Day
Max UV Index: 4 (moderate)
- Thunderstorm Probability: 0%
- Amount of Precipitation: 0.52 in
- Amount of Rain: 0.52 in
- Amount of Snow: 0.0 in
- Amount of Ice: 0.00 in
- Hours of Precipitation: 7 hrs
- Hours of Rain: 7 hrs
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Having grown up in Oregon, I don't give the weather forecast any serious credibility until a few days out, as it always seems to change. Still though, I was none to pleased to see this come up for Newport on race day, now 12 days away. Looks...Oregonish.
Max UV Index: 4 (moderate)
Max UV Index: 4 (moderate)
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Perhaps it's different for others, but for me there is nothing enjoyable or pleasant about a 20 mile training run. It's no fun in the beginning, knowing you're in for a long haul. Its no fun with when you get to mile 10 and realize you're only halfway done. And there certainly is no joy at the end, when everything hurts. That's not to confuse joy with satisfaction. For while there is no fun in a 20 miler, there is an immense amount of satisfaction, knowing that you have persevered through a necessary evil on your way to running a marathon. I won't rehash all of the reasons why a 20 mile training run is more difficult than a marathon, you can read them HERE, but it is in my mind.
That said, as of this morning I'm done with them for a while. I looked back yesterday and calculated that today's run was my 12th training run of 20 miles or more (plus the four marathons) and they don't get any easier. I've put in three 20 milers in the last five weeks, including two in back to back weeks, to get ready for my three marathons in 30 days. And while they are a necessary evil, there's a pattern that has emerged that I will take with me into race day. It is this: I have consistently been in the 2:55-2:58 range on all three of these recent runs. Which means to me that if I can run the first 20 miles of the marathon at 9 minutes/mile or better, that I can run/walk the last 6.2 at 10 minutes/mile or better and meet my goal of 4 hours.
That's comforting to me because I feel like it gives me a cushion in the final 6.2 miles. I feel confident that even if I walk the first 1/10 of the mile that I should still be able to finish the mile in under 10 minutes. I'll have the next three weeks to think about this strategy in greater detail, but for now the work is done. A couple of intense but shorter mileage weeks ahead and then I'm on the doorstep of Marathon #5.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Pace teams. Love 'em or hate 'em? In my one and only experience with them I give them an incomplete. I ran with a pace team in Seattle last year, three weeks after a somewhat disastrous (at the time) showing in Newport. I felt like my best chance to reach my goal in marathon #2 was to avoid at all costs a big problem I had in marathon #1. Namely, running mile after mile by myself. Granted, there were 27,000 more people running in Seattle (at least for the first half), but I felt like if I had someone I could stick with who knew what they were doing that this would give me the best chance for success.
I decided to start with the 3:45 pace leader. There was a group of about 12 of us (though there were probably many more keeping any eye on our leader and adjusting their pace accordingly). I held the pace fairly well for the first 10 miles but miles 11-13 I struggled to keep up. I began to drop back just after the halfway mark and once again was running more or less by myself.
Mentally, it's one thing to see your pace leader increasing the distance between the two of you knowing you'll probably not be able to catch up. It's quite another to be passed by the pace leader of the group behind you, especially when you know they started 2-3 minutes behind you in the corrals. Thus was my experience around mile 20. There went the 4:00 group, not flying past me by any means, but definitely moving faster than I was.
I pulled myself together and finished in 4:07 but I have since questioned whether or not a pace team helps me or hurts me. Newport won't have any pace teams, it's just not a big enough race (900 runners, marathon only), but Seattle will. And so I have a decision to make. Do I or don't I? And if I choose to do so, and my goal is 4:00, do I start with the 4:00 group and trust that I won't let them get away, or do I start with the 3:45 group and give myself a cushion (or who knows, maybe if I'm feeling great I stick with them the entire race), telling myself that whatever happens, I will not let the 4:00 group pass me?
Pace teams: helpful to you or not?
In other news, I'll be spending the first weekend in October here. I'm in!
In other news, I'll be spending the first weekend in October here. I'm in!
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