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I have not posted a training update in over a week. During week 9 (2 weeks ago) I had two of my best workouts so far, and since then I’ve been unable to even walk without a limp due to pain in my right leg. It started out as some mild soreness early in week 9, and then just magnified dramatically after Saturday’s run.

I have not been able to schedule an Ortho appointment yet due to my recent travel, so not sure what is going on or what the future holds. At this point I would say St. George is very much in doubt.

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This has been a tough running week! I’ve had bigger mileage weeks in the past, but my legs have never felt like this before. They don’t feel injured, just completely exhausted. The “cumulative fatigue” from the Hansons Advanced Plan is in FULL EFFECT!!

I haven’t been able to post any this week, so I’m just going to focus on the SOS (Something of Substance) runs on Tuesday (Long), Thursday (Speed), and Saturday (Tempo).

Long – Tuesday

After an 8-mile easy run on Monday with Nathan and Brian, I met them again for my scheduled 14-mile “Long” run at the Edwin Warner Nature Center at 5am. I was expecting cooler temperatures with lower humidity on Tuesday morning, but it was still 77º with high humidity and dew point. There was a cold-front approaching, but it did not arrive until around 7:30am (bummer).

I decided to relax my Long run pace goals (8:05 to 8:25 per mile), since hitting this range consistently in high temps and humidity is just not feasible. I told Brian and Nathan that I really just wanted our overall average to be less than 9:30 per mile for the run.

From the very beginning of our run we kept encountering large swarms of GNATS!! I guess they were stirred up with the high humidity and approaching cold front. I was wearing a bright yellow singlet, and it was mostly black from the gnats by the end of the run. I also ended up with more than I like to think about in my mouth which is disgusting.

Anyway, we started off with a 6.25-mile loop in the park and then grabbed some fluids back at the cars. The heat and humidity were tough, but my legs felt fairly decent. Brian had to head out after the first loop, so Nathan and I did a 4-mile out-and-back into the surrounding neighborhood, and my legs continued to feel really good, and the pace continued to get quicker.

Nathan had to head out after the second loop, so I finished the final 3.75-miles solo, and ended up having the best splits of the day. Here’s an overview of the run:

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Thursday’s Run

On Thursday I met the JSRC track group at 6pm at Vanderbilt to complete my weekly “speed” workout. I did the week 6 “speed” workout prescribed in the Hansons Advanced Training Plan. This was the first “speed” workout with more than 3-miles of intervals. It was a ladder that consisted of 400m / 800m / 1200m / 1600m / 1200m / 800m / 400m with 400m recovery in-between each interval. This equates to 4-miles of intervals and 1.75-miles of recovery.

While the humidity was down a touch from normal, then temps were hovering around 90º at the start time for the workout, which made this workout a BEAST!

It was a HUGE challenge, but overall I did WAAAAAY better than I expected. Here’s a breakdown:

Warmup

• 1.65-miles easy
• 6 x 100m Stride Outs

Workout

• 400m fresh (1:40) / 400m recovery
• 800m fresh (3:23) / 400m recovery
• 1200m fresh (5:09) / 400m recovery
• 1600m fresh (6:54) / 400m recovery
• 1200m fresh (4:58) / 400m recovery
• 800m fresh (3:17) / 400m recovery
• 400m fresh (1:32) / 400m recovery

Cool Down

• 1.19-miles easy

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This week started out with a 10-miler on Monday, an 8-miler on Tuesday, and a 6-miler Wednesday. This volume of mileage is INTENSE with the Hansons Advance Plan, but is nowhere near what it is going to be in a few weeks when it gets cranked all the way up to 11 (Next week is 8, 14, 7)!!!

Thursday’s Run

On Thursday I met the JSRC track group at 6pm at Vanderbilt to complete my weekly “speed” workout. I did the week 5 “speed” workout prescribed in the Hansons Advanced Training Plan. This was 4 x 1200m with 400m recovery in-between each interval. This equates to 3-miles of intervals and 1-mile of recovery. Based on my goal marathon time of 3:15, the target splits for this workout are 4:50.

We caught a huge break with the weather Thursday night. The temps were around 79º with a nice break in the humidity. This felt awesome compared with previous weeks. Hard to believe it could be 79º at 6pm on any night in July!

Overall this workout felt really good, and I’m sure the weather had a LOT to do with it. After my warmup and stride outs I still felt a little tight during the first 1200m, but my legs really loosened up throughout the workout. Here’s a breakdown:

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Monday’s Run

While Monday was the first day of week 6, it also marked the end of my first full month of training for the 2014 St. George Marathon. As for the run itself, Nathan, Brian, and I did a relatively chill-paced 8-miler on the Harpeth River Greenway, starting at the Morton Mill parking lot. The heat and humidity continued to be nasty, even at 5am! I guess this is going to be the way of things until mid-September.

Anyway, my legs were pretty tight at the beginning, but gradually felt better throughout. Except for mile-4, this was a progression run, with each mile faster than the previous. Here’s a breakdown of the splits:

After two solid (and tough) workouts on Thursday and Saturday, I knew my legs would be tight for this morning’s 7-mile “easy” run. The humidity was down a touch from yesterday, which was nice, but it was still pretty thick. Thankfully I had cloud cover for most of the run. I started out from my house and headed toward the Harpeth River Greenway entrance by the driving range on Old Harding Pike. My legs were REALLY tight for the first couple of miles before the finally started to loosen up.

Once I reached the greenway, I headed south to try and make my run into a big loop. However after about 1/2-mile there were two ladies approaching me on bikes, and I could tell they were trying to get my attention. They stopped and one of them said “Do you know what’s going on?” I had no idea what they were talking about, but they explained that up ahead on the greenway there was a manhunt going on for three men who had stolen, and subsequently wrecked, a car and were now trying to escape on foot. They said that there were police officers blocking the path, and I would need to turn around.

I wasn’t quite sure what to do, but did turn around and finished my run with an out-and-back route on the section of the greenway north of Old Harding Road before heading back home. I also made sure to keep my head up at all times in case I saw the “fugitives” anywhere on my route. This was a bit disturbing. Anyway, my legs continued to feel better throughout the run, and I was able to finish up with my last two miles under 9:00 per mile pace:

Today’s Run

After an off-day on Friday, today was my third “tempo” run of the Hansons Advanced Plan, and final one at 6-miles. The objective was to complete 6-miles at goal marathon pace (7:26). My friend Nathan joined me for this workout at the Edwin Warner Park picnic area.

This humidity this morning was NASTY! Just before we started the temperature was 71º, the relative humidity was 97%, and the dew point was at 70º. This was intense! Thank goodness we at least had some cloud cover.

After a 2.25-mile warmup with 4 stride outs, we hit the greenway for the “tempo” section. I decided this week not to rely on my Garmin for distance, and instead used the 1/4-mile markers on the greenway, and manually lapped my watch at each mile. This workout was really hard with the humidity, but I actually felt a lot better than I anticipated. I could tell during the warmup that my legs were very tired, but I still hit reasonable splits throughout the workout. Here’s a breakdown…

Wednesday’s Run

Yesterday I couldn’t get myself out of bed in time to get in my run before work so I ended up having to squeeze it in between work and mid-week Bible study. It was fairly hot, but the humidity was down just a bit. My schedule called for 6-miles at “easy” pace, so I decided to start from my house and do a 6-mile route through the streets of Bellevue. When I went to grab my Garmin I saw that the battery was dead, so I just took my basic Timex stopwatch instead.

I knew from the start that my legs felt good, but I really didn’t know what pace I was running without my GPS. The heat was pretty intense, but I maintained a steady pace and my legs felt good throughout the run. When I got back to the house my stopwatch read 48 minutes, 46.16 seconds. I used MapMyRun.com to confirm that my route was actually 6-miles, and it came out to 6.05. This translates to a pace of 8:04 per mile, which is quite a bit faster than my “easy” pace target of 9:05 to 8:26. This is actually even faster than my “long” run pace range of 8:05 to 8:25.

Not sure where this burst came from, but it was actually a big confidence boost after many slower runs in recent days.

This week started out with back-to-back 8-mile runs at “easy” pace on Monday and Tuesday. Yesterday I met Nathan at BUMC for a run through Bellevue, the Harpeth River Greenway, and Edwin Warner Park. The heat and humidity were especially nasty yesterday, which made this run a challenge. My legs were really, really tight for the first few miles, but thankfully they slowly loosened up to where I felt better at the end of the run than at the beginning (always a plus). Here’s a breakdown of our splits:

After two consecutive tough workouts on Thursday and Saturday, I fully expected this morning’s 6-mile “easy” run to be a challenge, and I was right. The heat and humidity continue to be tough, and I was really feeling it from the start. Thankfully my legs felt fairly decent, and this only got better as the run progressed. I started from my house and did a big loop through Bellevue, Edwin Warner Park, and the Harpeth River Greenway. My pace started out extremely chill, but I actually got below 9:00 pace for the last mile:

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Thursday’s Run

On Thursday I met the JSRC track group at 6pm at Vanderbilt to complete my weekly “speed” workout. I did the week 3 “speed” workout prescribed in the Hansons Advanced Training Plan. This was 6 x 800m with 400m recovery in-between each interval. This equates to 3-miles of intervals and 1.5-miles of recovery. Based on my goal marathon time of 3:15, the target splits for this workout are 3:15. While, this is the goal, the Hanson brothers really emphasize not exceeding your target pace, and even make their athletes do sets of push-ups for every second they exceed their goal.

However, “exceeding” this goal was not gonna happen on Thursday due to the nasty heat and humidity. It was 94º in full sun, with a “feels like” of 98º at the beginning of my warmup:

Tuesday’s Run

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that one of the core principles of the Hansons Advanced Training Plan was “Cumulative Fatigue.” This is the idea that you are always running on tired legs up until marathon race week. Well a second core principle is the inclusion of two to three “SOS” runs per week. “SOS” stands for Something Of Substance and includes:

1. Long Runs – From 10 to 16-miles…completed at a pace somewhere between goal marathon pace and easy pace
2. Speed / Strength Workouts – Speed runs are in the first 1/2 of the schedule and include 3-miles of intervals at 5k pace. Strength runs are in the second-half of the schedule and include 6-miles of intervals at half-marathon pace.
3. Tempo Runs – From 6 to 10 miles…completed at goal marathon pace

Yesterday was my first scheduled 10-mile “long” run under the Hansons Advanced Marathon training plan. My target pace range for these runs 8:25 to 8:05, and I knew this was going to be a BIG challenge with my tired legs and the nasty heat and humidity. I met Brian and Nathan at the Harpeth River Greenway parking lot across from the Old Harding Road driving range, and we did a 5-mile out-and-back on the greenway back towards Edwin Warner Park. I felt fairly decent from the start, and this only got better as the run progressed. Our first mile was a little slow, but we were also still warming up. After that point I had three splits that were either too slow or too fast by a few seconds, but was generally in the goal range. Here’s a rundown of the splits:

I met Brian and Nathan this morning at Brian’s house for a 6-mile run “easy” through the surrounding neighborhoods along with Sneed and Temple roads. This route was out-and-back, and I felt pretty rough on the way out. My legs were very tight and just had no jump to them. It also didn’t help that the nasty humidity is firmly back after a nice reprise on Friday and Saturday mornings.

However, as soon as we turned around for the way back things started to improve dramatically, which can clearly be seen in the splits over the final three miles:

Friday’s Run

After a rescheduled off-day on Thursday (Friday is my normal off-day) due to my day-trip to Ft. Lauderdale, Friday was a 6-miler at “easy” pace. I met Brian and Nathan at Bellevue United Methodist Church parking lot and we went down Sawyer Brown to Hwy 70, did two laps around the vacant Bellevue Center Mall, and then headed back up Sawyer Brown to close out the run. It was a pleasant run in cooler temps and a steady rain. I didn’t keep track of our splits, but overall it was a little faster than most of our recent “easy” paced runs.

Saturday’s Run

Yesterday was my first “tempo” run of the Hansons Advanced Plan. The objective was to complete 6-miles at goal marathon pace (7:26). Thankfully Brian joined me for this workout at the Edwin Warner Park picnic area, and we caught a great break in the weather. It was 55° with relatively mild humidity.

After a 2.75-mile warmup, with 3 stride outs, we ran all 6 “tempo” miles out-and-back on the Harpeth River Greenway without breaks. As has been the trend recently, my Garmin could not keep up so it was hard to tell if we were on pace or not. According to Brian’s watch, we averaged 7:30 pace for the 6 miles, and I actually felt really, really good. I was fairly nervous heading into this run, but my legs were relatively strong all the way through. Our pace was a few seconds slow, but considering this was the first “tempo” run, and I felt great, I’ll take it. With a 1.2-mile cool down, we got in just under 10 total miles for the day.