Weekly Wrapup

Sunday's run was a 4 hump hill run in Rancho San Antonio. Mostly trails, and mostly runnable, but there are couple bits towards the top of the big hump that are a little too steep to run up. Most of the downhill is great running with good footing, except for the first 1/4 mile from the very top - that's a little too steep for me to run comfortably down.

It closed out my first solid week since Ottawa, and the first I'd consider real training. It looked like this.....

• Monday - rest
• Tuesday - 3.5 miles tempo (6:15 pace) - 7.5m overall
• Wednesday - 7.5 miles easy
• Thursday - 11 miles easy
• Friday - 9 miles easy
• Saturday - 5 miles recovery
• Sunday 12.5 miles of hills
• Total - 52.5 miles

Next week should be similar, maybe closer to 60. Will do a tempo tomorrow, a medium long (10+) early Friday and a long (~18) Sunday. The rest will just be easy running.

Hilly Running

Finished the week with a hilly 16 miler yesterday morning. It was my 4th run of the week, bringing the mileage up to about 36 miles.

Ran some very nice trails out thru Arastradero Preserve and into Foothills Park in Palo Alto. Saw a few hikers and bikers but no runners, and no-one at all once I got over 400'. Great trails for running fast thru the trees.

Recovery from Ottawa has gone well and I am feeling pretty refreshed. Next week will be back to reasonably normal running, with 6 runs and somewhere round about 50 miles. Will probably run a few tempo miles on Tuesday or Wednesday, and some strides here and there, but I won't be doing any real speedwork for at least another week.

Chicago training won't start for real until the end of June, so I still have 3 weeks of "just running". I'll probably do mileage of 50, 55 & 60 for those weeks and then jump into a 15 week plan for Chicago.

National Running Day

Apparently it is National Running Day today, whatever the hell that is.

So I am going to go for a run.

Ottawa Pictures

At the start I was in the first, non-elite coral, so started just behind the real fast runners. At this point, just as I crossed the start line I was a mere 10 seconds behind the winner, David Cheruiyot. Unfortunately I was unable to hold the pace and he eventually beat me by 50 minutes....

This was about mile 15, feeling strong, looking relaxed - "Hey, this sub 3 is gonna be easy

About 3 miles later, now I am having to work at it

Into the last mile, the wheels are off and there is no more "smile for the camera" - Pretty surprised to see a picture with both feet off the ground at the same time.

Crossing the line, very happy to be done. I think Cheruiyot was already on the plane home by the time I got there.......

May Summary

So May is done, with a fairly low total of 183 miles.  With the marathon taper, and a very easy recovery week this week I didn't have a lot of big weeks.  But the foucs wasn't miles it was Ottawa and that went OK.

June is going to be easy.  I have no preset plan, but I am not going to do anything fast until I am feeling completely recovered.  There's a 10k at the end of June that I may run, but only if I have found my legs again.

Chicago training is due to start of June 29th and go for 15 weeks.  Plan is to keep the intensity/speedwork I had last round, but go a little higher on the mileage.

Ottawa Marathon Report

The plan was simple: Get it done under three hours (6:52 pace). I planned to run 6:48 for the first 20 miles, and then take it from there.  If things were good, I’d keep at 6:48 and run a 2:58.  If things weren’t so good I had a couple minutes wiggle room to still bring it home under 3.  Training had been solid, I felt great.

Course was described as honest; some rolling hills in the first half, but nothing major. Forecast called for 52 at start, low 60s at the end and 6mph winds from the west.  Overall, not bad conditions.

Start logistics were good and I met up with a couple other runners I had met online who were also shooting for sub3.  We planned to run some/all of it together.  It felt pretty warm, definitely more than 52 degrees (found out later it was 61 at the start).

Course was marked in kilometers versus the normal miles so I had some funky pacing worked out.  I’d broken the course up in my mind into 9 chunks: Eight 5Ks, followed by the final 2.2km.  I had planned paces for each section based on hills etc and planned to just take them one at a time.

One approach to long runs is to try and disassociate yourself from the task at hand by thinking about something else.  Another way is to focus intently on running form, stride rate etc.  I tend to do both during a race.  To help with the disassociation someone told me to “dedicate” each section to a specific person, and think about them during that time.  Seemed a little touchy feely to me, but I figured I’d give it a try.  Went with my family in England and my family at home in Los Altos – 9 people in total.

Chunk 1 – KM 1-5

• This section was ‘dedicated” to my big brother Richard – someone who is not likely to be running a marathon anytime soon.  Gun went off and we were off fast – 6:15 pace.  Slowed it down a little but the first 3KM went by at 6:33 pace, despite the rolling hills (distances are kilometers and my pace times are minutes/mile, just to confuse things).  Got a little more controlled at that point but finished chunk 1 in 20:47, 24 seconds ahead of plan, feeling excellent.  So Richard had done his job.

Chunk 2 – KM 6-10

• This one was run for Dad, who would hopefully be tracking me online from England if he was able to work out the instructions I had sent him.  Hills continued for a bit then we crossed back from the French side to Ottawa and started running thru a pretty nice neighborhood.  Kept things smooth and comfortable and ran this chunk on pace, finishing up overall by 27 seconds. Dad had done just perfectly (although he had failed with the tracking thing so he wasn’t aware of this….)
  

Chunk 3 – KM11-15

• This was Mum’s section.  She’d be waiting for updates from Dad at home in England, but given his computer prowess, she had no idea what was happening in Canada. This section felt easy, just rolling off miles about 6:46 pace.  Uneventful, easy running and feeling very good. Smack on pace, ended up by 28 seconds overall.  My best section so far.  Good job Mum! 

Chunk 4 – KM 16-20

• This was for Dave, my other brother, who is hoping to complete his first marathon next Sunday in Edinburgh.  We headed back West here and could now feel the wind for the first time, and it was a lot more than 6mph. But I still felt really good and this was another uneventful section run at 6:53 pace.  This was about 20 seconds slower than plan due to the wind, but still left me 9 seconds ahead of my schedule and feeling relaxed.  So Dave did his job, hopefully I can help him next Sunday.

Chunk 5 – KM 21-25

• Next up was little sister, Kayte, who lives in Spain.  Not a marathon runner.  This brought me thru the halfway point, in 1:28:55 - 5 seconds ahead of my plan and feeling really good – this sub 3 was going to be easy!  I was running smooth and relaxed, sometimes on my own, but some portions with one of the 2 online runner friends or with random people I spoke to (most of whom spoke French…).  Got thru this chunk a little off pace, but still figured I was OK since I was pacing for 2:58 and I was only 8 seconds behind overall.  Thanks Kayte! 

Chunk 6 – KM 26-30

• Having worked thru my English family it was time to start with Los Altos. Next up was Anna, my little princess who was at home asleep.  This section was when I started having to work a little to keep on track – It was now feeling like a race and not a run.  We were out in the wind and I was no longer running easy.  Figured I could still go sub 3 as long as I could run below 7 minute pace.  Ran this chunk at 6:57, now 36 seconds behind plan, but still within reach of sub 3 if I could keep it up. Princess Anna had done her job

Chunk 7 – KM 31-35

• This was for Nick, my little boy.  He’d probably be waking up pretty soon.  OK I am feeling it now, but determined to stay on pace – Manage kms 31-33 at 6:59 but then there’s a hill in km34 and it just kills me.  Can’t do better than 7;35 pace and I’m dying.  It’s windy, sunny and hot and I am losing it fast – it is weird when you can feel things start to shutdown.  My quads are completely shot – I guess it was payback time for those fast early rollers.  Get to the top of the hill and decide that I need to suck it up and get back under 7 minute pace or this game is over.  Manage to get to 7:03 but it is soooo hard.  This chunk cost me another 48 seconds, and now I am 1:24 behind.  Doing the math (which was not easy with no oxygen in my brain) I worked out that I was in deep shit, and needed to close this round about 6:55, which looked awfully daunting.  Nick had kept me going but I could feel it slipping away at this point.

Chunk 8 – KM 36-40

• This last 5k chunk was for Liz, my wife who puts up with all my running crap and is incredibly supportive.  If anyone could get me thru this one it would be her.  All I had to do was run a 5k in about 21 minutes for this chunk and I would be close enough to gut it out and get my sub 3. I tried to get back down to under 7 minute pace but I just couldn’t do it.  Managed to get to 7:13 and that was so bad that I knew that I was done – today would not be the day.  I was bummed but there was nothing I could do about it.  I’d had 3 goes to get back down to pace, tried every trick I knew but my legs just didn’t go that fast anymore.  Now it was time to roll back to plan B. Unfortunately there was no plan B.  I figured a PR (under 3:06:13 was gonna be pretty easy as I could jog it in at 8:30 pace and still hit that). So I sort of wallowed a little bit and eventually decided to just keep going as fast as I could without puking. Turned out that was around 7:45 pace, so that’s what I did.  It was getting ugly out there, I was not enjoying myself anymore and I was surrounded by people having a similar funtime.  Lost almost 2 minutes in this chunk and was now 3:33 behind plan – officially it was over.  Liz did her best, but I just didn’t have it left in me.

Chunk 9 – KM 40-42.2

• Final chunk was for me, for all the miles I’ve run, for all the injuries, and for the surgery.  Just 2.2 kilometers to go, which is less than 6 laps of the track, but I was empty.  Legs were trashed, and I felt worse than I have ever felt.  However, I was determined I was not going to walk and that I’d continue to push as much as I could. KM41 was at 8:01 pace – it was a kick in the butt to see 8:XX on the watch when I was meant to be running 6:XX, so with 1.2 km to go I went into my finishing sprint…… this got me down to 7:30 pace and I was flying…… final 400 meters and I am into the final stretch, people cheering from the grandstands and the announcer calls my name out.  I give it one final surge and cross the line at 3:03:39.  Not the 2-something I had been looking for but I am just happy to be done.   I have absolutely nothing left so I sit down quick, before gravity does it for me and drink 3 bottles of water.  After 10 minutes I can stand, just. Off with the shoes, got my medal (which is a very cool medal), drink 3 Gatorades and lie down.  10 minutes later I am almost feeling human.

Results

• So it was something of  a trainwreck finish and a big missed goal but a new PR for me, of about 2:35. And this was on a day when there probably weren’t a whole load of PRs.  I came 96^th out of 4,200 registered runners.  I was 14^th in my age group (M40-44). 

• In terms of race strategy it was solid.  Execution was OK thru 25km then it started to go pear shaped, and the wheels came off big time at 33km.  I did not handle the heat and wind in the second half of the course well.  Looking at the top 100 (which along with me, included some true elites like David Cheruiyot) only 6 of them managed to negative split (second half faster than first).  And no-one in the top 20 negative split at all.  Cheruiyot ran a 1:05/1:08, so he also buggered up the second part (although he likely didn’t run an 8 minute mile to close it out, plus he won the thing).  In post race interviews all the elites talked about the wind in the second half slowing them down, so it wasn’t just me.

• Overall I am really pleased with my training leading up to this race.  6 months ago I was having surgery and hadn’t run in 3 months.  I worked really hard to get back to racing shape and I have had big PRs in every distance from 5K to the marathon.  I’m confident that the next one will be sub 3.

• Maybe I went a little too fast that first 5km but it honestly felt easy thru 25km.  I had decided that I was not going to adjust my plan for the weather.  I did that in Edinburgh last year because of the wind and finished strong, feeling I could have gone faster. This time it was going to happen or I was going to die trying – Unfortunately, today I died.

They printed the top 100 in the Ottawa paper toady, and I just made the list down at #96.  I never expected to be on the same results sheet as David Cheruiyot.  (And yes, I am ignoring the fact that he beat me by about 50 minutes, or almost 2 minutes/mile)

Close, but no cigar

So it was not to be.... 3:03:40...... and it finished pretty ugly.  At 10k I was on 2:57 pace, at the half 2:58, and at 30k 2:59.  Then about 33-34k (~21 miles) the wheels came off and I lost 3 minutes in the last 5 miles.  

It got pretty warm towards the end and a lot of people were struggling, but I kept on running, and managed to drag it in 7:30-7:40 pace..... legs refused to speedup.  Only 76 made it under 3 (vs 130 last year), the winner did 2:13+ vs 2:10 last year, so it wasn't just me.

My time was good enough for 96th overall, out of 4,000+, which I was happy with as I didn't expect to make top 100. (that time would have been 156 last year)

Overall I am pretty happy with how it turned out - it was almost a 3 minute PR - would have been nice to go sub 3, but there you go.   Now I have to go and run sub 3 in Chicago in October, which if it is hot, will suck.

I'll post some more details later when I am capable of doing math.  

T minus 70 minutes....

Sunrise was 5:23am, here it is....

Partly cloudy, hopefully that remains for the next 4 hours 10 minutes.  Flags are fluttering in the breeze.

It's now 5:50am, heading out the door in 5 minutes.  Slept reasonably well last night, ate and hydrated well yesterday, and had the appropriate "movements" this morning!

All systems go!  Ottawa, we are green for launch!

Canada

20 hours to go.  Just ran my final run, a nice easy 4 miler.  Ran 5 last night after getting in.  The course looks good. Big "mile" markers every kilometer, and the finish counts down 750m, 500m, 400, 300m, 200m, 100m.  Seems like a very well put together race.

Weather forecast for tomorrow looks reasonable - should be 62 degrees when I am done, and little wind.

So it looks like I have no excuses left.  Time to get it done, as they say.

Tempting Fate?

I'm a believer in stating my goals for races in advance.  Perhaps it's tempting fate but I believe it creates a little accountability and when things get tough it can make the difference between backing off to something comfortable or pushing thru.

So Ottawa the goal is pretty simple; sub 3 hours.  And with the advent of preprinted race shirts, you now get the opportunity to publicise your goals during the race!  Ottawa is allowing shirts from wearyournumber.com, who print your race bib on the shirt, and allow you to add a message to the shirt.  Here's mine for Sunday (it is sweaty from my final pace run yesterday evening)...

It's going to be a little embarassing if I run a 3:25 wearing this.

And to put some more pressure on, the kids have decided that I am going to win the race (last year the winner ran 2:10, so it's not likely to happen....) since I came 1st and 2nd in my last 2 low key 5k races.  There weren't hearing it when I tried to explain that there are big races and small races.  They did a couple pictures of my much anticipated victory.......

Marathon Training Cycles

So part of the attraction of running is the science behind the training and the analysis of its effectiveness.  Some would say I am perhaps a little over analytical and should just “run more” but to each their own.

As I come to the end of my Ottawa training cycle I’ve done some comparison to my last marathon training cycle (for Edinburgh in May 2008).  Both were 5-6 months but different in composition.

Since I was coming back from surgery and 4 months of little to no running I knew I was not going to be able to do the same high mileage as I did before, so I laid out a plan that built up the miles gradually and was more reasonable in maximum mileage on the big weeks. In an effort to not get injured again I included a rest day every week.  And to compensate for the lower mileage I had more focus on speed with regular track workouts.

Chart shows the weekly mileage with Ottawa in green.  Mileage was much lower, but more consistent.  As I wasn’t doing any big weeks over 75 miles I didn’t beat myself up so much, and as result didn’t need to take as big a cutback on my easy weeks.  Plus it let me keep relatively fresh for the faster stuff. 

Even though mileage was lower, I still kept the 20+ long run as a staple of the plan.  In 2008 I ran 9 runs over 20 miles and it really helped build the endurance to finish strong. This time I still had 7 over 20, and 6 of those were in consecutive weeks, and a couple were fast (I did a 22 miler at the same pace as I raced Edinburgh last year). The other weeks I was running somewhere in the high teens every Sunday, so I think that I’m covered there.

Another core, every-week-workout, was the tempo run.  Did about the same number, but this time I went up to 7 miles Vs 6 last time, and regularly ran them under 6:30 pace.  For shorter tempos I was faster at 6:13, whereas last time I never got down below 6:20.

And speedwork was night and day.  Only 3 small track workouts last year, but 10 this time, with some pretty quick stuff (1200s in 4:21 = 5:50 pace).  And because of that speedwork I was able to crush my old 5k/10k and half marathon race times, taking over 2 minutes from the half, almost 2 from the 10k and a minute from the 5k.  So speed should be covered too.

Overall I’ve run much more consistently, haven’t had many days when it was a struggle and also run a lot more of my runs on hilly trails.  I feel in very good shape and the weekly rest day has helped keep any niggling injuries at bay.  I finally feel that I am running with no Achilles problem for the first time in about 2 years.  The sports hernia is fine, I get the occasional “feeling” in the neighborhood but nothing even close to how it was before. Compared to 2008 I think I am in better shape (which is good news as I’m trying to run faster this time around)

So the training has been good, and my various charts, data and race times suggest that a sub 3 hour marathon is a possibility, but definitely not a given.  The difference between 2-something and 3-something for a marathon is such a big difference to me that it is my only goal this time around and I’ll be disappointed if I don’t achieve it.  Backup goal, (to be used only in case of emergency), is a PR which means I need to beat 3:06.  I am pretty sure I can do that as I’ve practically done that in several training runs.  However, if I switch to the backup goal it’ll probably be because the wheels have fallen off at about mile 20 so all bets will be off.

Course is described as honest.  It’s a loop so there is no net elevation gain.  It’s got some small hills but nothing major.  Weather is a variable and weather.com shows Ottawa as pretty random (50s-80s, rain-sun, calm-wind) so we’ll see what race day brings although I will be shooting for 2-something pretty much whatever the weather. (There will be no excuses about the wind and running a safe 3:10 this time).

Only a few days to go, and it all comes down to whether I can run 26.2 miles 14 seconds per mile faster than I did last time.

Ottawa Countdown

6 days to go, so it's officially time to start obsessing about the weather.  Here is the 10 day forecast....  

It seems to be pretty random, ranging from cold and wet to hot and sunny. Ideally it'll be low 50s, misty with no wind, but that is asking for a lot!

Currently Sunday is forecast for a low of 50 and a high of 75.  Race starts at 7am, and I'm hoping to be done by 10, so it should still only be low 60's by the time I'm looking for a beer.  Partly cloudly with light winds is good, so I have my fingers crossed that this doesn't change too much over the next few days.

It's obviously a light running week for me this week.  Rest today and easy miles every other day except for a couple marathon pace miles on Wednesday.  At this point the "hay is in the barn" as they say, and there is little be gained, and a lot to be lost with a dumb workout.