November 6th, 2011
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.
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October 30th, 2011
I just ran the last of my scheduled long runs today. Only 8 miles! (I can’t believe I’m saying that) I feel great and ready for next Saturday. The race was supposed to start at 7:30. I hope they scheduled the start earlier to take advantage of the cooler temps. But the weather forecast next Sat is supposed to be a high of 77. I plan to run the race in close to 4 hours (below if possible), so that means I will be running until 11:30 and 12-ish. That’s why all of last week, I have switched my shorter runs from early mornings to noon just to get familiar again with running when it’s a little warmer. Last Thursday, I ran by feel and for the first time, ran in under 8 minutes pace for a 4 miler.
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.
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October 15th, 2011
Tomorrow will be the third and final 20 miler of my training. After that it will be downhill from there as I start tapering. Last week, I ran my 20 miles in bad weather. Despite the pouring rain, I felt mentally stronger compared to my first 20 miler a couple weekends prior. Hopefully tomorrow I will be stronger and can finish a little faster than 3:14. I will be paying close attention to my quads because after last weekend’s run my quads were very sore.
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September 30th, 2011
I ran my first 20 miler of my training schedule last Sunday and it wasn’t the best. I was unprepared for it. The night before, I did not have a proper meal and I did not really eat anything prior to the run. I had to rely on my Gu chomps during the run. The temperature was hot as well as humid. By around mile 17 I started hitting the wall and started to walk/run. On the plus side, I didn’t really feel too exhausted after the run. I was still able to go out and do stuff around the house. Last year, I’d be dazed in confused the rest of the day after a 20 miler.
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.
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September 7th, 2011
17 miler at Garmin Connect – Details.
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!
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August 25th, 2011
My wife started her new work downtown last week. Since then, I had to change my early morning run schedule to an even earlier time. This morning, I think lack of sleep has finally caught up so I decided to skip my scheduled 4 mile run this morning. My thighs were still a bit sore anyways from Monday’s kettle bell workout. Lately, I’ve been learning to listen to my body. If I feel like I am not up for it, I won’t do it. Learning from my last marathon experience, I think working out even when I was not at a 100% during training was one of the things that contributed to my bad run. I got kinda burned out.
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.
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August 21st, 2011
I ran 14 miles this morning and I’m feeling great. My legs feel fine and no soreness at all. Well I will have to wait tomorrow to really see if they will be sore. But this is actually the first time in a long time when I ran 14 miles and I wasn’t sore right after. Before, I used to feel the soreness a few hours after the run, but this morning I felt ok. The run wasn’t easy however. I felt fatigued right around the 11 mile mark, but I ran my last mile the fastest (@ 9:00 min/mile pace). It was a little bit hot also. I need to rest up..Cross training tomorrow.
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August 20th, 2011
Training has been going along pretty well. This morning I completed a 7 mile tempo run. I was not exhausted after the run despite the humidity. I focused on my leg turn over (180-190 strides per minute). Felt great afterwards. I did the middle 3 miles at about 8:50 pace and also took a few short walk breaks to simulate my water breaks. I’ll be relaxing the whole day today so I’ll be fresh for tomorrow’s 14 miler.
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August 12th, 2011
Today’s my rest day. I’m still a bit sore all the running this past week. It actually feels like I’m still recovering from all the racing I did last weekend. My rear delts are sore too from yesterday’s Muay Thai class. I’ll be hitting the road again tomorrow for a 6 mile marathon pace run. I’m still not quite sure about my target marathon time. I still would love to break 4 hours, but then again, I’m still not sure if I’ll be able to do it. I know it’s nice to have a goal, but right now, I’m still trying to gauge myself if I’m good enough to even sustain a 9:30 pace for 26.2 miles. For now I try to do something close to 9:09 without killing myself.
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August 8th, 2011
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.
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