4 WEEKS AND COUNTING

Would it be a marathon training cycle if some doubt didn’t creep in? Things have been sailing along pretty well for 3 month, but then I got a cold and scaled back my training for a couple of week. On Labor Day I ran a 10K that was so-so. While I felt fine, I just couldn’t go any faster. At mile 5, I seriously thought I wasn’t going to break 40 minutes. I figured I had to be at 32-flat at 5 miles and when I saw 32:15 instead, I thought it was over. I was able to pick it up and run my fastest mile of the day to finish in 39:50.

This morning I ran the Jeff Winter City of Lakes 25K. My plan was to treat this like marathon race day and go out at the exact pace I want for TCM, which is in the 7:10 range. I thought I was holding things back, but I still passed 1 mile in 6:54. I settled down a little after that and ran everything between 6:58 and 7:11. If you look at my 3 miles splits, they’re 21:01, 21:19, 21:12, 21:08, 21:07. Overall, my pace was 7:03. What’s the problem, you ask. Well, it didn’t feel like marathon pace. I don’t think I could run another 10.7 miles at that pace.

Of course, there are some factors (read excuses) to keep in mind; I ran 10 miles yesterday, this race came at the end of my biggest week yet, conditions weren’t awful, but not ideal either, blah, blah, blah.

Maybe backing off to 7:10 pace, carbo loading and tapering will be enough come October 6th.

Given that TCM is on a Sunday, and so was today’s race, I’m transitioning from Sun – Sat weeks to Mon – Sun weeks. Not a big deal, but it means I’ll run my last few long runs on Sundays, instead of Saturdays.

WEEK #13
Monday: 10K race, 39:50, 10 miles
Tuesday: 4 miles
Wednesday: 11 miles with Scott and Lance
Thursday: 5 miles
Friday: Day Off
Saturday: 10 miles
Sunday: 25K race, 1:49:30, 18 miles

Total 58 miles

A couple of weird things. How can I love half marathons, but hate 25Ks? And how can a couple of guys that I beat by minutes in the 15K, beat me by over a minute in 10K. I don’t get it.