Just a Training Run??

Today, Mary and I ran the Earth Day races in St. Cloud, MN.
Mary chose the Half marathon and I ran the 20 miler.
I went into this planning to run as a fast finish long run.
The goal simply was to run the first 10 miles at 7:20 pace and then at mile 10 I would try to stay under goal marathon pace (6:52/mile) and then finish strong.
The weather was great. About 52F and a good breeze out of the ENE.
I started out and had a little trouble finding my pace, but soon settled in. I ran alongside a steady runner named Rod and he was running a similar pace. I visited with him quite a bit and we drafted each other when the breeze got a little too strong. The miles went by in a hurry.
Here are the splits:
7:26, 7:13, 7:07, 7:12, 7:15, 7:05, 7:15, 7:19, 7:12, and 7:17.
So, the 10 mile split was an average of 7:14/mile - not too far off the original plan.
I said goodbye to Rod and wished him a strong finish as we parted ways at mile 10.
I found it quite easy to get onto marathon pace and it was uplifting to start to pass runners as I really enjoyed the faster pace.
I found myself moving a little too fast, but was still feeling very comfortable, so I stayed with it.
Passing other runners was kind of a game now, as I would always look for a strong runner way ahead of me and just try to close the gap.
Soon it was mile 18 and time to see if there was anything left in the tank. I pushed a little harder and worked really hard the last mile.
Finished in 2:18:34 for 12th place overall and 2nd place in the M45-49 age group.
The last splits were:
6:44, 6:44, 6:38, 6:45, 6:45, 6:36, 6:44, 6:38, 6:29, and 6:10.
That comes out to be an average of 6:37 for the final 10 miles.
This run was a great confidence booster - maybe the sub-3 marathon really is possible!?!?
Mary finished in 1:58:26, just missing her PR by 22 seconds!!
Yea, it was a good day!
John

Thinking of Zumbro

I was just thinking about the runners that are at Zumbro right now. Matt P is running the 100K and maybe he has finished already. I think he will do great - can't wait to hear from him.
Steve Q is running the 100M option. I really worry about Steve and how many times he falls while running. I saw him last year at Afton after falling. He's one tough competitor! Please stay upright, Steve!
I just finished my FFLR and it was a success. 12 miles at 7:55 and then 7 more miles.
6:51, 6:46, 6:50, 6:43, 6:43, 6:44 and 6:31.
It went well.
Next Saturday, Mary and I go to St. Cloud for the Earth Day runs. Mary will run the 1/2 and I will run the 20 miler as a fast finish training run.

Weight Update

Here's a current view of my Tanita scale this morning.

Diet and fitness plan is right on schedule.

But, I never realized there were so many pizza commercials on television....the Papa John's one with all of the pepperoni on it really gets me drooling.

Success with the FFLR

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the two types of long runs that I will be doing in preparation for Grandma's Marathon on June 20.
This weekend, it was time for the Fast Finish Long Run (FFLR). My goal was to go out for 12 miles @ 8:00 miles and then hit marathon pace for the final 6, finishing as strong as possible.
The run went well, averaging 7:54 for the first 12 miles, keeping the HR right around 140.
The final miles were 6:55, 6:46, 6:48, 6;43, 6:42 and 6:32.
It was tough to dig down for more speed at the end, but this is the type of training that develops both physical and mental toughness.
I write this as I sit in the ice bath, blogging keeps the mind away from the shivering.
Congrats to the Michigan State Spartans who will be representing the Big 10 in the NCAA Final 4!

Spring has sprung long run

It was a beautiful day today in MN. Went for a nice, easy long run. Temps were in the 40s-50's.
Shorts and short sleeve weather!
21.72 miles in 3:00:37 - about 8:20 pace. Took a nice ice bath and now it's time for some yard work with Schmoopie.

Half way to Goal weight

Weighed in this morning.

This is what I saw.

16 days ago, I weighed 155 lbs.

It was at that time, I promised to stick to my diet and fitness plan to reach my goal race weight of 145 lbs. for Grandma's Marathon on June 20.

Looks like I'm a little over half way there.

Long run training for the marathon

For the next three months, I will be focusing my long training runs on two different types. They are called the long steady distance run and the fast finish long run. I've bought into this a bit from Greg McMillan's site. I'm not going to run these exactly as he describes, but I feel that alternating these two types of runs will be beneficial to my marathon training.
With so much of my training focused on ultras last year, most of my miles logged were quite slow and low heart rate. Then, with a stress fracture last fall, running was very slow, just so that the healing of my tibia could complete.
I've got a great aerobic base right now, but don't have the top end speed or the fast efficient stride need to be a better racer at the marathon distance or less.
Long steady distance run:
I ran this type last Saturday. 18.4 miles on rolling hills. I went into it with very low glycogen levels, as I had restricted calories to under 1,500 per day for the prior 3 days.
Ended up averaging 8:38/mile and was totally drained by the end. Total glycogen depletion!
Fast finish long run:
Today was FFLR day. The plan was to go out at 8:00/mile for 12 miles, and then step up to 6:52/mile for the final 5.
Execution of this plan was almost perfect:
12 miles: 7:58/mi.
5 miles: 6:40/mi.
I took a gel at mile 11.5, and that was plenty of fuel to finish the run.