Last 20-miler before the Marathon

Well, I logged my last 20 mile run before the marathon today. It's hard to believe the race is just 3 weeks away! I'm pretty much freaking out about the whole concept and I'm sure that's only going to get worse. The emotion is very strange. On one hand, I just want it to get here so I can get on with it. On the other hand, I've got so much anxiety and fear of the unknown that I hope the day never comes.

It was nice to be back with Stephanie's group again this morning. There was a slight miscommunication about the start time for today's run that caused me some concern this morning and led to my speeding to Memorial Park for the start. But, alas, the start time was 5:30 as usual instead of the 5:15 that I read in an email this morning ... at 4:45 ... when I wasn't prepared to leave and it takes at least 30 minutes to get there.

Running this morning were Randy, Stephanie, Josh, Chris, Shellie, and me. Thankfully, Shellie put water and Gatorade out at the 8 mile mark for us. The group was scheduled for 16 miles but I had 20 on my schedule. I felt really good through 10 miles and the pace was exactly where I wanted it to be 8:46. I struggled to stay with the group at the pace for another 4 miles when they picked it up for their final 2 miles. From the point they left me, my pace progressively fell off as I worked my way back to the park then went around the loop and a half for the extra miles to get 20 miles. Final result:

20.06 miles @ 9:00 (3:00:34)

Frankly, I don't know what to think. I would really like to have a better sense of what I'm really capable of running in St. George. It seems that's critical for pacing. But I honestly have no idea. It seems my projected time could span a range of 45 minutes. What does the altitude do to me? What does the 2,700 foot drop in elevation mean? What about the temperature and humidity I've been training in, shouldn't I benefit from closer to ideal conditions at the race? What about the "race magic" that seems to happen for most runners? How will the taper in training impact how I feel? I have no clue what the answers to these questions might be. It's all just a great unknown. Today I felt great for 10 miles, okay for 4-5, and not-so-good for 5-6 miles. If I project that same sensation over to race day, it's extremely difficult for me to imagine 10 miles (1:20 - 1:30 ???) of not-so-good. I like to imagine that somehow the first 20 miles of the marathon go by like the first 10 miles did today then get the last 6.2 while I'm feeling pretty good and have the opportunity to push it a bit at the end. No matter what my finish time, I don't want to be shuffling my feet across the finish line. I want to have the strength to raise my arms and put together some semblance of a kick to the line.

I'm toying with the idea of signing up for a pacing group. But how do I know which group to sign up for? If I choose too fast of a group - knowing myself as I do - when they pull away somewhere along the course, I'll wilt and go into survival mode. Somehow that scenario just mentally demoralizes me. If I choose to slow of a group, it seems I'd be happy to settle in with their pace and finish strong but have the nagging regret that I could have gone faster. Why has this turned into such a mental game? You'd think I was preparing for the world championship of chess or something!

Well, I suppose that's about it for now. I also suppose with today's run behind me, I've entered the tapering phase of my training.

Aah, a footnote - as I was stretching in the parking lot after my run, I witnessed two cars back into each other. It happened about 40' from where I was standing. The drivers had very different views of what occurred. I probably made a huge mistake but I gave each of them my business card. The guy wanted me to commit to whose fault it was. I just told him that I couldn't really say. Before leaving the lot, I took about half a dozen quick photos with my Palm. As I was leaving, a mounted police officer arrived on the scene. I have an opinion of what happened but I'll set that aside and just describe the facts as I saw the scene play out. Someone else can decide who was at fault! Hopefully I'm not called on as a witness.

Can't You Read a Training Schedule?

Just realized I screwed up my run this morning. That's disappointing since I was feeling pretty good about it. I ran 5 miles which consisted of 1 mile warm up, 3 mile tempo, 1 mile cool down. Everything was fine except I was supposed to get 7 miles today not 5! I just realized it when I checked the blog.

Anyway, I went out early and started from the Y a little after 5 am. The target for my tempo run was 7:20 and that's what I ran it in (thanks to my virtual training partner). The range of my 1/2 mile times was between 3:27 - 3:52. I would have liked them to be a little tighter but it works.

5 miles total
with 3 tempo miles @ 7:20

So over the past few days I'm short 2 miles today and 6 miles last Saturday. Hope that doesn't catch up with me!

Here's a clip about the St. George marathon that lifted my spirits. It is from Paul Petersen's blog:

St. George is most likely the fastest certified course on earth, as long as you are trained for downhill and altitude. ... No, St. George is not record-eligible (has a downhill gradient greater than 1%), but let’s just speculate here. The idea is no worse than the Steroid Olympics.

Petersen will be running St. George attempting to qualify for the Olympic Trials. I'll be looking for him ... but doubt I'll see him!

Many people know there are some pretty good runners' t-shirt phases. I heard one I really liked the other day.

"It's rude to count people as you pass them. Out loud."

Shellie (runs with us on Saturday's) sent this one and attributed it to an Adidas ad. The other one I like is about gazelles and lions in Africa. I'll have to pull the exact wording and post it sometime.

Easy 8 vs. Virtual Training Partner

I figured I better get this one in early or else it may be difficult.
Today will be hectic at the office as we're finalizing and filing the
corporate tax return.

I left the house at 4:30 and parked at the Y. I went through the
neighborhoods for 2 miles and onto the bayou trail for another 2 miles
then I run back the way I came.

The training goal was for an 8:46 pace. My plan was to run 2.7 miles
at 9:01 followed by 2.7 miles at 8:46 then 2.7 at 8:31.

I think I was pretty close the first 5.4 (I'll have to check my watch
later). For the final 2.7, I switched my watch to Virtual Patner
mode. I used this one other time last week. The screen has a visual
depiction of my "partner" and me with an indication of how far I'm
ahead or behind. I programmed the "partner" to go 8:46 before I
started today. So now all I had to do was catch him before the
finish. I don't know why this works for me but it does. With 2.5 to
go, I was behind by 120 feet. I wasn't going to let him beat me. I
closed the gap quickly and was even with a mile to go. I stayed on
pace and finished with an overall 8:41 pace.

It was a good run this morning. I'm glad I got it in. Now it's on to
the realities of the day.

Training Schedule: Sep 10 - 16

Mon - Easy 8M @ 8:46
Wed - Tempo 7M w/ 3M @ 7:20
Sat - Long 20M @ 8:46 (last long one before the real deal)