The weather was perfect right from the start. When I crossed the half marathon point I knew I got plenty left. When I crossed the 20 mile mark at 3:01. I knew a sub 4 hour was very possible. I had never run a sub 4 hour before. My last 2 marathons were rigt around 4:30. I failed miserably the last time I tried to break 4 hours. But this time, I got that good feeling.

Miles 22-25 werent easy. My quads started cramping a bit. I walked a bit at the water stop, drank a whole cup of water and just like that the cramping was gone. I asked myself if I really wanted to break 4 hours, I started recalling all the hard training runs from the past 16 weeks. For some reason the mile markers seem off or my Garmin was off (by about. 2 miles).  So i knew I also had some catching up to do. When I saw mile 26 i had to sprint it out because I was right at 3:59. I saw my wife cheering on the side. I sprinted hard even though my hamstrings and calves were complaining. I crossed the finish at 3:59:43. Two seconds faster than my written down strategy for breaking 4 hours. Looks like I found the formula to run a sub 4 hour marathon in Savannah. With the right training (the most miles per week I did was only 44…Once!), a little bit of luck, a prayer and a nice cool weather, its possible.

This week, I plan to run a few more shorter easy runs during the week before leaving for Savannah. I’m excited and nervous at the same time. I really want to break that 4 hours.

I’m planning to run 2 more 20 milers before I start tapering. I will be running a Half-Marathon race tomorrow (Marine Corp) downtown. This will be my final tune-up race before Savannah. I plan to run it at about 70% effort and not go for a PR. I will probably practice my marathon pacing.

I still have not decided what shoes to wear for tomorrow. I will probably wear my Vibrams to force myself to not run too hard. For Savannah though, I have decided what shoes to wear on race day. I’ve decided not to go with the Saucony Hattori’s because of the blistering and go with the Asics Piranha 3. They’ve already arrived and I had already taken them out for a nice 8 mile run yesterday. I will try to post a review on those later. In the meantime, I’m going to bed.

The link above was from my run this past Sunday. Seventeen miles was actually intimidating for me even though, I’ve already done a couple of marathons. For me, that’s the distance where I start to feel all sorts of pain and fatigue. But I was glad and surprised that I was able to finish that run strong and felt fine afterwards. This week will be a step down in mileage for me. I decided to sign up for an 8k race this coming weekend instead of doing the usual long runs. The race will have a lot of hills so that should be fun.

So here’s an update on where I’m at in my training: I have about 8 weeks left on my training schedule. The long runs are definitely getting up there. In a few more weeks, I’ll be doing 20 milers. I feel great right now. No aches and pain which is a good sign. Just the usual tightness and soreness. Last year, I’d been bothered by calf soreness, but this time, I feel ok. Last Sunday’s 17 miler was also run with my zero drop (Saucony Hattori) shoes without any issues. That’s right, no blister even! I’m still considering on getting a second pair for a backup. I’m still doing the Muay Thai kickboxing classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays (same day as my short runs). As much as I love doing that, I will have to force myself to stop it in the next few weeks to avoid over-training and injury, especially now that I’m nearing my peak training.

Tomorrow will be a short 4-5 miles. Also, when I went out for an 8 miler this morning, I felt that first chill in the weather. It was a cool 65 degrees F. Goodbye summer!

This time, I’m focusing more on recovery. The extra hour of sleep really made a huge difference. I didn’t entirely skip out today however. This afternoon, I did some Muay Thai and got a good sweat. Since I’m well rested today, I am planning on running my 7 miles tomorrow instead of Saturday. That way, I’ll get more sleep on Saturday and be well rested for Sunday’s long run.

It wasn’t called Tour de Pain for nothin. I just completed my 2nd Tour de Pain this past Saturday. My right calves were already hurting even before the 1 mile sizzler on Saturday afternoon. I’m still sore today. The race was fun even though it was hot. I had a lot of fun this year because I knew a lot of people who ran the races also. I was a bit disappointed with the tech-shirts. The design was cool but the fabric wasn’t really like the Gate River Run shirts.

I did not get to workout today because I was too busy at work. I’m looking forward to run again tomorrow, but probably a lot slower.  I’m still thinking about the last race on my new Hattori’s. They were perfectly fine during the 5k. But for the one miler, maybe because I was pretty much sprinting and the asphalt was too hot, my feet got that blistery feeling on them. The shoes also didn’t feel snug, as if they were gonna fly off from my feet. Maybe it’s because they only come with the Velcro straps and also my stride was too wide and I was landing too hard that the shoes were rubbing on my feet. I’m not used to sprinting so I guess these shoes aren’t too great for that kind of running. I’ll test them out again tomorrow.