Hay is in the Barn...

Well, lets hope that I'm not a few bales short! The hay metaphor seems appropriate, growing up as a farm kid, we spent the summer filling up the barn with bales of hay. In the case of long distance running, the training is complete and now only three weeks of taper and tune up stands between me and my sub 3 effort in Des Moines on October 21st. I have to say, I sure have baled a lot of frickin' hay! I have averaged over 83 miles per week for 17 weeks and have not missed a day since May 9th. I have logged 10 runs of 20 miles or more and countless mid-week medium long runs of 13 or more. I have done at least two doubles every week and set a weekly mileage PR of 96 miles. I set PR's in the half-marathon (1:24:40) and the 5k (18:09) and ran an effortless 6:44 pace at the City of Lakes 25k a few weeks ago. So, the hay is in the barn, in fact the barn is bursting at the seams. Hey, I still gotta run this thing, but if I can't make it with this training cycle under my belt, I don't know what else I could have done differently. Anyway, here's to an awesome traing effort and looking forward to a 2:59:59 marathon. Happy Running! Rick

One Last Blast of High Mileage

I am finally into my last training mesocycle, which includS one more week of mileage in 90's and then the taper begins. After backing off last week, I edged the miles back into the high 80's which included some 1 mile intervals on Tuesday, 20 miles total on Wednesday, a 12 mile progression run on Friday and an awesome 20 miler today, which felt very easy and fluid, with the last few miles under marthon pace. (about 6:45). The weather this morning was beautiful and I hope this is the kind of temps I get on race day. My Pfitzinger plan for this week is a monster. I run 10 easy tomorrow, a 6x1200 meters at 5k pace on track work out on Tuesday, 15 miles on Wednesday morning and 5 Wednesday evening. I get a break on Thursday, but back at it with 12 on Friday and 22 on Sunday. I'm kinda looking forward to it! Bring on mesocycle V! Happy Running! Rick

Lookin' for a Breakthrough

Another full week of running and a little bit more racing, nothing too bad and nothing too good either. It's that time in the training cycle where one expects a breakthrough race or training run. That hasn't happened, which honestly has me a bit concerned. I guess I should be happy that I am able to complete all my workouts and do well in my races, but I want some indication that I have reached another level. Maybe I am a bit spoiled after last years training, when I set PR's in 3 distances. What I'm thinking is that I have pretty much maxed out my abilities right now and am really just working around the edges. I'm only looking for a 2.5 minute improvement in my marathon time, so a "breakthrough" will be hard to detect at this point. Raced the Old Sod Days 8k on Saturday. I won the race, but there was only two of us running, so not a big deal. I did manage a 30:39 time which is respectable considering I ran a 5:54 first mile then faced a nasty headwind on the way back. It was my hometown's 125th city celebration and it appeared to be a successful event. They had 430 folks turn up for the all school reunion, which for a town of only 400 people is pretty impressive. Happy Running!

Big Racing Week

I am currently on the tail end of a major string of races. It's difficult because I am walking a fine line of racing to the best of my ability, but not let the races get In the way of my training schedule. I am pretty happy with how I have handled this. I did not set any PR's, but diweekly in the middle of some significant mileage and intense training weeks. First race of the week was the Victory 10k on Labor Day. A fast, flat course, one on which I PR'd last year. It was a warm morning, so it was not a PR kind of day. I did manage a 38:30, which according to the marathon pace caculator is sub 3 material. The fun doesn't stop there. Tuesday was a 12 miler, Wednesday was a tough track work out and Thursday was a mid week 14 miler. I took it easy Friday and Saturday and raced the City of Lakes 25k. My training plan called for a 14 mile marathon pace run in the middle of an overal run of 20 miles. So, my plan was to warm up for 4 miles, run 10 at MP the race the last 5.5 miles. It went remarkable well having a half marathon split of 1:29:59 and also running the final miles in 6:44, 6:38, 6:35, 6:27, 6:29 and the final half mile at a 5:56 pace. All in all, a good day's work. I was 4th in my age group and 51st overall unofficially. I didn't get much sleep on Saturday night, as I spent a good part of the evening in the ER. I received a call late in the afternoon from sister-in-law telling me that my brother had severely injured his left hand using his table saw. He was in the ER and underwent a lengthy surgery to try save his fingers. The surgery went well and now it's a waiting game to see how things will heal. Thoughts and prayers are with my brother right now. Six weeks of training until race day and I still feel good about where I am at and how Iam progressing. Lastly, I enjoyed running in my super bright, construction cone orange Brooks Pure Connects. The loudest and most obnoxious shoes ever! Happy Running! Rick

Geezers and a Little Bit of Politics

On Thursday I ran the 9th annual Geezer Chase, a 2 mile cross country race to benefit the St. Louis Park CC team.  The Geezers (anyone not a member of the CC team) gets a 2-minute head start and tries not to get run down by a CC runner.  It's a fun run and I ran it pretty well.  I bring it up because I was feeling like a Geezer for much of the week.  I raced a half marathon last Saturday and did almost 19 miles the next day, followed by 10 on Monday.  Tuesday was 12 miles with a 6x1K work-out that left me completely frieded for Wednesday's MLR.  I did complete the 12.5 mile on Wednesday and and the 6 miles Wednesday PM, but barely had any quality miles.  I just couldn't get my body to go any faster than a 9:00 pace.  I'm not particularly worried about this, but it does point out that I may be overdoing it a bit in the mileage department.  I don't think I am over training yet, because I am still racing well and nail my quality workouts, but not being able to shift out of second gear is a bit worrisome.

 

That being said, I did my long run (18 miles on Saturday) and managed to run at an easy, although not a general aerobic pace.  I hovered around 8:30 for the majority of the run and was able to shift into marathon pace gear for the final mile.  I have to add that the remainder of Saturday I was feeling quite tired and roughed up.  An easy run today and looking ahead to a speedy 10K race on Labor Day, the Victory 10K.  Shooting for a sub 37:30.  I get to race again next Sunday in the City of Lakes 25K, which I plan to use as a 15 mile MP work-out.

 

Lastly, I keep this blog strictly about running, but in the last couple of days politics and running have co-mingled.  VP candidate Paul Ryan said in an interview with Hugh Hewitt that he had run a marathon when he was young and when asked about the time he said 2:50 something.  2:50ish is a very good time and knowing about his background, I wouldn't have been that surprised.  However, after Runner's World did a bit of checking into this, turns out that impressive 2:50 something was not so impressive, closer to average time of 4:01 something.  My only defense for Mr. Ryan is that he really isn't a runner and not that concerned with what his marathon time was and probably can't remember, but the fact that he honed in a 2:50 something is what bothers me.  I realize that I take my running a little too seriously, but why lie about something like this?  Did he not want to admit that his marathon time was slower than Sarah Palin's or Michael Dukakis'?  Did he really think that anyone would care?  I admit it is fun to see how celebrities do in the marathon (beating Oprah's time is a goal for many) but it truly isn't important in the grand scheme of things.   Here is another way to look at it.  When Paul Ryan was 20, he was active, atheletic and could run a marathon in 4-hours.  The current occupant of the White House was doing lots of blow and smoking weed in his buddies car.  One was honest about it and one was not. 

Happy Running!

Rick