#111 Yesterday

Well... the good news is I ran a 2min PB and finished in 2:34:13 (3:39/k). The bad news is I (once again) missed my goal of running 2:32. Oh well. There's always next time.

2:34 is still pretty damn good though. It placed me 104 overall in a field of 38,871 finishers! That means I was ahead of 38,768 people! I was also 94th for my gender and 40th in my age group. So, without saying much more, I'll conclude by saying that I'm entirely pleased with the outcome and absolutely thrilled with the experience (these World Major Marathons are simply incredible. I can't wait to do them all).

But as much as I'm happy with my time, I'm not exactly proud of my pacing 'strategy' (or lack thereof) in which I went out and ran a tad bit too fast in the first half (1:15:21; 3:34/k) and then faded considerably in the second half (1:18:52; 3:44/k) running a 3:30 positive split. But that there's the marathon and I guess it could have been much much worse! One of these days, I will learn my lesson and go out and run a smart race that includes a negative split. Until then, my plan is to keep getting a bit faster at the shorter stuff so that my future marathon splits are still respectively fast and enable me to continue running PBs.

So what's next? Well lots of rest and recovery! A marathon really takes the wind out of your sails. I went for an easy 8k this afternoon and although I was really glad to be out there running, my body was less excited and I felt like I was 80 years old (no offence to Ed Whitlock or anything). I'll continue to take it easy for several weeks, running only when and how far I desire. I'll also eat lots of junk food and get really fat (okay, maybe not really fat, but bigger than the scrawny 60kg I am now)!

And as far a future training goes... Given how much I've trained not only this (Chicago) cycle (3000+ kms in 23 weeks), but over the past 3 cycles (Boston, NYC Hamilton, Toronto Goodlife) dating back to Dec 2011; I'm deciding to take a "break" from hard training and try to have some fun running lower mileage and putting less pressure on myself. I'm already signed up for Boston 2014, but I'm currently telling myself that it will not be a goal race but rather a celebration and more of a 'fun run'. Instead, I really want to race ATB as my goal which will allow me to focus less on overall mileage (quantity) and more on speed (quality). It's quite likely I'll change my mind 10 times on this in the next 10 days, but that's what I'm saying right now. And who knows, maybe that quality will translate to a great time in Boston. It's way too soon to tell...

To conclude, I'd like to thank everyone who has and continues to support me in my desire to be a better (but entirely amateur) runner (and consequently a better person... I hope). To my training crew and club, "the Black Lungs" (who also killed it in Chicago!), thanks for pushing and pulling me to faster times. To my friends and family, thanks for tolerating me and my ridiculous running lifestyle. To my 'fans' and supporters, thanks for following my progress and reading my rants. To my dog Charlie, you're a dog and you'll love me no matter what I do or do not do! And finally, to my lovely lady friend Melinda, thanks for being there during both the good and the bad times... and hopefully forever! I wouldn't even want to do this without you. Thank you all so much.

#110 Do You Want to Know a Secret

“What was the secret, they wanted to know; in a thousand different ways they wanted to know The Secret. And not one of them was prepared, truly prepared to believe that it had not so much to do with chemicals and zippy mental tricks as with that most unprofound and sometimes heart-rending process of removing, molecule by molecule, the very tough rubber that comprised the bottoms of his training shoes. The Trial of Miles, Miles of Trials. How could they be expected to understand that?” - John L. Parker Jr., 'Once a Runner'

We runners love numbers. How far, how fast, how much, how little. Numbers define us; they distinguish us.

The most important number to me will be the one that the clock reads this Sunday when I cross the finish line in Chicago.

Until then, these are the numbers that show what I have done to prepare.

The BLT Fall/'White'/Chicago cycle: 23 weeks; 161 days; 06 May - 13 Oct

Tune-up races and relays: 7 including PBs at 5 (15:55), 6 (19:30), 10 (33:25), 15 (52:05) and 21.1K (1:13:00)

Double days: 18

Long runs of 30+K: 10

Runs of 20+K: 47

Workouts (hills, intervals or tempo): 22

Days off: 4

Total mileage: 3000+K; ~135K/week; ~19K/day

*Note: These numbers are accurate as of today (07 Oct) and do not include the 6 remaining days of the cycle which will account for a further ~75K as well as 2 additional days off... and if all goes well, a new Personal Best at 42.2K

#109 September in the Rain

"His daily toil was arduous; satisfying on the whole, but not the bounding, joyous nature romp described in the magazines. Other runners, real runners, understood it quite well."
- John L. Parker, Jr. 'Once a Runner'

Following the successful completion of yesterday's tough 34k long run in the East-end with many of the BLT crew, there are now only 3 weeks left to the Chicago Marathon on 13 October.

Needless to say, the past weeks have been busy. According to Garmin Connect, following the run yesterday, I ran 737k in the last 30 days and my (now complete) but still continuing Summer Run Streak stands at 118 days (as of this morning)! My weekly mileage for the past 5 weeks has been 169, 127 (a 'down' week for the Milton Half), 210!!!, 174 and 166 (kilometres).

Most of those miles have either been easy or at aerobic pace and are nothing special or worth mentioning (the quote above perfectly captures my sentiment on the subject). The workouts and long runs have been reasonably hard but also entirely manageable and don't leave us too bagged or broken down for the next days effort. In fact, many of us have come to eagerly anticipate the long intervals and mid run pick-ups and often tend to go a bit harder than we should which is a huge psychological boost. In short, the Fall program has put us through our paces and yet we've survived, thrived, and can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.

As part of the build-up, a large BLT contingent travelled to Milton for a tune-up Half-marathon on the 15th. Our 12 runners finished the race in places 1 through 12 including 1st overall (myself), 1st master (Davey) and first female (new 'Lady Lung' Lyndsay). About half the crew also set impressive PBs. I personally ran a 30sec PB and finished in an official time of 1:12:58, which involved a slight negative split. I was thrilled.

With only 3 weeks left until the marathon, the mileage will start to come down and technically, it's taper time. There is still some work to be done including some mile repeats on the track, a final 33k long run, and a tempo run at marathon pace but is again, nothing we can't handle at this point. I've got to say that I've been extremely fortunate to avoid almost any kind of injury during this cycle and in fact have felt pretty damn good through-out the build. I've posted impressive times in my tune-up races and in workouts which has me feeling very confident and indeed excited about what I can do in Chicago in 3 weeks time. So just as I did before Boston, I will again state my goal of running a 2:32 (and yes, 2:32:59 would count). The flat course means I can go for an equal or slight negative split which means my plan will be to hit the half (21.1k) mark between 1:16:00 and 1:16:30, and hope to hold on for dear life when times get tough. I've improved my in-race nutrition strategy which I hope in conjunction with a successful carbo-load as well as ideal/optimal race day conditions will pay off on the 13th.

And if it doesn't... there's always this:

"What I mean is that someone sees a race, and they think that's what you do. They sort of know you had to train, but they weren't watching then, so they don't understand how incredibly much of it there is. But to us, it's almost the whole thing. Racing is just the little tiny ritual we go through after everything else has been done. It's a hood ornament."
- John L. Parker Jr. 'Again to Carthage'