it started out at about 64 degrees and rose to 67 by the time I finished.  I felt my self breaking a real good sweat by mile 3.  I probably used the water stops for both hydration and to cool my head from miles 15 to the finish.  

I am happy with my performance overall.  If I had it to do over again I definitely would have gone out slower in the beginning, given the situation I found my self in with wind later in the course.  Especially since the 3:30:00 pace group caught up to me somewhere at mile 21 and I was only able to hang in with them for about 1 mile.  I think had I gone out in 8:00 minute miles with them instead of 7:30's to 7:12's, I would have been able to hold the 8:00 minute pace much easier in the end.  With my finish time I average an 8:13 pace.

My running buddy who has done several marathons, warned me about the wind.  He said not try for the BQ, because I would end up going out fast and then die out in the end.  His planned pace, whether he was trying for his BQ or not was a little slower than my planned pace.  He said that if I went out too fast for the windy conditions, he would see me at mile 22.  At the 21 mile turnaround point, he saw me from the other side of the street, and yelled at me "I'm coming for you."  I thought, Oh my gosh, he predicted this would happen.  But I knew he went out a little faster than he planned for in the wind so I made it my goal to not let him catch me.  This was about the point that the 3:30:00 pace group caught up to me.  I ended up hanging in with them for about a mile and indeed I was able to "get away" from my running buddy.  He told me after we finished that when he saw me hanging with them he knew he could not catch me. 

So as I said, overall I am quite pleased with my performance given the warm, windy, hilly conditions.  I beat my buddy's PR, and I placed 12 in division and 94 overall.

Some interesting points to illustrate the difficult conditions.  The winner finished at 2:32:29.  The second place finisher came in over 21 minutes later at 2:54:07.  Within my age division (25 to 29), only 2 qualified for Boston.  Their times were 3:02:53 and 3:09:08.  Within the 30 to 34 age division, still my age division for qualifying purposes, 3 qualified at 2:32:29 (first place overall), 2:57:34 (second place overall), and 2:59:43 (5th place overall).  Of the 1,509 finishers, only 14 runners finished in under 3:10:00.     

Chip time: 3:35:05

Gun Time: 3:35:18

Overall Place: 91

DIV/PL: 12/108

Splits:

7:27

7:20

7:21

7:28

7:23

7:10

7:14

7:12

7:21

7:33

7:16

7:22

7:28

8:01

7:59

8:20

8:35

8:49

8:56

9:11

9:27

9:00

8:41

9:07

9:11

9:27

I ran 6.64 miles on the beautiful Turkey Mountain trails this morning with T.A.T.U.R.  I've definitely got to go trail running more often.  

This was my first road run since the marathon 9 days ago.  I felt really good.  I wasn't sure how far I should go at first.  When I set out I decided I would go at least ten miles.  Then I decided I would at least run down to the college and back, which is about 12 miles.  When I got back to my neighborhood I decided to go ahead and add on one more mile to make it over 13.