Reflecting on Goals

While cleaning up around the house tonight I found the Runner's World magazine that I read while on a plane to the Dominican Republic for my New Years vacation last year.  On the cover of that, I wrote down some 2012 accomplishments and 2013 goals.  It's very interesting to look back and see that 2012 was full of personal records just as 2013 has been.  I see a trend here.........and I like it!  In 2012, I set new PRs in the 5K, Half-Marathon, and Marathon. Two of which I updated this year (didn't attempt a half-marathon).  I look back on those times and recall how happy I was with that success and how eager I was to continue to work hard and find out how much improvement is left in this body. It is almost time to start thinking about goals for 2014, but, there's still a month left in 2013 for some hard work and hopefully improvement.   

I skipped writing about my training last week because things got a bit crazy with another high mileage week and work related deadlines.  The end of the year is coming and you'd think that the sky is falling.  Just so you know, it ain't fallin'!  That said, let's start with last Saturday's 'long run'.  

Saturday

This is the run that I like to treat as a race.  The training plan calls for 15 miles and my goal is to get to marathon pace, or better.  So, why not race?  The Viva La Diva 10 miler was this day and I recall Jackson Miller, Kevin Christian and Courtney Terrell running this race last year as a training run.  By golly, if you can run this course at or better than your goal marathon pace, you can run a marathon even faster. Lower your goal pace buddy!  Holy crap!  10 miles up, down, up, down and up more.  2.5 mile warm-up followed by 10 miles of hills into the wind.  3rd place overall, 2nd overall male, 1:10:31 for a 7:03 pace.  I'll take it.  Notice, no 2.5 mile cool down to get to 15 for the day.  It was cold enough and that race freaking hurt!

Sunday

The weather on this day just plain stunk.  I was a bit banged up from racing the day before and only really needed 8 miles of running.  I decided that I'd stay indoors and mix up my training with an hour on the bike.  Good call.  The knees and hips needed this one.

Monday

Start of the last high mileage training week of the year.  2 Mi. WU, 7 x 1 Mi., 1 Mi. CD.  Wasn't able to get this in at lunch when I wanted because of a dentist appointment.  Got to the track after 4:00 p.m. and knew I was going to finish in the dark.  Had my headlamp ready.  Temps started dropping as dark came and this workout got tougher with each progressive mile.  I did learn that I'm capable of pacing myself pretty well without being able to see my watch.  

Tuesday

Another day of running in the dark.  I really hate training this time of year!  10 miles in and around, and around, and around my neighborhood.  Ugh.  Took it pretty easy, but really just wanted this one over with as quick as I could.  

Wednesday

I had a little time in the schedule and the temps cooperated.  I had to escape the office. Ahhhh!  What is that in the sky?  Oh, it IS the sun!!!  55 Degrees and 10 miles later I'm eating lunch at my desk.  Hate doing that, but it was so worth it on this day!!!

Thursday

Another good weather day.  64 degrees for a nice and easy 6 miles.  Typically, Thursday is an 'off day', but in my highest mileage weeks, these miles are for volume only.  I try to work on different things as I work through these miles.  Stride length, foot fall, lowering my hands and running relaxed.  

Friday

Cold air is starting to move in again and by Sunday it will barely reach the freezing mark for the high.  11 miles today at 7:30 pace.  Friday runs are supposed to be faster and hopefully as fast as marathon pace, but in a high mileage week, this is very good for me.  Nice confidence builder.

Saturday

The last really long training run of the year.  22'ish miles and the goal is to be done in less than 3 hours.  That brings me in at about 8:00 per mile.  Not trying to set land speed records, but not trying to slack off either.  This is a comfortable pace that I know I can hold for a good while.  Temp was 35 at 6 a.m. when we started and the first day I've broken out the running tights.  Have I mentioned that I hate training this time of year???  Daniel, Katie, Chris and I went out together and at about mile 5 ran into Jackson, Ashley Evans and Emily Mack.  Of course, they were getting after it a bit faster than we were and rather than slowing down for us, we sped up for them.  Even at this :30 per mile faster pace, I felt very comfortable and that I could hold it all day.  It was good to catch up with each of them even if for just a couple of miles.  This turned out to be a really, really good run.  Chris decided in the last 3 or 4 miles to push the pace.  While Katie and I didn't exactly keep up, we stayed on the gas pedal and brought this thing home.  21.6 miles at 2:53.  I'll take it!

Sunday

After laying on the couch most all day Saturday and sleeping late on Sunday, I needed to get moving. It wasn't going to warm up at all today so let's go. Sort of like taking a band-aid off, the quicker you do it, the less it hurts.  33 degrees when I started and 11 miles at 8:15 pace.  The first 10 of these miles sucked, each one progressively worse.  As I passed the 10 mile mark, I remembered that I was closing in on 80 for the week.  This last one might have been the easiest, most enjoyable mile of the week. 

Grand total of 80.04 miles for the week and a boost of confidence after finishing the week in some tough weather conditions.  I told a friend that's a new runner that the distance makes you physically stronger, but the elements make you mentally stronger.  I may have gotten a bit stronger mentally this week.  Maybe the time off my feet the previous Sunday helped, but I didn't feel like I'd been run over by a Mack Truck yesterday when I wrapped things up.  My favorite time of the training cycle is here....Taper Time <insert sarcasm here>.  Less than 3 weeks till we blast off in Rocket City.   

Back to Training

As my alarm started chirping at 4:30 a.m. this past Saturday, I realized that it was really time to get back to training.  Since chasing down that elusive Boston Qualifier in Chicago in mid-October, I had either slept late and completely avoided a long run, or raced a 5K.  I had also taken the time to watch my nephew, Kale, play basketball and hang out with my niece, Kinsley.  Oh yeah, and I had been eating like a horse!!!  All of which were very much needed.   

With this lack of structure, for me, comes a lack of focus and motivation.  I got my BQ, so now what?  Do I relax a bit and try to enjoy running a marathon as a 'tourist'?  Or, do I continue to work hard and see how much improvement is left within this training year.  I mean, heck, that 3 hour mark is only 10 minutes away.  ;)  So, a week or so ago, I decided the latter.  I need to know if it is possible for me to improve on this 3:10:17 marathon time.  Therefore, it's back to training.

Monday
What a better way to find out if there's improvement left in this training cycle than starting off with a hill workout!  This was tough.  I haven't been on the hills in over a month.  The goal with my hill work is to be at or lower than 5K pace.  With the time change the day before, I knew that I needed to try to squeeze this in during my lunch hour to keep from having to do it in the dark.  9 x Hills with a 2 Mi. warm-up and cool-down.  Got very close to my preferred paces and was probably a little fast on my WU/CD miles.  

Tuesday
Totally did not expect this run the day after a hard hill workout.  Nate was in town and he's trying to pack on the miles as well.  We both needed to get in 10'ish miles and had planned to do this relatively easy.  Yeah, right!!!  Seems that every time he and I run together we go faster than we plan.  This is good as I think he and I both relax a bit and just run.  We were able to carry on a complete conversation the entire way and knocked down 10 miles in just over 1:15.  I think we both got a nice boost of confidence from this run.  

Wednesday
While the temperature was good on this day, the rain arrived just as I started running.  I needed another 10 miles and hadn't run with East Nasty since Chicago.  I started almost an hour early to make sure I got in 6+ prior to the short EN route.  While I don't horribly dislike running in the dark, and definitely don't mind running in the rain, I absolutely despise running in the dark AND the rain.  6+ by myself before EN.  4 mile EN route with Eric Block, Josh Furnier, and Mark Miller, all of whom left me in the last half mile.  The legs just didn't respond when those guys took off.  

Thursday
This was intended to be a very easy run just to remind the legs that running is what we do.  I got started just as it was getting dark and knew that I was going to be rushed for time.  The legs felt pretty good and I turned it up just a bit.  Finished 6 miles at just under 7:30 pace.  

Friday
This is the beginning of my weekend series.  My training this year has me doing half the distance of my long run on the day before and the day after.  Twenty-two was the goal for Saturday, so this run called for 11.  The idea of the Friday run is to be aggressive and attempt to get to marathon pace.  I didn't quite make it there, but knocked out 11 at 7:35 pace.  Felt relatively good about this effort.  

Saturday
Yep, Long Run Saturday.  22 Miles and I left my vehicle at 5:55 a.m.  This was the day of the Hard Rock Marathon in Nashville and I knew that a.) I needed to get started well in advance of the race and b.) I'd have to change my route a bit to avoid the bulk of the race traffic.  The goal for my effort was slow and steady and just knock down the miles.  Time on the feet means more to me right now than any aggressive effort on this number of miles.   I got to 14 miles before encountering any significant race traffic.  This turned out very good for me.  Nothing like a 'race' setting to push me a bit faster than I was running.  Once getting into this race traffic, it appears that I unintentionally picked up the pace about 20-30 seconds per mile.  Hmmm......competitive?  Somewhere in this traffic, or maybe the numbness of the brain at 17 miles, I forgot how to do math and ended up cutting the last portion of my route short by about 3/4 mile.  Finished with 21.27 miles at just over 8:00/mile.

This run hurt!  While I felt good late in the run, I think the race traffic took over the brain.  In passing, a young lady yelled my name.  I responded, I think, but never looked and still have no idea who it was.  We'll call that 'focus'!  I spent the remainder of the day on the couch, napping and relaxing.  I guess 22 miles after taking almost a month off from the long run wasn't my best idea ever......

Sunday
The Survival Run.  11 miles.  Take it easy, slow, and exert a minimal an effort as possible.  I knew that I was closing in on 80 miles for the week and needed more than 11 to get me there.  Wasn't exactly sure how close.  At 5.5 miles I decided to go another half mile out.  That would get me awfully close to 80.  This was the slowest, most methodical run I've done in a long time and surprisingly felt pretty good as it ended.  12 miles at 8:27 pace.  

79 miles for the week. The Daylight Savings Time thing stinks and makes it really tough on an 'afternoon/evening runner'.  This week turned out very good and gave me some much needed focus on Huntsville (12/14) and confidence.  Two more really tough weeks before Taper Time (~my favorite time of the year~).