Hitting a High Note.

Fri - DNR This wasn't a scheduled day off but I had several excuses. Raining, school work, sore calves, 21 miles planned for Saturday morning. I brushed off the run and actually didn't feel to bad about it.

Sat - Still raining as I set out for 21 miles. The plan was to run 5 easy miles, meet Dierdre in the Wissahickon and then run 15-16 more miles with her. It was warm for a late October morning and that made the rain almost enjoyable. The first 5 miles went easily and I was looking forward to meeting Deirdre and running a good workout. We ran the length of Forbidden Drive, which had some eerily cool pockets of cool air when the trails was lower and closer to the rain swollen creek.

The rain would turn heavy and then abate at regular intervals but I was kind of enjoying it. When we got to the top of the park Deirdre decided to turn around and save her long run for Sunday morning. I continued on into Montgomery County for a long loop before tackling the hill on Germantown Avenue leading into Chestnut Hill. After a couple more miles I ended up back in the Park where I jumped on a couple miles of trails, I was 15 miles in and feeling good.

I eventually crossed the creek and got back on Forbidden Drive. I had about 4 miles to go and decided to see what marathon pace felt like, that is if I could get to marathon pace. I turned up the pace and felt fairly good but I really didn't think I'd be knocking off the 6:45 miles I was hoping for. First 1/2 mile split was 6:11 pace. Whoa. I know the spilt is slightly short but I was still well under 6:45 pace. 1st mile 6:28, second mile 6:30, last 1/2 mile 6:15. Obviously something must be working right to hit those splits after 17 miles.

I cooled down for the last couple miles with a little more confidence for a sub 3:00 performance in a few weeks. I don't plan to taper much this week considering I just have not been putting in a ton of miles. I'll save the taper for the final two weeks.

Sun - An easy 6 with Heather on a much cooler and drier fall afternoon.

Fast... Finally

After all that talk in the last post I went out and had a great run tonight. A route into Chestnut Hill and after 6 miles I picked the pace up to what felt like tempo. It was rainy and cool and I was thouroughly soaked. The portion I ran at tempo pace was fairly hilly and I just tried to keep a consistent effort.

I wasn't sure how fast or far I was going at tempo I just concentrated on getting to an intersection on my route that I figured was about 3 miles away. I felt fast and smooth, along the way I picked an intersection and hit the split button, around 6:10 later I hit the split at another intersection and continued on for a little longer.

I got home and mapped it out. I had run 3.7 miles at tempo pace and that distance I split was a mile on the nose. And now that I am thinking about, that mile included a little slow down at stop sign to let two cars go. I didn't have to slow much but it may have added a few seconds. I am guessing I averaged about 6:15 pace for that portion.

The only negative note was more stomach issues. It seems that any run over 10 miles and I have problems. I have a few ideas for what might be causing it and I'll make a few changes to see what happens. I obviously don't want this problem when I am running 26.2
For the run it was 13.7 miles in 1:37.

I can't believe it but there are only 3 1/2 weeks until the Philly marathon. Where did all that training time go? Building up to Chicago last year was just week after week of decent mileage and good workouts. It got very monotonous and tiring but it also made me feel like I was ready to tackle the marathon and drive it right into the ground. I felt faster, fitter, and ready.

No so much this fall. My training has been more of a start/stop affair with to many stops. I got started a few weeks late, I lost over a week getting married, I lost two weekends due to other issues and here I am with just over 3 weeks to go and feeling unprepared. I haven't had those surprisingly easy and fast workout that often occur in training. My tempo runs have gone poorly, and many of my easy runs haven't felt great either. All of this and I really haven't been logging that many miles. 50-60 /week, with a couple weeks much less than that, instead of my normal 60-70

Where does this all leave me? I don't know. I can for sure say that I am not to confident. Despite the lower mileage over the past couple weeks, my legs haven't felt good. I have been having intestinal issues on many runs when in the past they were a rare occurrence. My motivation has also been lacking. I find myself kind of dreading the mid-week 14 mile workout. I had thoughts of just not doing the marathon.

Today things feel better. My legs feel fast and ready to go. I am looking forward to 15 miler tonight and I think it is going to go well. Hopefully I can carry this feeling into the final couple weeks of training and ride it right through my taper into the marathon.

Regardless of the way the next couple weeks go I am going to line up on Nov 18th shooting for a sub 3:00 marathon. The original goal of 2:55 and 6:40 pace seems like a real stretch right now. I think I will be better off going a little more conservatively in the first half, maybe 1:29, and than hopefully pick it up slightly and negative split.

The runs:

Sun - A very easy 4.5 miles in 38 minutes
Mon- 6+ miles through Roxborough in 48:00. This run felt decent.
Tues - Off
Tonight - 15 miles through chestnut hill.

As planned I met Deirdre for 18 miles on Saturday morning, we were joind by Erin and Iris. Erin was running and Iris was riding in the stroller. I haven't seen Erin since she had Iris about 1 year ago. She looked great and was running great as well.

After 4 miles Erin turned around and Deirdre and I headed on into Mt. Airy and through the Wissahickon Park. The pace stayed easy and I felt decent. However, around mile 12 intestinal distress reared it's ugly head and the pace slowly started to drop off. Deirdre was understanding and we even traded a few tales about the subject. The same conversation with a coworker would be odd but with Deirdre on the run it was fine.

We altered the route so I might have better chance at passing a port-a-john but it wasn't until we were nearly finished, on MLK, that I was able to make a pit-stop. I was running 8:20's before the stop and 7:20 after. 18.2 miles in 2:23.

Thanks Deirdre

My runs have not gone to well over the past couple weeks. Two attempts at tempo runs, today and last week, have gone miserably. Just 2-3 miles into tempo pace and I am spent. With a couple exceptions of a long run over the weekend, and 12 miler last Friday, I wouldn't call any other of the runs good. In fact this week they have all just been bad. Sore legs, lack of energy, and just a general feeling that I don't want to run.

So all this is going through my head 6 miles into my 10 mile run tonight. This sucks, my running sucks, whine whine whine

I bump into Deirdre just past boat house row, we stop to chat and she conveniently asks how my run is going. I'll try to recreate the conversation here. There may be a few exaggerations below but this is the general idea.

Me: High Deirdre

De: High John, How is your running going

Me: WAAAH, and WAAHH.... WAH

De: Really tell me more

Me: Wah

De: Oh that has happened to me in the past

Me: Wah WAAAAH Wah

De: I have had horrible runs leading up to marathons but the race has gone just fine. You have a month left don't sweat it, take a couple days off

Me: Yeah but...... Wah

De: I had the big toe on my right foot amputated days before my Olympic trials marathon a few years back, and had a great race.

Me: Your right, I gotta relax and just deal with a bad patch, take it kind of easy over the weekend

De: I am glad you stopped crying

Me: I'll meet you for an easy 18 Saturday morning

De: Sounds good, see ya.

The whole conversation really brightened my mood. The 4 miles home were the best miles I've had all week. Deirdre was in the right place at the right time and I don't think she had any idea how the short conversation helped. I'll have to tell her on that 18 miler this weekend.

Thurs - 6 Easy miles with Heather. This has become a routine easy run for me. 48 minutes, a little faster than Heather's normal pace

Fri - I was looking for 11-12 miles with a few at marathon pace. Took a trip up to the edge of Chestnut Hill and then into Wissahickon Park. After a couple more miles I sped up to marathon pace, and the first mile went by in 6:40, right and felt good. Second mile 6:35, 3rd mile 6:30 and 4th mile 6:30. It's amazing how much better I felt than a couple days back when I was attempting a tempo run. The pace came easily and I didn't really feel winded after slowing down. This defintiely brightened my mood. You can't let one bad workout ruin your outlook, just have to move on.

Sat - Breakout 5K

I decided not race this one and run with Heather. It's decent race with a route that doesn't set foot on MLK or Kelly Drive, a good break from the norm. Instead it winds around the neighborhood of Fairmount and through the grounds of Girard College. The weather was crisp, clear, and calm, perfect for a race.

In the first mile we reeled a few people in and we were holding steady. Heather was racing well and I don't think the pace dropped off at all. We went through the two mile split somewhere around 13:40 and as we exited Girard College Heather started to pick-up the pace. There was one girl ahead and in the last turn Heather was able to pass her and really pick up the pace to finish in 20:36, good for 3rd place female. A great race.

Sun - Long Run

Another beautiful morning, this is the way that fall runs are supposed to be. I met Ian in front of the Art Museum and we headed out on a course that incorporated some of the Philly marathon route, Fairmount Park, and into East Falls. Then, a loop across Wissahickon Park on Henry Avenue and Walnut Lane before a mile in Mt. Airy. I was feeling pretty good and really enjoying the run.

After dipping into Wissahickon Park for a couple miles we ended up on Kelly Drive for the final 5 back to the Art Museum. The pace was between 7:15 and 7:30 on the way down Kelly and I think this was true for the entire run. I gratefully grabbed a much needed Gatorade from Ian at the finish and he continued on for a couple more to reach 3 hours. For me, 21 miles in 2:35.

A good run. I was tired but finished strong and had a surprising amount of energy the rest of the day. Both good signs.

65 miles for the week, and now over 1800 for the year. In the first half of 2007 I was a few hundred miles up on my 2006 totals. Since that point my 2006 running ghost has slowly been catching my 2007 totals. At this point, 2006 John is only 60 miles back but 2006 John is a week away from the Chicago Marathon and now I still have 5 weeks to go till Phill. All this means I should beat last years total. A trend that has been ongoing for several years now and it's nice to continue.

A tough run last night. My goal was 15 miles with 5 at tempo pace. I felt decent the first couple miles on Kelly Drive and was looking forward to a good workout. After about 20 minutes of warmup, I sped up to the high end of my tempo pace, 6:20. The first mile felt good, the second mile I was beginning to struggle and I called it short when I got to Lloyd hall at 2.5 miles. From there I ran easy pace down the path extension to the looping turn around.

I stopped at the turn around to stretch and to tell you the truth, had there been a way out of running home from there I would have taken it. I felt like crap and did not want to run back. I delayed as long as possible and began again at a leisurely pace. Surprisingly I was feeling and better decided to ramp it up to tempo pace when I got near Girard Bridge. I felt like I was moving along well but the first ¼ mile split indicated 6:50 pace, WTF. I pushed the pace down to 6:20 but it was a struggle and I only kept it up for 1.5 miles. I passed Devon along this stretch and it looked like he wanted to chat but I was afraid any stop would kill my momentum so I just yelled hello as I went by.

The last few miles home were a struggle even at 8:00 pace. I just couldn’t wait to be done with it. 12.4 miles in 1:32.

When a workout goes this poorly it leaves you searching for a reason. The best I can guess is dehydration. I drank two huge glasses of water when I got home before hopping on the scale. 149lbs. That’s an obvious sign that my tank was very low. Also, I had a run like this a few weeks back and it looks like it was the same cause. More water.

Fall Changes

This fall has definitely not been the best for marathon training. I knew this heading into training but with less than 6 weeks remaining I feel I need to play catch up. I have missed a couple key tempo and longs runs so I adjusted my training program to include two 20+ milers instead of just one and changed some of the track workouts to tempo runs.

In fact I’ve kind of thrown the entire training program out the window and I am just sticking to what has worked for me in the past, specifically Chicago last year. One decent tempo each week, hillier 12-15 milers midweek, and long runs on the weekend with 1-2 with a faster finish.

This renewed plan, coupled with a change to cooler weather had me excited to get out the door late last night for an easy run after a long day. It promptly starting raining but I didn’t really mind and enjoyed 6+ miles winding through Manayunk. 47 minutes.

I have good bit of catching up to do in this blog but sadly it is because of some horrible news.

Friday afternoon Heather found out that her older brother Peter had suddenly died at a faculty meeting that morning. Peter was a teacher in the Arts departments at Southern Georgia University 40 miles west of Savannah. Needless to say this was a horrible shock to Heather, her family and her brother Peter’s family. He was survived by his wife M.C. and his beautiful 11-year-old daughter Olivia.

We headed down to his home in the small town of Metter, GA along with the rest of her family and friends. It was a sad weekend.

Peter was 36. The college held a beautiful ceremony for him Monday afternoon and the turn out showed just how much Peter was loved and respected by his family, friends, students and colleagues. At times it was heart wrenching and other times humorous but overall it was a wonderful tribute to a great guy. My heart and thoughts go out to Heather and her family in such a horrible time.

The whole event makes me think about my family and friends and just how much I take for granted that they will always be there. I hope to learn from this tragedy and make a few changes.

A Long Morning

Mon - 6 easy miles with Heather in Wissahickon Park. The cool crisp air, and slightly golden leaves made it feel like Autumn to me for the first time this year.

Tues- Off

Wed - The schedule called for 15 easy miles and due to other obligations I knew I wasn't going to be able to run after work so I got stuck running it before work. My longest morning run to date is 8 miles, so this was definite jump for me. Strangely it is a lot easier for me to sleep in and miss a 5 miler than 15, so I was right up when the alarm went off and out the door at 5:00 am. This is par for the course for many runners but getting my ass out the door at 5 am to run felt like a tiny accomplishment.

I was hoping to step out into a cool fall morning, but was greeted with a humid not so fall like morning. I set out for Chestnut hill on a route I ran many times training for Boston over the winter. A fairly uneventful run, in the dark just about the entire way. I passed a couple other early morning runners. Runners are much more likely to wave or nod to each other in the morning than in the afternoon. Why is that? Some bond that getting out there in the morning creates?

Josh Rouse's, "Subtitulo", and The Killers "Hot Fuss" on my iPod carried me through almost the entire run and before you know I was back home with the sun starting to shed some light on the horizon. The route was a little shorter than I rememberd, 14 miles in 1:43.