week 17 recap -- hello marathon week!

It certainly felt like a taper week this week. I got in my runs and felt a desire for more... strange considering there have been runs over the last 17 weeks where I couldn't make the mileage due to time or just had a bad run.

Today's run was an amazing opposite from last weekends hot and humid run... once again, congrats to all of you who ran Chicago last week - whether you were able to finish or not you are all superstars.

Looking back, it has been quite a roller coaster - seemed like a lot of bad runs for quite a long time and it seemed that I was always behind or out of sync with the training program. No doubt about it - Pfitz is tough and requires a lot of discipline. I feel better having gone through it even though I probably accomplished 85% of it... I feel more prepared than I have in previous years, but I am not sure how or why exactly. I have not compared my training plan from last year to this year, but I am pretty sure I ran more miles than I ever have in any training.

Yesterday I got a belated birthday present / early marathon present from Steph... a new running shirt personalized just for next Saturday...

week 16 recap

It wasn't the easiest taper week I have had - mainly because the weather has been like it was the middle of August. Other than that, my runs were good, but my pace was a bit erratic on my runs. My average pace was where I wanted it, but my splits just didn't seem right.

Next week looks a little easier, but still challenging... still doing strides and VO2 max runs and finishing up with a 12 mile run.

For all of the Chicago Marathoners out there - good luck and stay cool. Here's a little AC/DC for you ...

let the taper begin

Wow, what a month it has been. I finished my last 20 mile run in high spirits today. I averaged a 9:00/mile pace and felt great the entire time. I feel ready, so let the taper begin. Unfortunately, the taper is the worst part of the training for me. I always feel like I am losing my ability to run and therefore second guess myself... I just need to remember the great runs I have had and I think I'll be okay. I have not looked at the training schedule for next week, but I am not worried. For now my focus will be on tomorrow only.

Tomorrow is Steph's baby shower. Everything is ready, so now she can relax and enjoy her day. After that, it will be a big focus on work to get a project out the door on time... then it will be time to run 26.2 miles in under 4 hours...

week 14 recap... 4 weeks to go

It was a decent week of running for me. I got all my runs in and felt good for all of them. Yesterday's 17 miler was no exception. I started out at 6am and got my first 5 miles in by myself, running right around marathon pace... not planned, but it felt good. I met up with Jason and a couple of friends we had run a relay race with back in July. John and Andrea ran the first 7 miles with us - it was a nice relaxed pace. We ran on the half/full marathon course for a little practice - especially on the hills. No problems, the hills actually felt pretty easy (though the second time around they were a little more difficult). All in all, my average pace for the 17 miles was 9:31/mile - right where I wanted to be for this run.

During our final 5 miles, Jason and I saw Brooke and her husband Keith looking like they were just getting ready for their run... we shouted out hello and kept going (hopefully we didn't offend them by not stopping - I had to be back home in time to get cleaned up to go down to Steph's grandmother house to do some landscaping... )

Next week is a tough schedule for me... I'll start out with a 5 mile recovery run mixed with 6x100m strides, then I will follow that up the next day with a VO2 max workout of 10 miles with 4x1200m at 5k race pace... Wednesday I am out of town, so no running for me then... I finish up the week with a 10 mile run Thursday, then a 4 mile recovery run Friday and capped by my last 20 mile run on Saturday. Then it is all taper after that... oh boy, this marathon is coming up quickly...

35

Well, I'm officially another year older.

Another age group to race in.

Happy Birthday to me.