Hitting On All Cylinders

Nice easy recovery run on Sunday after really good long run on Saturday

What a great weekend of running!  After recovering from a nagging hip for most of the Spring, I'm in full fall marathon training mode ... and really beginning to hit my stride, at full strength and healthy!

The weekend started with a great long run on Saturday morning.  It was a 24 miler with 76F degrees & 91% humidity in the rain.  It actually didn't start raining until about mile 10, and I can tell you those first miles without rain were flat-out brutal.  But the showers really seamed to cool things down a bit, and helped, if nothing more than psychologically.

The 24 spot was the 6th run of 18 miles or more during this cycle.  I won't get in depth with why I run so many 18+ runs, including a 24 miler on this post, as I know many people think it's too much and too far.  But suffice to say, the longer my long runs, the better I do on race day.  It just works for me, we'll leave it at that.

The plan was to go out easy and comfortable, and if I had anything left in the tank, work in a "fast finish" with the last 6-7 miles at race pace.  The primary focus would be on my running form and fueling.  For some reason, I've been struggling a little with fueling this summer and I needed to get it figured out before the Maui Marathon in six weeks.  And speaking of the Maui Marathon, the conditions and course that I charted were the perfect simulation for what is sure to be a beautiful, but gruelingly hot and humid race.

Rain run photo I took for my Instagram page

Per my schedule, the first 17 miles were ran at about an 8:13/average pace.  The pace felt smooth and natural, and I walked through all my water stops.  So with the walking, I was probably closer to 8:05'ish.  I also ran the 3rd Street Hills ... or the 3rd Street "Kills" as I call them.  It's a series of 4 fairly short, but steep climbs over a two mile out and back stretch near Longview Community College.  The only minor distraction during the first 17 was a pain on the top of my left foot, probably from having my shoes too tight - and also the irritation of my shoes being soaked and sloshing by mile 10.

At mile 18 I decided to speed up a little and actually was able to run the last 7 miles miles at an average pace of 7:22 with the following splits ... 7:50, 7:22, 7:22, 7:21, 7:11, 7:11, 7:20.  I finished the 24 miles with an overall average pace of 7:59.  Pretty good considering the conditions.

My fueling went really well also.  I moved my big pre-race meal of chicken & rice & spinach to lunch instead of dinner, and then had a chicken breast sandwich and some more bread for dinner.  Also, I took 4 gels at miles 5, 10, 15, and 20.  They were GU Salted Watermelon with caffeine.  I took two salt capsules at miles 9 and 17.

Even though I basically ran a marathon on Saturday morning, I couldn't believe how  much energy and how great I felt for the rest of the day.  There was 0% stomach issues like I sometimes have after marathons, and my energy level was still incredible.  On Sunday morning, I was a little "hung over" from the long run, but didn't have any pain or tightness at all.  So I got in a core workout and an 8 mile recovery run.

I've been hitting my training pretty hard this summer, including more upper body work than normal.  The results so far have been very positive.  I feel really strong and in great shape with 6 weeks to go until Maui.  Maui isn't my "A marathon" this fall, as I'm sure I can't PR on that one.  The goal will be to qualify for Boston there, but that will be a task considering the course and conditions.  But I've got a 10K in September I want to run strong, and then I'll find a fast marathon, probably in October, to test myself with.  Hopefully I can strong and injury free.  Everything's going well so far!  Hopefully your training is going well too.  Have a great week!
... Be Great Today!