Witnessing the Dawn

Early morning run.  Got to see the dawn.  It's been awhile.  Beautiful!

Some Ultra Strategy

I forgot to talk about one thing the other day about my Sunday long run.  I've been thinking hard on my strategy for the Hennepin race.  A run/walk strategy will probably be best.  In the past, I've run as much as I could for as long as I could, walking any hills and walking for awhile out of each aid station.  But this course really doesn't have any real hills to speak of and I am considerably older now.  So I figure I will need to be a bit more conservative in my approach.  But although my main goal is to just finish the 100, I really feel I can break 24 hours.  To do that, I need to average under 14 minutes and 24 seconds per mile.  I know, it sounds like it shouldn't be that difficult.  A lot of people walk almost as fast as that.  But to do it for almost a whole day makes a very large difference.  I have been doing some run/walk mixing here and there on my rest/easy days and I have been able to cover up to 8 miles at a 12 to 13 minute per mile pace with only three or four minutes of running out of every ten.  But truthfully, I am more comfortable with more running.  So, on my 20+ mile run on Sunday, I decided to try an eight minute run/two minute walk strategy.  I was able to average about ten and a half minute miles and felt pretty good by the end.  Obviously, that's much faster than I need and who knows how I will be feeling in the second half of the 100, but it wasn't bad.  I will continue to experiment with this over the next couple months varying the two amounts.  Between this and my marathon the week before, I continue to be encouraged with my training.

Increasing Fitness

Definitely feeling recovered from last weekend’s marathon.  The last couple of days of the week my heart rate has been in a a really good range during my runs.  In fact, the heart rate has been better than good.  It is down a good 8 to 10 beats per minute than it was a couple of months ago running at the same pace.  It is a great indicator of my fitness.  Especially with only a week”s recovery after Starved Rock.

Had a real good run today.  No heart rate monitor, but just ran easy by feel.  Ran down on the I & M Canal Towpath from the McLinden/Cemetary Roads Trailhead.  Headed west to Morris and back, exchanged bottles then went east to almost McKinley Woods and back for 20+ mile run.  Felt good for pretty much the whole run with a just a little quad aching in the late stages.  It is really nice running along the I & M Towpath.  Plus it is exactly the kind of running i will be doing for the Hennepin Hundred.  I expect to be hitting the towpath a number of times throughout the summer.  This should be a heavy week of mileage.

Starved Rock Marathon

The Starved Rock Marathon turned out to be an interesting event.  A thunderstorm hit in the middle of the race and they officially closed it down for awhile.  I was at mile 19 when the rain started and heard the announcement of cancellation at mile 20.  It said that when the bus reached you, you needed to get on it.  Well, I wasn't going to just stand in the storm waiting for it, so I, like many runners, just kept going.  By mile 22, still no bus and the storm had mostly passed by.  Again, just kept going.  It turned out many people kept going as well.  Although many were picked up, too.  I never saw the bus.  

I'm glad I kept going.  It turned out to be a very good run for me.  Although it didn't start out that way.  For the first seven to eight miles, I just didn't feel very well.  My running form felt disjointed and not very smooth.  My legs were on the stiff side.  I'm guessing this had something to do with the cold I caught on Thursday and was still sniffling on marathon morning.  Whatever it was I figured it just wouldn't be one of my best days.  But as long as I finished, it would be a good long run as training.

The hills come about mile ten.  There is a series of four with some downhill between them.  For whatever reasons, things started to come together.  I was able to power up the hills pretty well and letting out the stride on the downhills really changed things for me.  After the hills we go through Starved Rock State Park which has another good downhill.  One last up and down going over the bridge crossing the Illinois River at Utica and then flat the rest of the way for about the last 10 miles.  Felt good the rest of the way, ran through the storm and finished strong.  Ended up with 3:49:00, well under my 'A' goal and a BQ time.  31st overall and 1st in my age group.  Very pleased all around

The big test would be the next day.  Did I push too hard and now I will need a week or more to recover?  To make a long story short, I was able to put in a good six miles at almost my normal training pace.  And today (2 days after), although the legs were a little stiffer, I still up in an eight miler.  So -- "Mission Accomplished" this weekend and Hennepin training is on track.

Uh Oh!

Great!  I'm getting that feeling in my throat that usually precedes a sore throat and/or cold.  Just what I need with the marathon on Saturday. Yeesh!

5 Days To Starved Rock

Five days to the Starved Rock Marathon.  Did my last semi-long run today (12.5 miles).  The marathon is still intended as a good training run, so I won't be doing a major taper.  I will be cutting down on the mileage a bit in the next four days, but generally, I am training through the marathon.  My main goal is to run a solid race and come out of it healthy.  I want to be able to go out the next day and still have a decent run, maybe a little bit stiff and/or sore, but comfortable with a good four to six miles.  So what time goal can I expect and not have knocked myself out?  I feel I should be able to get in around four hours and basically have had a fairly easy time.  Although, deep down, I would like to be sub 3:55, which would be a Boston Qualifying time for my age.  This would be in case I might want to try to take the trip there next April.  No matter what I actually run, I am looking forward to Saturday and want to have fun.

Good Long Run Today

It was a good day.  Spring has definitely arrived with the temperatures at the beginning of today's run at 66 and at the end, 79.  It is two weeks before Starved Rock.  With the terrible last weekend at the Frankfort half keeping me from adding an extra 7 to 8 miles for a long run, I needed to get in the long run this weekend.  So I set out to get in a 20 miler.  I decided to do a very large loop with one bottle, but stay around civilization so I could stop someplace for a refill.  It worked out very well.  Hit a 7-11 at about the 13 mile mark and bought a Gatorade and bag of chips.  I felt good pretty much the whole run with mile splits between 9:10 and 9:45 depending on the terrain and direction of the wind.  Ended up going 22.1 miles in three and a half hours.  Very satisfactory.  I am now feeling much more ready for the marathon at Starved Rock.  My confidence is high and I'm feeling fit.