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.
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