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Log for September 24 & 25 – Training for Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 9th. Goal for the fall and winter marathon season is to break 3:15 for the first time.
Saturday
- 15-Mile Long Run – Today the Bellevue Trio/Triplets (Paxton, Nathan, me) did our last long run for Chicago on the Shelby Bottoms Greenway. The weather was very cool (high 40s), but the air was heavy with fog rolling in from the river. We started with an almost 2-mile warmup around the pond and baseball fields in Shelby park.
After a short break to hydrate, we began a series of 3 intervals out and back on the greenway. The goal was to average around 7:50 pace, which is the goal marathon pace for Nathan and Paxton. I was not concerned about reaching my goal pace since I had done a 10-mile workout on Tuesday at a pace 15-seconds faster than marathon pace.
Our first interval was 5-miles, and we were almost dead-on a 7:50 average. I was pleased because the pace did not feel overly fast, and my legs felt good. After another short hydration break, we did our second interval which was 4-miles. On the first 2-miles out on the greenway, the pace picked up a bit to around 7:40 pace. As we made the turn back, my legs were feeling really good so I decided to push it up a couple of notches and see how that felt. My next 2 miles were below 7:00 min average, and my legs still felt strong.
The final interval was 3-miles, and I again ran with Paxton and Nathan after separating from them on the second interval. We ran the first 1.25 miles on the greenway, then then the rest around the baseball fields and pond. Our average was around 7:30 and we finished strong. After the last interval, we did a 1-mile cooldown around the baseball fields for a total of 15-miles.
It is always great to run with my friends Nathan and Paxton, and this run was especially good. All of us had good runs and appear to be in good form heading into Chicago in two weeks. I’m very pleased with how good I felt after a pretty heavy training week. I’m also pleased that my average heart rate was only 152, with a max of 172. Starting next weekend, I will be doing 3 races in a row with the Shelby Bottoms Boogie 15k, the Chicago Marathon, and the Murfreesboro Middle Half Marathon. Should be a wild ride.
Sunday
- Rest Day – After running 7 straight days, including 22-miles last Sunday AM, it was good to have my rest day back again today.
Why would you take Garmin Connect down for maintenance at noon on Saturday? #fail
It’s like breathing through a straw in a refrigerator.
Tim Agee (@timagee) during a foggy morning run at 50 degrees. (via inthewright)
Log for September 21 to 23 – Training for Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 9th. Goal for the fall and winter marathon season is to break 3:15 for the first time.
Wednesday
- 4.5-Mile Recovery Run – After several days of running at odd times due to business travel, I finally got back on schedule this morning. Paxton and I did a very easy recovery run on the Harpeth River Greenway and in Edwin Warner Park. We normally run 6 to 7 miles on Wednesday, but cut back a bit today to 4 1/2 since we are in our taper for Chicago. My legs could definitely feel the effects of my hard 10-mile tempo run last night, but they slowly loosened up as we progressed through the run.
Thursday
- 6.6-Mile Track Workout – I missed the last 2 track workouts with the JSRC due to business travel, so it was good to be back tonight. The weather was awesome at 6pm with temps in the low 70s, overcast skies, and a slight breeze. After a 1.25-mile warmup + 6 x 100m strides, we did a workout that was a variation of one of my favorites. It was three sets consisting of 3 x 400m, 5 x 250m, and 3 x 400m. While I felt absolutely fantastic during the workout, I did a really poor job of running consistently between intervals. I’m not very happy about being inconsistent, but am pleased with how good my legs felt, especially in the last set.
Friday
- 3-Mile “Barefoot” Run – Today was the first day of fall, and the weather made a big change in response. At 6:30am, the temps were around 50 degrees with a slight drizzle after very early morning rains. Paxton and I ran a modified version of our normal Friday loop through Bellevue, and it felt fantastic. I wish that I could bottle up the weather this morning and take it with me to Chicago. We kept the pace very easy, and it was an extremely enjoyable (but short) run. Just as we finished, the rain started coming down hard again. Crossed the 50-mile mark in my Saucony Hattoris, and I’m very glad that I added these “barefoot” type runs to my training for Chicago this year.
- Cross Training – Tonight I did P90X: Ab Ripper-X with Olivia, followed by P90X: Chest and Back.
Runner carries injured foe half mile to help in middle of race
Thanks to my friend Josh Jackson for sharing this article by Jonathan Wall on Yahoo. Great story of selflessness that all runners should appreciate.
Log for September 20 – Training for Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 9th. Goal for the fall and winter marathon season is to break 3:15 for the first time.
Tuesday
- 10-Mile Tempo Run – I really hate running at night, but my training schedule has been disorganized this week due to early morning work commitments. Since I didn’t get to run this morning, I hit the streets of Bellevue tonight after getting Sara to bed for a 10-mile tempo run. At 7:30pm the temps were a little higher than last night (mid 70s), and the humidity was still crazy.
My goal tonight was to at least average goal marathon pace (7:26), but I felt really, really good from the very beginning. I finished the first mile in 7:23 and never looked back. My route consisted of many of the same streets that I ran on for the 22-miler on Sunday, and I felt very strong throughout the run. As I ticked off the miles, my pace continued to get faster and faster with 5 of the 10 miles under 7:10 pace. At the end of the run I was completely soaked, but still felt really good. My overall average was just under 7:11 per mile.
I’m extremely pleased with the run, because my pace was 15 seconds faster than marathon pace, and (1) I’m only 2 days removed from a 22-mile training run, and (2) It was very humid tonight. This run is a BIG confidence boost heading into Chicago.
I also used tonight’s run to tryout the hat (Nike), shirt (Pearl Izumi), shorts (Pearl Izumi), and shoes (Saucony Kinvara 2) I’m planning to wear in Chicago. Everything worked great, including my new Kinvara 2s which feel awesome. This is my second run in them, and I’ve decided to stick with the factory sock-liner instead of using my replacement insoles. If the temps are cool/cold in Chicago (as I hope they are), I will most likely add arm warmers, gloves, and a beanie hat to the ensemble.
Log for September 19 – Training for Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 9th. Goal for the fall and winter marathon season is to break 3:15 for the first time.
Monday
- 4-Mile “Barefoot” Run – I decided not to run early this AM since I got up at 4am yesterday morning to run 22-miles. My schedule called for 4 easy miles so I decided to go out for a “barefoot” run in my Saucony Hattoris after the kids were in bed. Funny thing is….my legs do not feel sore at all after my 22-miler yesterday. This feels kind of surreal. Even my chronic aches and pains were not bothering me tonight.
Since my legs felt so good, I ran a bit faster than my normal “barefoot” run with miles of 8:45, 8:14, 8:02 & 8:37. One thing about tonight was that even with temps below 70, the humidity was crazy. I was dripping wet after only 4 miles.
- Cross Training – Tonight Olivia and I did P90X: Ab-Ripper X immediately after my run.
Log for September 18 – Training for Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 9th. Goal for the fall and winter marathon season is to break 3:15 for the first time.
Sunday
- 22.2-Mile Long Run – After missing the opportunity to run with friends on Saturday morning due to business travel, I needed to get in my last long run for Chicago this morning before worship services. Our church begins worship at 9:00am, so this meant I needed to get started by 4:30am….OUCH!
My goals for this run were simple: (1) I wanted to complete at least 22 miles (2) I wanted to spend at least 3 hours 15 minutes on my feet in the aerobic zone. Other than this I didn’t have any specific pace objectives in mind. On my long runs this training season I’ve been slowly pushing my time spent in the aerobic running zone longer and longer with a goal of making my last long run the same time as my goal marathon time.
I started out from the Edwin Warner Park nature center in the dark, and began by running down the Harpeth River Greenway with a short excursion into the park. It started raining during the first mile and continued for several miles before letting up. I came to the end of the Greenway after four miles with an overall average pace of just over 9 minutes per mile, and was feeling relatively good.
Next I turned left onto Harpeth Bend Road, and then right onto Beach Bend Road after a couple of miles. At the end of Beach Bend Road, I continued onto Sawyer Brown and followed that all the way to the vacant Bellevue Center Mall. At this point I had completed just over 8-miles, still averaging just over 9 minutes per mile, and feeling really good. At the mall I took a very short break for a Gu and some fluid.
When I started back I completed a lap around the Mall and then came back out on Highway 70 running east. I followed Hwy 70 all the way out to Old Hickory Boulevard before turning around and running west on Highway 70. When I turned left on Colice Jeanne road I had just completed 12-miles, still averaging just over 9 minutes per mile. At this point I was very pleased at how good I felt, and was also happy that the sun was beginning to rise.
After a short run on Colice Jeanne, I turned right on Baugh Road and followed that all the way back to Sawyer Brown. From this point I followed Sawyer Brown to Gen George Patton, back to Sawyer Brown, then back on Beach Bend. I came to the end of Beach Bend just as I was completing mile 15, and started feeling awful. This came on all of a sudden. I stopped briefly and felt very shaky. Don’t know if this was the caffeine from the gel, or just from being tired, but I started to wonder whether or not I would be able to finish. I took another Gu (without caffeine) and some fluid and decided to run again very slowly down Harpeth Bend Road. Over the next mile or so I began to feel a lot better almost as suddenly as I started feeling bad.
When I came to the end of Harpeth Bend, I crossed Hwy 100 and went back into the park just as I was completing mile 17. My average pace was still just over 9 minutes, and I was feeling really good again. I realized that I could begin picking up my pace if I wanted to get in 22 within the 3 hour 15 minute goal. With this in mind I finished mile 18 in 8:27.
I grabbed a little more fluid at my car before heading back into the park for the final 4 miles. Even though my legs were fatigued I was feeling good enough to push the pace even more through the finish. My last 4 miles were 8:16, 8:18, 7:55 and 7:22. I ended up needing to run an additional .2-miles to finish a full 3 hours 15 minutes.
Overall I’m very pleased with this run. Both goals were accomplished, and with the exception of that weird episode at mile 15, I felt really, really good. I’m also pleased that I met both goals, and was able to run some faster miles at the end. With the final long run in the books, it is now time to taper toward the race which is 3 weeks from today.
Log for September 14-17 – Training for Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 9th. Goal for the fall and winter marathon season is to break 3:15 for the first time.
I’m behind on posting my training logs due to a business trip to Scottsdale, AZ. This will be the first of two posts to catch up.
Wednesday
- 6.4-Mile Easy Run – After a moderately difficult 10-mile tempo run on Tuesday, Paxton and I took it very easy today on our normal “Nature Center” loop. The temps and humidity were a bit higher than Tuesday, but overall it was still very pleasant. My legs didn’t feel too bad after the tempo run run, but we kept the pace around 9 minute miles throughout.
Thursday
- 6-Mile Easy Run – Today I am in Scottsdale, AZ for training. My first session didn’t start until 9:00am, so I got out on the road for an easy run around 6am. Even this early, the temps were already in the mid 80s, and I could really tell it during the run as I felt pretty crummy. It is amazing to me how fast my heat tolerance is evaporating with the cooler temps in Tennessee. My original intention was to do 7-miles, but decided to cut it short since I felt so poor. I tried a couple of times to pick up the pace slightly, but just didn’t have it.
- Cross Training – Tonight I did P90X: Chest and Back after having a WONDERFUL dinner at Oregano’s in Scottsdale. Best pizza outside of New York or Chicago.
Friday
- 4.4-Mile Moderate Run – After feeling so crummy on Thursday, my run this morning in Scottsdale felt a lot better, even though the temps were still pretty high at 6am. Since my legs felt stronger I ended up turning this into a progression run with miles of 9:12, 8:34, 8:06, & 7:46. Really glad to feel better today.
Saturday
- Travel – My flight home was originally scheduled for Saturday morning, but I was hoping to switch to a Friday evening flight if training let out early. It did let out a bit early, but all of the flights going home were booked. Hate that I missed running with some friends from our running group today. Guess this means I get to do my last long run of 22-miles by myself on Sunday morning before worship…Bummer.
- Cross Training – Tonight Olivia and I did P90X: Ab-Ripper X
