The Wait

It's Monday. I leave on Thursday with my drive to Duluth. The waiting game has begun.

My mileage has pulled back significantly now and I'm starting to twiddle my thumbs. I've checked the weather a million times (which is pointless, because it keeps changing!). I've watched a few videos of marathon course. I've studied the maps. I've plotted my driving route. I've made pointless purchases online. It's all the waiting game.

Since the end of last week, here are my runs:

Thursday: 14 miles easy. I pulled this forward because I signed up for a 5K trial on Saturday.

Friday: REST and a massage. The massage definitely helped.

Saturday: I intended on racing a 5K at Montrose Harbor. Unfortunately, weather shifted quite a bit... it wound up pouring, thundering, and lightening for the hour surrounding the start of that race. They called it off. Bummer because I sunk the money just a couple days prior and I was really looking for this to give me a true indication of my current speed. I haven't raced in ages!! I ran home form Montrose and had nearly 3 miles at MGP. That helped me burn some energy.

Sunday: 10 with 3 miles at 5:59, 5:55, 5:39. The 5:39 was because in the last quarter mile I essentially ran it as a long stride. That run started easy but was a little more work than I had hoped. The pain was self inflicted... I had a mild hangover.

...On that note, I've really been trying to significantly cut alcohol clean up my diet in the last few months. Partly as sympathy for Sasha being pregnant, and low and behold I've noticed a side effect of not drinking as often... I've been recovering and sleeping much better! Who woulda thunk?!? I'm still allowing myself one or two nights a week to "chill out" and have some wine or beer... However, I paid a small price for Saturday's bottle of wine. Fortunately, I still have plenty of time to cleanse myself before heading to Duluth.

I've also been trying to monitor what I've been eating lately. Some higher protein. Much less fat. Trying to cut the sugar. Lots of grains, I guess. I'm not a freak about it... but I have been "counting my calories a bit". It all shows too. My weight before this marathon is probably the lowest I've had in a long time. And I feel much more lean. A true 138-139. I hit 135 a week ago after a run. I can't remember the last time I saw that...? I still feel strong though. My skin looks like it's painted on my muscles. No doubt, this is a result of my diet and boozing less while training in the last month...

Anyway, today was another rest day and another massage. The Serbian really broke some junk up this time. My back and legs are now a little sore, but feeling much more loosey-goosey. I'm planning on using the hot tub tonight with lots of epsom salts.

Tomorrow and Wednesday will each be easy 7-8 miles, with some strides. Then that's it. I'm leaving on Thursday and driving half way to Duluth. Wake up Friday morning in Northern Wisconsin, run a shake out, then drive the rest of the way.

The downside of not getting that 5K - I'm once again going to be toeing the line without any clear indication of my current fitness. The only thing I have at this point is my Makin' the Eights from last week. I can trust that a little bit. Otherwise, it'll another trial of miles after miles of trials. Ugh.

Soaking up the rest and recovery, and now waiting. Everything between now and 7:45AM on Saturday is just spanning time. Spanning time and just waiting to unleash whatever might be inside me.

Makin' the Eights

This is really my final week of running before Grandma's. The race is next Saturday. Like I said before, I haven't written much about this, but I've been certainly thinking and obsessing over it for the last couple of months.

May was solid. I ran a hell of a lot. I've only had three other comparable peaks that were this big:

- Philly 2012 - I had 12 day streak of trailing-7 days clocking 100+. Technically, 13 out of 15 days had the 100+. I was fantastically fit, but only had a few hours of sleep the night before the race. It was all for naught.

- Chicago 2013 - While I was "finding myself", I had 15 weeks of 1068 miles. My biggest ramp to that point, but not a peak like Philly. Lots of strong running and speed in here too, but I wound up breaking myself a week or so before the marathon. That lead to my worst injury ever. The marathon became a struggle to finish due the beginning of my pubic symphysis getting crushed.

- NYC 2017 - This was the mother of all training, as far as I was concerned. 15 weeks of 1121 miles. I even ran a marathon before the marathon. I had speed, I had strength, yet I came up lame. Yet again, all for naught and not worth discussing any longer.

Anyway, it's not all done yet for Grandma's, but I'll likely wind up with around 1040'ish miles in the 15 weeks. In addition, I also have the 13 days that lived above 100+. Twin peaks of 108. This has been solid and strong work yet again. I don't feel fresh, but I do feel fit. That's for sure.

That brings me to this week. Nothing big mileage wise, but I had two notable workouts:

8 Mile SOLO Tempo:

1- 548.2

2- 540.9

3- 543.3

4- 537.1

5- 537.5

6- 536.3

7- 533.3

8- 534.9

= 5:38.9 avg

The thing that was nice about this one - I was solo. It was a warm day, but wind wasn't a significant factor. Fast as I could want, and actually faster that I intended. I finished very strong. I actually don't know that I've done a tempo that fast before, outside of a race???

10x 800 w/ 85-90 rest:

1- 236.6

2- 236.3

3- 236.1

4- 235.2

5- 236.1 [1-5 avg: 236.06]

6- 233.1

7- 232.3

8- 231.6

9- 232.5

10- 231.2 [6-10 avg: 232.14]

= 234.10 avg

Again, SOLO. Decent conditions as well. Warmish day, and wind wasn't a factor. Considering the shit cold, monster wind, then incredibly hot weather we've had for the last 2 straight months, this was absolutely perfect!

One other kicker for the workout that I didn't anticipate... apparently it was National Running Day. The track was fucked! EXTREMELY crowded with Back on My Feet Again and CARA both having big groups doing social runs. I had to compete with 75+ people during my laps, and 3 soccer games on the infield. I tried the best I could to delay the run, and stay out of trouble. Every single lap required some sort of obstacle though.

The result: 236.06 in the first 5 reps. Not blazing, but not bad. It didn't feel easy. Just trying to get my groove and hold it. Then something hit me inside... I just opened up my legs and let the stride flow. Number 6 was tough, but I pushed the pace. I forced a 233. I don't know why, but everything after that felt sooo smooth!!! I wasn't having to force it as much. I even still had all the traffic in lane one. It didn't phase me. I sailed the second half, averaging 232.14. All in, I've had faster 8x800s, but that's definitely the fastest I've done 10x800... and certainly the best negative split interval workout that I've done.

Makin' the Eights... 8 mile tempo, and 10x800s. Two big workouts in my final week before cutting it off.

May got here in a hurry

Time slips away when you're having fun.

I've totally slacked on keeping this blog up to date. I used to write very often. Lately, a clear pattern has been that I get excited before a big race/marathon, and try to calm my nerves by putting the thoughts into the blog.

I've delayed up until now, and I'm once again in that situation. It's nearly mid-2018, time has been flying by, and I haven't touched this thing since my mugging in NYC. Let's do a quick run down of everything since then through May:

November: Trip to Thailand with Sasha. I try to forget about NYC, which is difficult since I sunk so much into that race... my biggest training stretch ever, and absolutely nothing to show for it but a mediocre 2:42:30.

December: Blah miles. Sasha finds out that she missed the cutoff for Boston by 5 lousy seconds! She's crushed. And she's significantly faster since then, as she even went sub-20 in her 5K. Qualifying for women is 3:35. She ran 3:31:40'ish, and the cutoff was like 3:31:35. Sucks. I signed up, and it wound up being a complete waste of $200 or whatever the damn price was... I wasn't going to run it without her. Immediately scrap that plan. I wander aimlessly for a while.

December 31: totaled 2823.6 miles for 2017.

January: Skiing in Colorado with Fools. Biggest news for the year: Sasha and I also found out that we're expecting a baby! The bear cub will be due September 20, 2018. Apparently the cubby decided that as soon as momma wasn't gonna run Boston, that this was the next best thing for our race calendar. We're both signed up for the Chicago Marathon in October, but this certainly throws a wrench in that plan. She's clearly out. I'm not scrapping it totally, but I certainly can't bury myself into it. I run base mile with twinkles of Grandma's popping into my head.

February: Napa Valley for Presidents' Day weekend. This was a great trip!! It would've been cooler if it was the highly romantic get-away as originally planned, but we still had a blast. Lots of wineries. She still tasted. I certainly drank. We ate fantastic food. Hot air balloon ride. Came back with a couple cases of wine that I've been foaming at the mouth over since then (I'm not allowed to drink it wihtout Sasha). Running was still an after thought, as Boston was off the docket. I threw my hat into the ring as an elite entry to Grandma's Marathon, competing as a master.

March: Skiing in Colorado again, with Paul Wilczewski and crew. First time I've been to Beaver Creek since like 2005. It was awesome! As soon as I returned from CO, I started to ramp up for Grandma's... the race is June 16th. That's three months to go from 50ish to 100ish and allow for a little break in the middle and a taper. Still mostly base miles, with one week towards the end of the month at 74 miles. I start to insert a few workouts. Shamrock Shuffle 8K is a wash, as I'm not fit to race. I run steady pace though, with 27:36 on the chip and 27:45 elite clock.

April: First half of the month was pushing to 80 miles. A few more workouts, lots of progressions, a couple tempos. I hit a 20 miler. Training gets cut for a week at the end of the month, as Sasha and I take a trip to Russia. We spent most of the time in her home-city, Voronezh, and then slightly North-east of Moscow at her relative's dacha. I did run a little while there, but it was mostly just to burn off the sour cream and meat. We returned to Chicago on April 29.

May: I didn't take a single day off here. Balls to the wall training, as best as I could do. Not sure what I'll run, but I wanna give a hell of a shot.

- After Russia, I immediately ramped to 80, the 90, then 100+.

- I had 13 days in a row that maintained a 7-day trailing 100+ miles. I kissed 108 twice at the beginning and end of that stretch.

- My workouts through the month were mostly strength builders. Not blazing speed, but getting me fit and strong, without breaking me.

- I have a few good tempos. One solid 8mi tempo at 5:45 average.

- 20x 400 @ 72.6 average, 80-85 rest. Very steady. No frills or fancy cut down.

- Lots of lunch runs, a number of doubles. Alvaro helped with some of the bigger runs, otherwise a lot of solo miles.

- My only true test of speed is with the Chase Corporate Challenge 3.5mi... I expected slightly under 19 minutes, at a 5:20ish pace. I run 19:06. There were several 180 degree turns that likely hurt. I also didn't see the finish until it was too late to really put a steady kick. Regardless, I went into that race with 105 miles under me... needless to say, I wasn't fresh.

- I ended the month with a 20 miler. I'm tired but strong. No idea how fast. I have just over 2 weeks to pull my life back together and toe the line for my 26th official marathon.