Quest for 3:15 – Chicago Training Days 47, 48, 49

Log for August 19, 20, & 21 – 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.

Friday

  • 4-Mile “Barefoot” Run – It was unusual to have a full 24-hours of rest before my Friday “Barefoot” run in my Saucony Hattori’s.  Normally I have track on Thursday night, but this week I had to run on Thursday morning due to an event at Kate’s school. Paxton and I did our normal 4-mile route through Bellevue at a very relaxed pace. I continue to gain confidence running in the Hattori’s, and am also more confident than ever in my decision to add “barefoot” running to my schedule with the information that I’m learning from the book Born to Run. As usual, Paxton and I commented that we felt better at the end than the beginning, which is the tell-tell sign of a good recovery run. Tomorrow is my first 20-miler of this training season, so I needed a good recovery run.

Saturday

  • 20-Mile Long Run – My goals today were simple: (1) Finish 20-miles (2) Spend 3 moving hours on my feet. On my 18-mile run two weeks ago, I spent 2 hours 45 minutes on my feet, and want to continue to push my aerobic threshold out past my marathon goal time of 3 hours 15 minutes.

    There were 8 of us (Paxton, Marc, Jenny, Megan, Marti, Dawn and Lisa) that met out at Wave Country for a 20-mile long run along the Stones River Greenway. My morning did not start off great. I woke up late and was in such a hurry to get ready that I forgot to bring anything to refuel after the run. I did remember to grab a Cliff Bar, gels, Gatorade, and water on the way out, which was good. Unfortunately the heat and humidity has returned to Middle Tennessee, so hydration was going to be critical.

    I’m grateful that the group waited on me even though I was 10-minutes late. With the frantic morning, it took me quite a while to get into a running groove. The pace for the first 5-miles was only around 9:30, but I still felt our of sync. We intersected with Ed and Judy around mile 2, and they joined us for a significant portion of the run.

    At the 5-mile mark I had to run over to Jack-in-the-Box for an unplanned pit-stop, so I told the group to go on without me. I knew the planned route included a couple of out-and-back segments, so I was confident I could intersect with them pretty quickly. After the pit-stop, I subconsciously picked up my pace to around 8:45 and slowly started getting faster and feeling better. As I ran down the first out-and-back segment, I expected to see my group, but made it all the way to the end and they were nowhere in sight.

    Through what turned out to be weird timing, I continued to miss them until I was running my 12th mile. As I approached Percy Priest Dam on miles 9 and 10 I really started feeling better, and after turning around at the Dam I felt fantastic. I finally saw my group on the second out-and-back, but they were running in the opposite direction. I wanted to turn and run with them, but I really needed some water, and there was a fountain at the end of the out-and-back, so I kept going.

    Paxton broke off from the group and started running with me, which I am very grateful for. After getting some much needed water, Paxton and I started pushing the pace all the way through mile 15. We got some more water at 15 (and a gel), and then kept going. We kept the pace around 8:30 for the next couple of miles before getting back into a very hilly section.

    I continued to feel pretty good through mile 18, but I could tell that Paxton was beginning to really feel it. This was not surprising since he had run that entire distance with no Gatorade or gels. I’m really not sure how he made it that far. For the rest of the run I either waited for him at the top of the hills while he walked up, or walked with him up the hills. When I got back to Wave Country I was right at 20-miles, and even though I walked up two significant hills with Paxton, my overall pace was still 8:50. This was actually faster than I wanted to run because that was only 2 hours 57 minutes on my feet.

    This was by far the best I’ve felt on a long run this season, and actually felt much worse after I stopped. It was almost like my body was in shock. I started taking in as much fluid as I could and resisted the urge to lay down in the grass and kept moving. After about 10 minutes I started feeling lots better, and was very thankful that Paxton had brought an extra banana since I forgot to bring any of my recovery bars.

    When I got home I took a 20-minute ice bath because my legs felt really beat up. I’m not sure which is more painful, the final 2-minutes of a 20-mile run, or the first 2 minutes of an immersion ice bath.

    Overall this was a very successful long run. Felt great in spite of the heat, humidity, and frantic start to the day. Lots of confidence gained today.

Sunday

  • Rest Day – As usual, Sunday is my rest day. My legs feel pretty good today after the 20-miler yesterday. This was another good training week. My mileage was just under 50-miles (48.7), which is slightly less than planned, but they were still quality miles. I’m at 146-miles for the month, and am pushing to try and get in 200+ miles for the month of August.

    Quest for 3:15 – Chicago Training Days 45 & 46

    Log for August 17 & 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.

    Wednesday

    • 6.75-Mile Recovery Run – Paxton and I ran this morning through Belle Meade at a nice and easy recovery pace, after a hard progression run yesterday. We kind of made up the route as we went along, trying to avoid hills wherever possible. The temperatures were pleasant, though the humidity was still high. As with every good recovery run, my legs felt better when we finished than when we started.

    Thursday

    • 5.5-Mile Track Workout – I was not able run with the JSRC tonight for our regular track workout due to “Meet the Teacher” night at my daughter’s school. Since this was the case I did a solo track workout this morning at the Harding Academy track. I decided to do one of my favorite workouts which consists of 3 sets of 3 x 400m repeats. These were done with a 200m recovery between each repeat and a 400m recovery between each set. I also did one repeat per set at “good” pace, with the rest at “fresh” pace. My “fresh” intervals were between 83 and 85 seconds, while my “good” intervals went from 80 to 78 to 76 in the 3 sets. Other than a little tightness in my right leg, I felt strong throughout the workout, with plenty of gas left at the end. Hate that I missed the JSRC workout, but happy with the way things went this morning.
    • Cross Training – Tonight was P90X: Chest & Back. The soreness in my right hand is FINALLY starting to subside after my fall almost 2 months ago.

    SKECHERS GOrun: UPDATED

    In a blog post last week I asked the question “Will Runners Take SKECHERS Seriously?” Well today I finally saw an up-close picture of their upcoming entry into the serious running shoe market, the SKECHERS GOrun:

    Per Competitor.com “The yet-to-be-released GOrun by Skechers uses minimalistic engineering and a 4mm heel-toe drop to create a barefoot running experience. The shoe, endorsed and engineered with the help of Meb Keflezighi, will hit stores later this year”

    I’ll have to admit that this is a pretty sweet looking shoe, but I still highly doubt they will have much success among serious runners or even minimalist fans. What do you think?

    UPDATE: I also found this page which has more information on the GoRun along with a video presentation from YouTube.

    “Born to Run” by Christopher Mcdougall

    I would image that many of the RUNBLRs out there have already read “Born to Run” by Christopher Mcdougall, but I’m just now getting around to it.  Having now read a little over 50 pages, I must say this is the wildest, most manic, most captivating opening to a book that I’ve ever read. I’m not sure what I expected, but this is something far different. Hope the rest of the book is as much fun as beginning.

    Quest for 3:15 – Chicago Training Day 44

    Log for August 16 – 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

    • 7.25-Mile Tempo Run – Paxton and I decided on a highly modified version of our “Steeplechase” route this morning, where we actually combined our “Nature Center” route with our normal “Steeplechase” route. The schedule called for an 8-mile tempo run with an average pace between 7:35 and 7:45. A couple of things were working against me on reaching this pace today: (1) We had very cool temps at 6am (mid 60s), but unfortunately the humidity was very high. (2) I did a 5.25-mile trail run last night along with P90X: Legs & Back.

      With all of this going on, today’s run became more of a progression run than a tempo run. It took a little while for us to get warmed up, and my legs could really feel the hard effort from last night. Our first mile was just over 9:00 min pace and the second mile was around 8:05 pace. After that, our last 5-miles were all under 7:50 pace, with a final mile of 7:19. Even though our overall average pace was around 7:50, I’m very pleased with the pace of the last 5.25-miles. We decided to cut it a little short of the planned distance for two reasons (1) It was obvious that neither of us were feeling our best (2) We got in a significant number of tempo miles last Saturday, so there was no need to push it too far.

      One thing I know is that I’m gonna have to change my night for doing P90X: Legs & Back. Doing it the night before my tempo runs is just not working.

    • Cross Training – Tonight I did P90X: Ab-Ripper X with my wife.

    Quest for 3:15 – Chicago Training Day 43

    Log for August 15 – 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

    • 5.25-Mile Trail Run – What an awesome run. One of the most enjoyable of the summer. We got a BIG break in the heat and humidity today, and my legs felt exceptionally good after a day of rest yesterday. I ran on the Blue, Yellow, Orange, and Candy Cane trails in Edwin and Percy Warner Parks, and ran at a much faster pace than normal for this summer (on trails). My normal trail pace has been between 10:15 and 10:30, but today’s pace was 9:14. It was fun to be able to blast up the steep hills and not feel like I was about to collapse.
    • Cross Training – Tonight I did P90X: Legs & Back, but was only able to finish about 3/4 of the workout.  I tried to do this only a couple of hours after my trail run, and just didn’t have the gas to finish it with the energy that I wanted. Decided to save some fuel for the tempo run in the morning.

    Quest for 3:15 – Chicago Training Day 42

    Log for August 14 – 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

    • Rest – As always, Sunday is my scheduled rest day from running and cross training. This was another good week, with just over 46 total miles completed. My legs are a little sore, but felt much better today that I thought they would after the hard workout yesterday. I’m really looking forward to my trail run in the morning, because we are getting a big break from the heat and humidity for the next few days.

    Quest for 3:15 – Chicago Training Day 41

    Log for August 13 – 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

    • 16-Mile Marathon Workout – As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I was really nervous about this workout. The plan was to do 4 sets of 30-minute intervals, 30 seconds slower per minute than goal marathon pace. My goal marathon pace is 7:26 minutes per mile, so today’s goal pace was 7:56. As usual, this workout was put together by Dan Ashmead from our running group. Up to this point, most of our bi-weekly marathon workouts have consisted of shorter intervals at either marathon pace or tempo pace (~20 seconds faster than MP). Dan told us that the purpose behind today’s plan was to allow for longer intervals and more miles. The repeats would still be high effort, but the slightly slower pace would provide for faster recovery after the workout. We were instructed to keep the pacing as consistent as possible throughout all of the intervals.

      I was nervous because I knew this would be hard, having already done two tough runs this week on Tuesday and Thursday, plus an 18-miler last Saturday. The slightly lower temps continued this morning, however the humidity was back with a vengeance (it even rained for a few minutes).

      We started the first interval after an easy 5-minute warmup. Unfortunately, there was no one else running at my pace today, so most of the workout was done by myself. My legs were a little sluggish at the start, but I think this was mostly due to the short warmup. I settled into a pace around 7:58, and quickly started feeling much better. At the 15-minute mark, my pace was exactly 7:56. On the way back to the staging area I subconsciously picked up the pace a little and ended up finishing the first interval with an average pace of 7:53.

      We took 5-minutes to hydrate, and then started the next interval. I was feeling really good during this one, and followed a slightly different route. At the halfway point I was just over 7:50 pace, and again subconsciously picked it up on the way back to finish the second interval with a average pace of 7:49. Even though both of these intervals were too fast, I was very pleased with how well I was feeling.

      After another 5-minute recovery, I took a completely different route for a change of scenery. While the first two routes were relatively flat, this one was quite hilly. I continued to feel really good, but ended up pushing it way too hard on this interval. My average pace was 7:43, and I was quite winded at the end.

      My mistake during the third interval made the final one exceedingly difficult. Both Paxton and Dan said that they wanted to do this one with me, and we hung together through the first 1/2 mile at about 7:49 pace. At that point Paxton began to pull away from Dan and I, and I did not attempt to follow his pace. After almost 2 miles, Dan pulled away from me as my pace began to slow a bit to just over 7:50. My legs were exhausted, and I was struggling. I kept telling myself to not think ahead, stay in the moment, and maintain pace. With 10 minutes to go, Paxton and Dan were well out ahead of me, but my pace remained consistently around 7:50. With five minutes to go, even though my legs were shredded, I again subconsciously picked up the pace and finished the interval with a 7:48 avg (my second fastest).

      Overall, it was a really good workout and I learned a couple of valuable things. (1) Early pacing mistakes can seriously affect the amount of gas left in the tank near the end. My poor pacing in the 3rd interval made the 4th one much harder than it should have been. (2) Even though I was really struggling during the 4th interval, I was still able to stay in the moment and maintain pace. This has historically been very difficult for me in marathons, so this is a good confidence boost.

      I finished the workout with 16 total miles including the short warmup, with an overall average pace of 7:50 per mile.  Even with the mistakes, I’m still happy with the effort at the end of a tough week, on what was a very humid morning.

      • Cross Training – Tonight I did P90X: Shoulders and Arms and P90X: Ab-Ripper X. Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed my form getting a little sloppy with the dumbbell exercises, so tonight I cut my weight across the board and really focused on form. Amazing how good it felt.

      Quest for 3:15 – Chicago Training Day 40

      Log for August 12 – 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.

       Friday

      • 4-Mile Barefoot Run – Paxton and I ran our normal 4-mile route this AM at a very easy pace after a hard track workout last night. There was a nice break in the temps and humidity which made this an extremely pleasant morning. I broke out my Saucony Hattori’s again after taking a break from the “barefoot” run last week. My big toe is still sore, but it didn’t bother me during the run. Glad this was an extremely easy effort because I’m a little nervous about our workout tomorrow AM. It is going to be 4 X 30 minute intervals at just over goal marathon pace, and I have a feeling it’s gonna be a tough one.
      • Cross Training – Tonight I did P90X: X-Stretch. I could tell throughout the day today that my hamstrings were very tight, so I decided to get in some good stretching before the workout tomorrow.

      Will Runners Take SKECHERS Seriously?

      SKECHERS Announces Endorsement Deal with Former NYC Marathon Winner and Olympic Medalist

      This is not a new announcement, but one which was issued in a press release on August 3. I’m still baffled that Meb has signed with SKECHERS, and find it very hard to believe they will be able to gain much credibility among serious runners. I for one have always viewed them as a casual shoe company and completely dismiss their claims regarding the fitness benefits of the “Shape Ups” product line. Per the press release, Meb will be running in SKECHERS for the 2011 ING New York City Marathon.

      Apparently they have a number of new running products in the pipeline for future release (Holiday 2011). Right now their web site only lists one “real” running shoe, the S R R ProSpeed. These shoes are marketed to be “Super light weight” and equipped with “Smart Shoe™ Mid-Foot Strike design” technology. For one thing, I do not consider 10 oz to 15 oz (range per size) to be “Super light weight,” so I would hate to see a shoe that was normal weight.

      It will be interesting to see what they come out with later this year.  Anybody out there think they have a chance of succeeding among serious runners?

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