4/4/10

Sunday's Training - Am: 18 Mile Tempo Pm: 45 mins very easy

Mileage - 28 Miles

Weekly Mileage - 152 Miles

Today began at 5am as I was trying to replicate what I would do on marathon morning by getting up early, having a decent breakfast and be ready to start warming up at 8am. On my actual race day I will get up probably 4 hours before the race start (5.45am for the 9.45am start in London) and have a full size breakfast to get my energy stores full before I start the race. I didn't get to bed until midnight last night so I only got 5 hours of sleep but that is fine as that often happens before races with the early starts. I felt bad getting up that early because Julie's brother, Mike, was sleeping in the living room and I had to get the coffee ready, make some toast and oatmeal. I was making a little bit of a noise and he woke up and talked to me for a little bit before drifting back off to sleep. I left the house just before 7am and headed to Starbucks to read a little bit and get a double espresso before heading over to Lake Mary Rd for the workout. I met Greg, Ian and Paige there and with the wind being as strong as it was we decided to drive to the 15 mile mark and run the course backwards. I was going to run to the 3 mile mark and then turn around and run another 6 miles back. It actually didn't matter what we did because the wind was so strong and swirly that I was getting hit from every side for almost the whole run. The only mile I didn't run against was the very first one and it was slightly downhill so that was nice and quick (5.02) to get the workout started.

Getting ready to start

The next mile was against the wind and mostly up the steepest hill on the whole route so the 5.21 next mile wasn't unexpected. Greg drove behind me for the workout so that he could hand me my drinks every 3 miles so he pulled up alongside and said just to roll with the punches. If it is windy, don't fight too hard, if its hilly, don't worry about that mile being slow. This was good advise as I could have got very frustrated with how I was being pushed about by the wind. I hit a little bad patch at 8 miles but it was only because my lower back tightened up a little so my hamstrings got a little sore but after I got past the 10 mile mark I felt fine again.

Catching up to Paige

Greg wanted me to run steadily for the first 12 miles and then run hard for the last 6 miles. He said the point was to try and empty the tank and then try to continue to push on at that point. Its like getting to the 20 mile point in the mile and then run hard for the last 6 miles. As Steve Jones says "a marathon is just a Sunday long run with a 6 mile race at the end". Doing this was mentally good for me because it broke the workout up and I could concentrate on just cruising and then running hard for 30 mins at the end. I turned around at the 12 miles and got straight into a good rhythm. Greg handed me an energy gel which was a new one I was trying with caffeine in it and unfortunately it was really really thick and I couldn't really swallow it easily. It also got all over my hands and face and it just made a mess soI decided never to use that one again. I couldn't get my gloves back on as my hands were like glue at this point. After getting up the hill and heading back down and then up again onto the plateau that runs parallel to the Lake I started to feel really good and was moving well. I really wanted to push it hard but there was a strong cross wind and it was tough to really drive my legs quickly enough to run really fast. My 17th mile was good as it was downhill and shaded from the wind but then I turned into the wind on the one mile where I really wanted to run fast (the last one). Greg started shouting a lot to just really pick it up and that there was only a few minutes of running left. This helped a lot but then all of a sudden as I cleared the area with the trees and I got blown straight into the middle of the road! That was 5 meters sideways and I had no power to stop it. Greg started shouting more and I just picked the pace up as much as I could. I finished the 18 miles in 1.34.21 which ended up being an average of 5.14s which was good as it was so windy and I was at 7,000ft. I can't wait until I get to run in still conditions! My legs felt fine and aerobically I felt good so that told me that my strength is there. Greg was pleased because my form never broke and even on the last mile when I was pushing hard, my legs were still picking up and in full sprint mode.

I drove back to the apartment and quickly showered as we were all heading out for a lunch buffet at Josephine's. The food was so good and I quickly put the 6 pounds back on that I had lost during the run. Julie's family left soon after lunch so Julie and I tried to nap on the couch but we weren't very successful. We just lazed about for a while and then I headed out for a very slow 6 miles on the trail. I got back and logged the training for the day and was happy that I got through my highest mileage week ever unscathed and feeling good. A dinner of leftovers from yesterday and watching a film got me very tired and prepared for a very good night's sleep.